Jewish Week - 03.14.2003

 

 

 

 

The Jewish Week  

Searching For A Voice On The Russian Front  

By Gary Rosenblatt - Editor and Publisher

MOSCOW — One of the prime complaints voiced by the participants in a conference here last week for more than 40 Russian Jewish journalists is that there are too many Jewish newspapers on the scene. 

Too many? Who knew there were any? 

Jewish life in Russia, conducted underground and illegally before the fall of the Soviet Union, has bubbled to the surface in any number of surprising and ever-changing ways in the last decade. Before 1990, the few Jewish newspapers were either illegal and underground or sanctioned by the state, with editors appointed by the Communist government. Today no one really knows how many Jewish publications there are in the country — not surprising in a country where estimates of the Jewish population range from 250,000 to 3 million — but it is clear there are hundreds and they are proliferating. 

Most are monthlies with little journalistic or literary merit, more like newsletters than newspapers, but they are a sign of Jewish life and activity in their communities. More and more, though, according to the editors at the conference, sponsored by the American-based Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, the newspapers are becoming a part of the competition among a handful of wealthy Jewish oligarchs vying with each other for power and control in the Jewish community. These businessmen tend to subsidize a number of Jewish organizations and activities, including newspapers widely perceived as promoting themselves and their political views. 

Basically, the organized Russian Jewish community is divided between Chabad, a major player on the scene with Lubavitch rabbis in 74 cities throughout the country and a network of schools and social services under the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, and the Russian Jewish Congress, a part of the international Jewish organizational establishment. 

Yakov Tzukerman, the editor of Ami (My People), which appears twice a month in St. Petersburg, said “each leader of a group is trying to present himself as the voice of the community and using the media to promote that belief.” 

Tzukerman was on a panel on increasing circulation in large communities with Alex Frenkel, editor of a St. Petersburg periodical for educators, and me. The participants may have been intrigued to hear from an American colleague as I described the challenges of seeking to appeal to such a large, diverse and passionate community as Jewish New York. But their basic goals and concerns were not about increasing subscriptions, expanding the advertising base or improving news coverage. Most Russian Jewish publications are free and do not carry advertising. They are affiliated with organizations whose cause they are promoting and they relish more independence. 

A few of these newspapers are serious enterprises, such as The Jewish Word in Moscow, affiliated with the Chabad-backed Federation, and The Jewish News, the weekly voice in Moscow of the Russian Jewish Congress. Nick Propirny, the young editor of Jewish News, dismissed the ownership issue as simply “the reality of the situation and part of the community-building process.” He said his newspaper is committed to taking a clear stand on issues, particularly in responding to anti-Semitism, a concern for many of the Russian publications. 

“The most important thing is to express our views as Jews and citizens, to show the authorities our concerns and to showcase the activities of the Jewish community to the rest of society.” 

But judging from the issues raised at our session, most of Propirny’s colleagues are averse to dealing with controversy. Two journalists from the Ukraine voiced worries about offending the majority population by criticizing Jews for Jesus; an editor from Odessa consulted a rabbi about whether or not to write about a large and particularly nasty demonstration of Palestinian students (he urged caution); and a woman from Kazakhstan stressed the need to exercise “self-control” in writing about Jewish conflicts in a Muslim country like hers. Other issues that came up, like whether or not to criticize local Jewish leadership, sounded disturbingly familiar to an American Jewish journalist. 

During the conference, an editor of a Chabad monthly, Jewish Soul, from Ufa, claimed she was fired for writing favorably about a Reform rabbi, but the specifics of the case were in dispute. 

After several days of comparing notes, voicing frustrations and trading information, the editors, meeting for a second consecutive year, decided they would like more hands-on guidance, professional workshops and critique of their work. There was even a suggestion of twinning with American Jewish newspapers. 

Dr. Jerry Hochbaum, executive director of the Memorial Foundation, was pleased with the outcome, primarily because “the decisions are coming from the participants themselves.” He is seeking to cultivate a sense of professionalism and camaraderie among the Russian Jewish journalists, believing they will play a major role in the renaissance of Russian Jewish life in the coming decades. 

Milton Gralla, an American philanthropist with a special interest in Russian Jewish life and journalism (he founded Gralla Publications and is on the board of directors of The Jewish Week), was the primary sponsor of the conference and spoke to the participants, offering practical information and encouraging them to cater to their readers’ interests. 

A flourishing and more credible Jewish press would be a boon in a country still in great flux, with about 1,000 Jews a month making aliyah (down from 5,000 to 8,000 in peak years) and, though little discussed, as many as 500 a month returning from Israel. Large numbers are leaving, as well, for Germany, whose Jewish population has doubled to over 180,000 in the last decade. 

One concern here is that as aliyah figures from Russia diminish, other international crises demand attention, like Israel and Argentina, and the economic situation remains dire, Israel’s Jewish Agency and the American Jewish establishment will reduce their support of Russian Jewry. There are signs this is already happening, though the Joint Distribution Committee says it will not abandon the community and the Chabad-backed Federation insists its funding from individual donors in the U.S., Israel and other countries is increasing dramatically. 

For now, Russia remains one of the last great frontiers of Jewish life, and whether the community assimilates, relocates or flourishes will help determine the strength of diaspora life in the new century.