S’NOVIM GODOM!
S’novim Godom, shastya y zdaroviyeh fsyem miy’em druzyam y cheetatelam!
Things have getting very heavy lately on rubyjewsday, with no-holds-barred debates highlighting the yawning ideological chasm between my dovish outlook on Israeli politics and the truculent, Lieberman-adoring hawkishness characterizing much of the Russian Jewish community (at least the blogging portion of the Russian community). And fundamentally, that is as it should be. After all, I started this blog last spring in large part to challenge certain beliefs of a community that I love and feel connected to, but which manifests political beliefs that are far from my own and which, if not challenged and eventually transformed, will have the effect of dragging Israel—a country that is central to my being as well as my political opponents-- in a direction which I believe is inimical to hopes for peace and to Israel’s own best interests.
So I feel this discussion is not only valuable, but absolutely necessary. Yet I also want everyone to know that the give and take on that issue is hard for me because I am not a confrontational person by nature, because I love the Russian community and because I am all too aware that the revelation of my political leanings will cause many people who have admired my coverage of the community here and in the Jewish Week to turn away in disillusion, saying “Shto??? On levee??? Ujus y kashmar.”
So yes, I am a proud liberal on Israel and on most American domestic issues as well. Still, I hope that enough readers who may disagree with my politics will say; ‘Nu, so here is a chance to debate these painful issues, to try to understand why Bush-loving Russian Jews and Bush-loathing American Jews have such a different sglad. In short, I hope that readers will stay with a blog that challenges their core beliefs, rather than simply panders to them and says, ‘You are right, you are right.’ I am assuming right-leaning Russian Jews already have enough media-sources (Novoye Russkoye Slovo, RTVI, RTN and so many others) that echoes their belief systems that they will find it mentally stimulating to come to a place that challenges them with beliefs they may find cause for anger and heartburn.
I want to repeat something I have said before; that my challenge to many Russians’ Likud/GOP agenda comes from a place of profound respect and deep empathy for the community. I am that strange American Jew who feels more at home among Russian-speaking Jews than among my “own kind.” I speak Russian, write about the Russian community, and live with a Russian-speaking woman. Many of my American friends accuse me on having ‘gone native’ after my years in Moscow (1990-1992) and in a way I have. I feel freer and more alive among Russians—mainly Russian Jews—than I do among Americans. I’m not sure exactly why; I just like the Russian Jewish way of looking at the world, except when we come to politics. It’s a contradiction—actually more of a dialectic, to use a Marxian word of choice, but its one that keeps me endlessly captivated.
Also, to let readers know that this forum is and will continue to be about a lot more than debating politics. My next posting, for example, will be reportage from one of the Brighton Beach New Years parties for Russian elderly—specifically survivors of the Holocaust and ask the question; what keeps so many elderly Russians, most of whom are living on modest fixed incomes—so healthy and vibrant. And there will be lots more good stuff coming up after that. So hang in there, gang, rubyjewsday is just getting warmed up.
posted by Walter @ 4:18 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Walter,
Only two comments about your New Year's post.
One,hard to imagine someone who sees himself as not a "confrontational" person having such a love for being with Russians,exchanging views etc. Note by the way that Russians don't even ,as Reagan would have said, have an expression for "exchanging views" Vot iz der to "ekschange", you need to leesen too me i vsyo stanet yasno. Vyskazatsya,eto drugoe delo.
Two,I think you may be in danger of giving more publicity than it merits to one or two articulate individuals, rather than any "part" of the "community",but that is the fate of most blogs.
anyway, zhelayu schastya v novom godu i uspekha " v uchebe i v lichnoi zhizni" as they used to say back in the day.
Martin Horwitz
Martin, bubeleh, the word 'obmen' works just fine with "vzglyadov" or "mnenij". It is the word for 'privacy' that Russian lacks.
Secondly, let's define what might be termed as a mainstream Russian view. Most of us are pro-choice. Few of us are in any way homophobic -- although the attitude toward gays in military or gay marriage is, you gotta be REALLY stupid to fight for THAT! We are pro-law and order, and pro-business, in that we understand where taxes for welfare come from. A degree of racism does exist -- although we would, and did, vote en masse for a black republican over a white union leader for State senate, and no Russian would avoid a competent professional on account of ethnicity. Also, a Russian-speaking African or Korean is automatically "nash".
The right leanings come out in the rather starkly unromantic view of the world. Brought up with a largely Pavlovian psychology, we find it ridiculous to 'reward' any undesirable actions. Giving in to riot leaders, hostage takers, bomb makers, etc -- doing WHAT THEY WANT right after they do their dastardly deeds -- seems to us the best way to encourage them to do more of the same. The "blood on your hands" statement in one of the previous comments -- one I did not write -- seems to me to be prompted by the fact that journalistic coverage of terrorism encourages terrorism; the journalist is the indispensable ally of the radical. Same goes, in a smaller way, for the welfare system that rewards laziness and a tort system that rewards stupidity -- what you reward you shall have more of. None of us understands liberal embracing of an undefeated enemy because none of us has ever seen it work. Come to think of it, none of you has, either, you just hope for the first time...
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