Judaism in Tomsk

So after almost 7 weeks in Russia, I wanted to write a short entry about Jewish life in this country. I started of sampling Russian Judaica when I was in Petersburg for Shabbat. Appearantly Chabad has really taken over the shul there. At first it obviously was not a big deal at all to me but quickly into my Shabbat activities there I realized that the moshichistim there had really gotten a strong hand as during services the people actually circles the bimah singing this and that about the Rebbe wearing their moshiachist kippot. Ergh. Shabbat came and went and I was quickly off to Moscow to spend the chag at the Choral Shul. The best description would be somewhere between Modern Orthodox and Haredi. There was a huge meal on the first night of the chag....and after an all night learning session which took place right after I had been out drinking all night. Needless to say I was not awake by the time Shacharit came around. Two days in Moscow...all in all a good time.

Zdravstujte tovarishi,

After a long break from writing update emails, I decided that it was time to write a little something about the continuation of travels in Siberia. I feel like these emails should be really deep and personal about all the epiphanies that I have been experiencing here, but Russia has sucked all of this creativity and thought out me. So instead I will tell you about something so Russian that well it just does not get any more Russian. At first I thought that a kvartira right next to the Central Market would be splendid, however, I was slightly naive in realizing that fresh fruit and vegetables also seem to attract old, half drunken men that want to sell their old metal products and etc. And apparently I was also oblivious to the illegal distillery that is quietly located in one of the old wooden homes, that put Tomsk on the map of any Siberian history aficionado. Really I could not quite put my fingers on why there were so many drunks crawling around this area, even by Russian standards. The local Rabbi let me in on the illegal distillery and even pointed out its exact location. So if anyone needs a bottle of inexpensive alcohol please tell me although danger origin unknown. Beside abnormally high levels of alcoholism and divorce that malaise the general public, another problem that seems to plague Russian society is the high involvement in crime amongst Russian males. This has become very apparent to me after I realized that the full arm tattoos that I have been spotting here are not actually a new fad, but rather authentic prison tattoos. Furthermore I did not realize that these tattoos actually tell a story. Apparently they illustrate the crimes that these men committed. In a way these permanently illustrated stories allow for a quick recognition of the exact crime committed and furthermore serve as a way to rank the prisoners in a sort of prison hierarchy. Thus murders are usually placed somewhere on the top, and people who perpetrated crimes that were sexual in origin, are placed somewhere towards the bottom of this hierarchy. As you might have guessed this hierarchy will determine how each prisoner is treated while incarcerated. And while the living standards for many have improved, the majority of Russians are still having a difficult time making ends meet. This is probably the most important reason for why so many have and are turning to crime. On a lighter side I have officially concluded that freedom of press is non existent in this country. While this may seem like an obvious point, I was still hoping to find a different state of affairs of Russian mass media. Not only is the quality of written press low as most newspapers are a mixture of low quality pornography, tabloids, and crosswords but the television here has been mostly been taken over by the government and government supporters. While at first, the six channels offered free to everyone may seem adequate in terms of conveying and receiving information, the sad reality is all the channels are really one and the same. Ironically a week and a half ago, Kanal Rossiya transmitted a detailed newscast about mass demonstrations in Ulaan Batar sponsored by the opposition in light of rigged elections, yet demonstrations sponsored by Yabloko in Moscow and Petersburg never received any attention by the media giants. In fact most people that I have spoken to never even realized that Yabloko held illegal demonstrations in Moscow and Petersburg. Thus this unofficial official press censorship has not only contributed to a very biased state of affairs in Russian mass media but has also effectively created low quality press that the average Russians are eager to buy. At first I thought the thing that I missed kosher food the most but now that I actually sit and ponder, with Russian television in the background, a good newspaper is what I seem to miss the most. I guess the New York Times' liberal slant has nothing on Russian official censure of basically any type of written and televised media. Beside this all is well with me, and in fact I am off on a 'big' excursion to the Altay Mountains. If you have no idea where they are located, do not worry as I was probably as clueless as you are right now. On that note I hope all is well at home and a very early Shabbat Shalom from Siberia.
Piotr

Bring on the heat

So the mercury is up and heat has officialy arrived in Tomsk.  Its kind of a funny situation because supposedly the heat only lasts for two to three weeks before it starts cooling down again.  Hopefully it will start cooling down soon because I just cannot function in these high temperatures.  So to keep on updating you on what has been happening in the last couple of weeks.  Well lots in a way and then from another perspective it is really a predictable schedule, sort of monotone if you will.  The gist of the situation is that throughout most of the day I am at the University taking classes on Russian this or that.  Later there is usually some movie or event that I often times just feel like going to or I just sleep through.  Although some of the lectures have been somewhat mind stimulating.  Basically my social life revolves around drinking vodka with Russians that I met through the shul or my choziajka.  Usually its a fun time but lets be honest my liver is going to hate me soon.  Cirrhosis? Liver Cancer? Alcoholism?  I don't know all seem like potential conseuquences of this Russian summer.  But I have been able to meet some really interesting people, so I feel that has been the defining moment of this summer.  People here are generally interested in making new friends, so I feel this is a much easier task than in the good ole US of A.  I have sent out a second update email to friends and family, and I think I will be posting that soon because it has some interesting points about some Russian subtlties.  Someone asked me today whether I liked Russia.  The more thought I gave to the question, the more I realized that I cannot really answer that questiion.  Suppose the best answer would be this perplexing love-hate relationship.  ALthough I am convinced this question should best be left for when I am back in Ann Arbor.  

Not quite dead

So after some intense internal debate, I decided at another attempt of regularly updating my blog. I was mostly moved by the fact that other people seen to manage fine with this and the fact that I am really hungover this morning and cannot seem to concentrate on doing anything beside web browsing. Although in all honesty I do not expect my blog to be a hit. Since I have not updated in a while, it is hard to actually decide where I should start. As many of you know I was a lucky recipient of the State Dept Critical Language Scholarship. The governemnt is basically trying to encourage more Americans to master critically needed languages- lucky me Russian made the scholarship list a year ago. Thus based on language level, the participants were placed in one of four cities: Samara, Nizhni Novgorod, Astrahan, and Tomsk. Being the master linguist that I am, the governemnt decided to send me to Tomsk, Siberia along with 18 other helpless victims. After a two day orientation and some drama regarding flying on Shavuot and me threatening to sue the program director, I was able to get my ticket changed so that I could spend Shavuot in Moscow and not on the airplane. I might have been a little rude but at least I got my way. After the chag I arrived into Tomsk, and I swear I thought that the 30 yeard old Kras Air Boeing was about to crash. But Baruch Hashem I survived that momentous approach into Tomsk. The terminal left lots to be desired but I will try my best not to complain. At least the bathrooms were not little holes in the ground which I assure you are the prevelent modes of relieving oneself in this part of the world. Well as they say the rest is history....well not quite as I still have two weeks left in this quickly developing city that is located roughly between Kazakchstan and Mongolia. Stay tuned for more updates!

Shabbat in Krakow- Hope

This post is less about Shabbat but more about what transpired after Shabbat ended. I actually ended up having a great Shabbat. The people I ended up meeting turned out to be great. At last I felt like I really belonged. In this community I was not a ger but a Jew...a Polish Jew...a feeling that I had not had untill then. In America I always get the vibe that people think of me as a convert. It's hard to mask my lack of Jewish upringing- everyone always going home for the chagim or discussing their bubbe's recipees. Oh well, I guess the cultural thing comes with time. After Shabbat I inadvertantly invited myself over to a Mezzuzah Party. This meant that a girl who just moved into a new apartament hung a new Mezzuzah and then we all got drunk and talked till almost 3 AM. I have to say that this was probably the highlight of my trip. It really allowed to dig deeper into the happenings at the Krakow community and into the personal experiences that the individuals in the kehilla had. The next day I was invited to a BBQ at the newly built JCC that Prince Charles and his wife Camilla opened and so generously funded. It was a blast. The evening also promised to be fruitful as I went out to the bar with a couple people from the community. Overall a great time!

Shabbos in Krakow - Despair

This experience oddly enough will need not one but two entries. Why you might be curious. Well i had two feelings that conflicted throughout my first Shabbat in Poland. The first was of a sort of despair, anger, and disillusionment. We knew that Shabbat evening we would be eating with the small community and the Shavei Israel Rabbi, Boaz Pash and the following morning we would be eating by the Chabad shaliach. Turns out that the Rebbe changed his mind about sending shluchim to Poland. Friday night davening proved to be a powerful experience for me. The chazzan, a 92 year old Krakowian Jew and as you guessed Holocaust survivor led the kehilla in what almost seemed as anachronistic tunes of pre-War Kazimierz. Appearantly he is the Baal tefilla whenever he manages to make it to shul, which from my understaning is almost every Shabbat. The overall mood at least initially was that of despair. Small community with few prospects. Yes there is a full time Rabbi working there and yes Prince Charles opened a fancy JCC and yes there even is a Chabad family there-- but for what? The community officialy has 200 members. The Rabbi reckons there many more Jews than that, yet, they all seem to be hidding.

Arrival in Poland

So I must admit the idea of creating and blog and actually posting in it seemed a bit challenging seeing how lazy I can get. However, I am going to attempt this difficult task and hopefully the results will be positive. On a more serious note this whole journey to Poland was one that I really was not sure if I wanted to make. Many things in my life have changed so I was just not sure how returning after a three year absence would feel. As many of you know I converted to Judaism; twice to be exact, with the final conversion being the G-d willing last one. I mean how much blood and how many paper clips can a guy possibly endure. In America people talk about Polish anti-semitism quite candidly, and honestly this is the topic that is of most interest to me. I hope that through this journey I will be able to find myself as a Polish Jew and really be able to place myself in the patchwork of world Jewry, because up to now I have had a hard time really fitting in. Hopefully once I learn about practices and traditions of Polish Judaism I will feel more secure in my practice. On a lighter note, Asa and I arrived into Warsaw yesterday. The new airport is really not that pretty however its much better than the old box that Okecie had for years. Essentially we collected our baggage and grabbed a taxi for the Warszawa Centralna Railway Station. In no time did the taxi driver start complaining about life in Poland. Welcome home I guess? We bought our tickets to Krakow and found a luggage storage place at the station. We forgot that the storage office had a half hour break right when we wanted to pick up our stuff to get onto the train. The whole situation stunk of communism that somehow the one giving a certain service was more important than the costumer himself. My first screaming match in Poland because of bad service. First battle won. During our wait for the train to Krakow we had a chance of making a pit stop at Warsaw's only functioning shul. Even had a kosher meal there. The trip and reaction deserve an entry of their own. Shul starts at 19:30. If you don't know what that means shame on you! We supposed to be davening at the Remu Shul in the Kazimierz district and then hopefully we're going to eat at Rabbi Boaz Pash's. I am greatly anticipating this and hope to have a positive taste in what seems to be Judenfrei Poland.