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Novosibirsk, Russia: Alla’s Journey to Become Head of the JCC
"When I stood under the tallit [for the Bat Mitzvah ceremony], I felt like there was a light shining on me," says Alla, who has been managing the Novosibirsk JCC for the last decade, the hosting community of this year’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony. It's hard to explain the feeling—as if something from the sky, from God, came into me. I stood under the tallit and kissed the tzitzit, crying."
Alla exemplifies a female leader, a mother (her daughter participated in the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony in summer 2006), and an individual on her own personal journey of connecting to her Jewish roots. Through her story, a part of the history of Russian Jewry, including its miraculous renaissance, unfolds. Mother’s Family: Lithuania to Palestine and America Alla’s story begins with her great-grandfather, who was a rabbi in Lithuania and had 12 children, the youngest of whom was Alla's maternal grandfather, Isau. His two eldest brothers, Matthew and Rafael, joined the Bilu movement—Jewish idealists who hoped to redeem Eretz Yisrael—and decided to travel to Palestine by foot. They did not travel directly through Europe, but instead traversed all of Siberia and Russia, reaching Shanghai and then Palestine. It took four years, from 1902-1906. The brothers disguised their Jewish identity on their travels, shaving their beards and wearing simple clothes. They would look for the local synagogue in each village, where they were supported by the local Jewish communities who were thrilled to hear of their travels and provided them with food and clothes. Matthew married in Palestine and had 7 or 8 children. Rafael continued to Egypt, Australia, and then America, where he remained. Until 1949, Alla's grandmother was able to maintain contact with him, but in 1949 a Soviet law was passed forbidding contact with family members living in Western countries. Alla still searches for possible family members, like so many other Jewish families who have been torn from their roots throughout this century. "I remember my mother Nelly reading the old letters from Matthew and Rafael as they traveled by foot throughout the world, and particularly remembers the letter describing their joy upon arriving in Palestine," shares Alla. Meanwhile, Alla's grandfather Isau met his wife Gittel, in Novosibirsk. Gittel's family had come to Siberia in the early 1920s, fleeing starvation in Ukraine. Isau and Gittel maintained an observant Jewish home. "As far as I can remember, they kept Shabbat and the holidays," Alla reminisces, her deep brown eyes twinkling with contentment. Nonetheless, when Alla was a young girl, there was no synagogue in Novosibirsk. "There was only a small wooden house that served various religious purposes, such as baking matzah for Passover. I can still remember watching this process when I was three or four years old," she adds. Father’s Family: Minsk to Novosibirsk The story of Alla's father's parents, Gregory and Ljubov, is also intertwined with world history. Ljubov grew up with her sister in a Jewish orphanage in Minsk; both their parents died of typhus. Ljubov's sister and her four children would ultimately perish in the Minsk ghetto during WWII. Gregory lost nearly his entire family to typhus as well; only he and his mother survived the epidemic. Gregory was a cobbler, but yearned to study. He eventually graduated from the best military academy in Moscow, after which he returned to Minsk, where he lived with his wife Ljubov and children, including Alla's father, Edward. Twenty-eight days before WWII broke out, Gregory was told he would be posted in Novosibirsk. Just two weeks before the war broke out and before Minsk was destroyed, the family moved to Novosibirsk and were thus saved. However, Gregory had a military career; when the war ended he was missing in action and his body was never found. Ljubov and her daughter (Alla's aunt) moved back to Minsk and in 1991 moved to America. Alla's father, Edward, remained in Novosibirsk. Recently, Alla's aunt found a newspaper article about a man—in a certain position in a particular unit—who must have been her grandfather Gregory. "There was only one of his kind in each unit and this was his exact unit number. We knew it had to be him," says Alla. "He was caught together with another four or five men by the Germans. One of the men in the group had a gun with one bullet, with which he wanted to kill himself. The man who must have been my grandfather took the gun and told is the other soldier that he was too young to die. Instead, my grandfather covered for them with this gun so they could escape. All of the men escaped except for my grandfather, who was killed." The article was written by one of the men who escaped. Alla's aunt is still trying to locate the man who wrote this article, yet the conclusion is clear. The final chapter of Gregory's life was finally revealed. In a War memorial in Novosibirsk, the surnames of those killed in WWII are written, but not of those who were missing in action. Now Alla's grandfather Gregory has joined the list of names. "She was going to be something Jewish!" Alla was born the youngest of six grandchildren. But it was only when her grandfather Isau held her that he shouted out: "Finally we have a true Jewish child in our family!" This sentence is ingrained in Alla's memory. Of all the grandchildren, only Alla was taught Yiddish and the secrets of the Jewish kitchen by her grandparents. "They decided Alla is going to be something Jewish." As a teenager, Alla joined an underground Zionist group, where they read books and watched movies about Israel, brought by Israelis who used the Netherlands embassy as a cover for their activities in Russia. These were the first Israelis Alla met. One of them "could hardly speak" Russian, but this was enough to communicate and Alla developed a deep bond with him. He was an Israeli living in the Netherlands and when he proposed to Alla, she declined. Alla was 18 at the time. "Perhaps I would have agreed had he lived in Israel!" she jokes. At 18, Alla went on a trip to Leningrad with her parents to visit her brothers living there. For the first time in her life, she entered a synagogue. A rabbi there gave her a Magen David. Without knowing it was illegal to wear this symbol in public, Allah put it on. When she exited the metro station, she found herself surrounded by ten skinheads in their 20s. "Since I was a child, there were many Jews and Zionists in my environment. In Novosibirsk there was no such open anti-Semitism, so I was not afraid," Alla explains. But there was indeed reason to fear. The attackers grabbed her Magen David and beat her badly, in broad daylight, as people passed by and no one intervened. Luckily, Alla's brother was just leaving his home to walk his dog and found his sister there, in the midst of a brutal crowd. An article depicting this story ran in the Leningrad Jewish newspaper with a huge picture of Alla. This article would play an important role in the near future. Alla and her family were invited by her grandmother and aunt to move to America. The paperwork and red tape were endless, but when the authorities looked up the story on this incident of abuse, they found the article and immediately paved the way for her to obtain a visa together with her family. The family discussed its options, but Alla refused to move anywhere other than Israel. Alla studied psychology and philology and worked as a psychology teacher after completing her studies, alongside her active involvement in Novosibirsk's emerging Jewish community. In 1991, Alla was the first coordinator of the youth club in the first Jewish cultural center in Novosibirsk. Alla married for the first of three times when she was 19 and had her daughter Ilana when she was just 20. Even though having a child slowed her burgeoning career, Alla remained involved in all her activities. "Kulam Rak Yehudim" [they were all Jewish], says Alla of her husbands, bubbling with a laugh that is both humble and confident. In 1995, a friend of Alla's called her and told her that "a guy from an organization called the Joint" asked to meet with all the young Jewish members of Novosibirsk. Alla came to the meeting, where she met Shmuel Levin, the JDC local representative at the time. Two weeks later her phone rang: it was Shmuel, inviting her to a seminar for Hillel leaders in Moscow the following month. Alla returned from the seminar to form the first Hillel club in the entire Siberian region. Half a year later, Shmuel appeared again and said that something more serious needed to be done. There was no JDC office in Novosibirsk. The local Jewish community was given funds and goods to distribute, such as honey for Rosh Hashanah, but nothing formal and organized was taking place. Shmuel asked Alla to head the JCC through its nascent stages. "This was the first time I said no," admits Alla, then 25. But alas, she ended up relenting and has been heading the Novosibirsk JCC ever since. Despite her avid involvement in Novosibirsk's Jewish community, Alla says she was missing some Jewish symbols in her life. She didn't have a chuppah for any of her marriages, and she never had a son for which she could have a bris. Her daughter Ilana had a Bat-Mitzvah celebration when she was 12, but this was mostly a party. "Through this program it was entirely different," says Alla, "and she was very excited to have the possibility to touch a Torah. Her feelings are entirely different." Ilana now attends boarding school in Israel. Alla raised her daughter to love the Jewish state and she says it was Ilana's own choice to come to study in Israel alone. "The family will come back together in Israel," insists Alla, who hopes to join her daughter at some point in the future. At the same time, this "something Jewish" is extremely devoted to contributing to her local community. She is indeed a light in the Siberian Diaspora, shining for others to remember their own Jewish connection and come closer, fanning the flame that somehow, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles and against great odds, has remained alive. April 2007 |
