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Food or Medicine: Daily Choices in the FSU
Life for elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union (FSU) is a constant set of choices— medicines or food? Lights or heat for their apartment? These are the unthinkable dilemmas faced by George, 88 and Eva, 80 of Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia, as they live out the final chapters of their lonely and impoverished lives. A snapshot of what life is like for both can be instantly gleaned by the walk from the street to their small and unheated apartments. For Eva it is a walk through an unlit hallway reeking of urine; for George it is an elevator ride to the 14th floor. The elevator is strewn with graffiti; hardly ever works; and, when it does, requires paying a quarter to use. It is an expense that George can barely afford. Both live in tiny one-room apartments that are non-descript, considering they are all that Eva and George have to show for decades of struggle. The walls are bare, divulging nothing about the life each has led. Both homes are cold — the kind of damp coldness that subtly creeps into one's bones. Neither can afford heat in the winter. When they speak, a portrait emerges of what life has been like for elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union. 
For Eva, it is a story of pain and persecution. Living in Ukraine, her family escaped the Nazi advance on her small village of Berdichev. As they made their way to safety, her mother was shot and her brother died of pneumonia. Although George's life was less overtly traumatic, his story reflects the plight of many other Jews in the FSU — discriminated and persecuted by their government, they were compelled to observe their Judaism covertly or altogether abandon their faith. Today, the local JDC-sponsored Hesed social welfare center provides both George and Eva with help that includes medicine, food packages and home care assistance. As George and Eva each struggle to get by on meager pensions of about $20 a month, they openly express how vital Hesed's help is to them. "If it weren't for Hesed we would not survive," Eva, emphatically. "If this is what life is like with their help, imagine what our lives would be like without it!" As her visitors leave, Eva pulls the lone string connecting her bare light bulb in her living room. "Too expensive to leave on," she explains. For George, it is a glass of vodka poured for one final toast. "I toast when friends come to see me," he says. "These days I get very few friends." June 2006 |
