Anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi attitudes are strengthening not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Several hours ago Jews of the whole world began to celebrate Hanukkah, the holiday of light and fire. Berel Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, lit a menorah, a traditional sacral lamp, on Revolution Square. A concert was organized there. The custom to light one candle after another symbolizes the multiplication of light and people’s need to do more today than they did yesterday. Nobody talked about politics on the night from December 16th to December 17th. However, the day before, Berel Lazar held a press conference at which he touched on topical issues for Jews.

The Chief Rabbi stressed that the problem of anti-Semitism in the world was hushed up, despite its acuteness: “In Europe anti-Semitism is on the rise. There are forces which try to forbid religious rituals. And the world is keeping silent.”

Jews in Ukraine

Berel Lazar is especially concerned about the situation in Ukraine: “We are all sorry about the developments there. I think Ukraine has lost a lot in a year. They used to have friendly relations with their brothers in Russia, they used to have prospects when they were together, when these nations stood side by side. I think they feel it. But every person lives in his own country, and he should follow the laws of the country. Jews have always known that, wherever they live, they should live according to the current reality of the country. The Jewish community has never been involved in political affairs. And Jews don’t want the developments there. Perhaps they are hostages of the situation. In our prayers we always ask God to stop the conflict, so that people inside Ukraine understand each other. This is the biggest disaster. People from Lugansk, Donetsk say: “We were all together, and now they shoot us.” It is painful to listen to the people who lived well there, but today everything is ruined, unfortunately. Speaking about negative moments, the worst thing was the misunderstanding which accumulated inside Ukraine. Today the situation is completely out of control, and, unfortunately, people have lost the foundations – respect, love, the importance and appreciation of life.”

Speaking about the Dnepropetrovsk community, Berel Lazar noted: “I think this is the only community in Ukraine today which feels relatively comfortable. Unfortunately, other rabbis don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. They really don’t understand how they will live. People are not confident about anything – economically or politically. So we pray that people will find a way out of the situation as soon as possible and return to the good life which they had before the conflict.”

Jews in Russia

According to the Rabbi, on the contrary, in Russia Jewish communities are prospering and feel safe: “Thank God inside the Jewish community everything is developing – educational programs, sporting programs. We are working in places where there are people who have difficulties with following certain commandments, for example, people in prisons and hospitals. We have begun to help them to a greater extent. Today there are synagogues in some prisons.”

According to the Rabbi, the education of young people helps society to resist the radicalization of society effectively. For many people, communication in a religious community is an “injection” against Nazi ideology: “But the most positive changes which we see are that young people participate in the community’s life. They become very active; many clubs are being founded, even special rooms, sometimes buildings in various cities for young people. Today there is interest in the values which are very important for us – human life in general, understanding how to fight such ideologies as fascism, Nazism, and so on. And we see that there is a big desire and people want to know about their traditions and history.”

Berel Lazar thinks that, despite the fact the Soviet Union strived to eliminate the religious and cultural legacy of Hebrew, young people are turning to their traditional legacy, actively integrating into religious communities, choosing a Jewish identity and are proud of it: “If 70 years ago they tried to destroy everything which was connected with religion, the history of our nation, today there is a generation of young people who were born after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and these restrictions don’t exist in their minds. They openly say: “Yes, we are Jews, and we are proud of it. We want to participate, we want to participate actively in the community’s life, we are not ashamed that we are Jews.” They wear Jewish clothes, and I believe it is a new generation inside the Jewish community of Russia. It is a new approach which is more open and more proud. It hasn’t existed before. Previously, people visited synagogues, but were a bit ashamed of this, they didn’t participate so actively. The synagogue is their home.”

As a result there is a lack of synagogues and community centers, their overcrowding. “We always think about building new ones. Recently in Moscow there was a meeting of heads of various communities. Today there are more than 30 places where Jews gather to pray. We think there should be at least 60 of them. The Jewish community is developing in all aspects here. I recently visited the Far East, Birobidzhan, Khabarovsk, other communities, and saw that Jews participated in the communities’ life, help, grant, and think about the future confidently.”