American Roulette- The Ups and Downs of Russian Immigrants:Settling in . . .

...The simplest shopping expedition can take the better part of a day...

...Americans are usually very concerned about personal hygiene They react negatively to body or mouth odors, which they consider offensive They use mints, oral sprays or mouthwash to remove odors from smelly foods and body deodorant to check perspiration, women use sanitary napkins or tampons and special deodorants during their menstruaf periods It is customary in the United States to approach a policeman or postman for directions if you are lost...

...There is a fairly accurate and truthful newspaper in Russia, but only a few people ever see it It is called White Tass and only those with special security clearance ever see a copy When Krushchev died in 1971, only two Russian newspapers reported the death—both in a one-line article at the bottom of page 1. When Ford became President after Nixon, an American journalist was asked "Now that there is a new President, won't you be recalled to New York9" In Russia, a newspaper is part of the government, and the Soviet citizen did not believe that the expenses of the American journalist were not picked up by the American government Russians spend almost as much time lining up for consumer goods as Americans do watching television...

...But Comrade Potalov was an even greater inventor...

...From time to time, you will read of a swastika being painted on the walls of a synagogue, or gravestones in a Jewish cemetery being desecrated Perhaps you will overhear an anti-Semitic remark But, :f you do, bear in mind that this is the work of individuals, or small groups of individuals It is not government policy, nor the policy of any respected American institution Acquisition of English is the single best way you can actively prepare yourself for the journey to the United States...

...He invented Comrade Nyetyev...

...My father and I went to a baseball game, and walking out of the stadium we both had the same feeling In Russia, the crowd was not like this In Russia you always had to be afraid of the crowd There were always a lot of drunk people, and often anti-Semites, I don't think Americans know very much about the kind of thing that went on in Russia In Russia the worst person is a pro-Soviet Jew, and you really have to watch out for them There was a boy in medical school, and I knew he was Jewish, but I was very suspicious After I left the country he got in touch with me, and I was even more suspicious It turns out that he was honest, and wanted to leave He now lives in Boston and we are friends, and laugh about the old days It turns out that in Moscow he was also suspicious of me Americans smile a lot, especially in public I like that In Russia, there is an understanding that if somebody is taking care of you in a store, you have to be patient because at that moment he is the worker It's the opposite of here—there the customer is always wrong Here I go into a store and people are friendly, and talk to you, joke around That is important to me You think my English is good now...

...There is a story about two men and a woman left by scientists on a desert island They are Spaniards, after three months the scientists return and find the woman alone "They have killed each other in a duel over me," she says The same thing is done with three people from France The scientists return to find one man working, who tells them, "Each of us is her lover for three weeks at a time Now it is his turn " In the English version, each of the three tells the scientists "We never even met each other, because we had not been properly introduced" In the Russian version the two men are found at a table, drinking soda water and making boring speeches to each other When asked where the woman was, one of the men answered, "The masses are working in the fields" Selections from Entering a New Culture, a bilingual book given to Russian immigrants by HIAS in Rome, explaining life in the United States...

...An excellent analysis of the problem appears in the November 1, 1974, issue of Analysis The report is by George Johnson, and it is entitled "Which Promised Land...

...And in New York there is even a special shop for left-handed people...

...On the contrary it became clear to us that most of the people we spoke with are unusual in several respects they are highly educated, they come mostly from Moscow, and their adjustment problems have been relatively easy Three Yuli, 65, was a distinguished professor of chemistry at Kiev University...

...Well," she replied, "this is certainly very nice, Leonid But tell me— what do you doif the Reds come back...

...But we were impressed by the tremendous personal courage of the Russian Jews we met, and also with the dedication and talent of the organized Jewish community...

...There are only a few million cars in Russia, but there are almost as many traffic fatalities as in the United States The biggest public problem in Russia is widespread drunkenness...

...There is a privileged class that enjoys opportunities that are unknown to the rest of the country, although in our terms they would be commonplace for the middle class...

...American Roulette— The Ups and Downs of Russian Immigrants William Novak Settling in . . . The subject of Soviet Jewish resettlement in the United States turns out to be far more complicated than it appears, and the more we learned, the more we realized that we could do little more than scratch the surface...

...A Soviet first grade reader begins with the sentence "The first country of socialism in the world became the first country of children's happiness in the world " Russian joke: "Is Comrade Nyetyev the greatest and most important inventor of all time...

...You are going to a country where you can live your life as a Jew without fear of discrimination at work or at school You will have the opportunity to attend a synagogue if you so desire If you want to provide your children with a Jewish education, this, too, will be possible From now on you will not be a Jew simply because your Soviet passport indicated this as your nationality For further reading: An excellent analysis of the basic issues can be found in the article by Betsy Gid-witz which appears elsewhere in this issue For a more personal view see "Voyages" by Susan Quinn m Boston Magazine, March, 1977 A conference on the Integration of Soviet Jews into the American Jewish Community was held last year and the proceedings have been published in a booklet called The Soviet Jewish Emigre, available from the Baltimore Hebrew College, Center for the Study of Soviet Jewish Emigration and Resettlement...

...Don't be surprised if you see a fair number of left-handed people...

...Salaries are so low that most people find a way to earn extra money There is actually a curse in Odessa that goes "May he live on his salary" It takes a couple of years to get a new car in Russia, which leads to the strange situation of a used car being at least as expensive as a new car, because it can be sold privately, without a waiting period...

...Russian joke Brezhnev wanted to impress his mother from the Ukraine, so he had her brought to Moscow, where she saw his personal country house, his hunting lodge, his cars, his banquet room, and all his servants But she showed no visible reaction to any of this Finally, unable to restrain himself, he asked, "Tell me, Mama, what do you think...

...It wasn't so good when I came I got a job working with little kids in a hospital here, and that's the best way to learn English If you don't understand they yell at you But I got friendly with them and some of them still phone me My father was a lawyer in Russia, and he is here now, but for him it is not so easy to find work I saw a lot of things as an ambulance driver that made me know about the worst parts of the Soviet Union I think Americans should know about these things, especially from people like me who lived there, and not just from the government and television I like the people of this country, and on the 4th of July I felt like I was part of America Enid Shapiro, a supervisor for the Jewish Family and Child Service, is in charge of Russian resettlement in Boston...

...Comrade Nyetyev invented toilet paper, the electric razor, the registry office, the automatic fleatrap, the ultrashort wave and the beer glass...

...American schools do not prohibit the use of the left hand for writing...

...A three-year-old came home from nursery one day and admonished her father "Uncle Lenin says to brush your teeth every day, not the way you do'" The father decided to get back, and told the girl, "If you don't behave, Uncle Lenin will come and eat you up " The school sent a note of protest to the father Advice from an engineering supervisor on how to survive the Soviet system: "Think one thing, say something else, and do a third thing...

...on the contrary, the class structure in Russia is solidly The people we spoke with kept talking about their experiences in Russia, and gradually I realized that this was more than nostalgia...

...entrenched...

...And this picture, the man in t'fillin, of course I made that here In Russia, art is politics Everything is politics The saddest part is leaving our family and our friends And the problem of English It makes us feel like small children, not being able to speak The radio and the television go so quickly The best way to learn English is to speak to people We learn about news from the Soviet Union by reading this Russian newspaper every day, from New York It is called Novoye Russkoye Slovo, which means New Russian Word He is a mechanic, around 50 He speaks English haltingly so Yuli Glazman interpreted for us English is a big problem for us We study at Hebrew College three evenings a week, but it is very difficult It is also very difficult to start your life all over again From zero But there are also good things We have much help from Jewish Family and Child Services I don't mean just financial help and help with documents They also give personal help, like in a family This summer they helped my son Boris go on a trip across the United States in a travel camp We thought America would be different Here when things are in the window, they are really for sale in the store—food and clothing and other tnings My son When we came to Boston, we were given an apartment and even food in the refrigerator We were very happy with this I don't think all the Russians who come here have enough appreciation for what they have But coming here is like being thrown into the water and they tell you to swim They say it is easier for young people, but for our daughter it is hard She is in high school in Brooklme She misses Russia Maybe we kept from her some of the bad things we knew about Russia when we were there I am not religious, but I like to go to the synagogue I don't understand Hebrew or English, and it is difficult But I have a good feeling there Life is so different When I pick up the phone here I am still afraid somebody is listening, even though I know that does not happen here You see this picture on the wall7 It is Nixon and Brezhnev I keep it here for nostalgia (He laughs) saw meat in a butcher store, and he thought there was so much meat that maybe it was artificial I am not a religious Jew but to walk in a Jewish building and see the Israeli flag and Jewish pictures on the wall—this is a very great thing Also Friday night, seeing Jews walking to the synagogue My son wanted to have a bnt milah He spoke with the Bostoner Rebbe, who wanted to make sure that we, his parents, were not forcing him to do it We wrote about this to our relatives in Russia, and they could not understand They were sure we were being forced to do it America is very different from Russia Americans don't understand how bad it is in Russia But I also think in America there is maybe too much freedom People here don't always know what they want, but they keep wanting more Also there is An elusive and impish fellow, David K did not enjoy being interviewed, and said very little about himself He was fortunate enough to have had a job offer from Harvard before he left the Soviet Union, where he was evidently a well-known professor of mathematics Yes, I am a religious Jew, and I was a religious Jew in Moscow, although my family was not religious Everybody thinks it was hard to be religious in Moscow It was not so hard It was not easy, but it was not so hard If you wanted to be, you could be In fact, I think maybe it was easier there, because in Russia you are aware more of your dependence upon HaShem We had kosher meat in Moscow You had to stand in line a long time, but we had it There is one man, an A mathematician, Alexander didn't want his last name used because he has parents in the Soviet Union He came a few months ago with his wife and a daughter, and his wife recently gave birth to another daughter It was very difficult when we came here I didn't know if I would have a job, and we had a small daughter Also, my wife was pregnant, and that made us nervous But at the airport they took care of us and brought us to a new apartment And there was even food in the refrigerator The first thing I noticed when I came to this country were the big cars, and the men's trousers, which are shorter than in Russia In Russia I was a mathematician and computer programmer at the National Meteorological Center too much crime, and the punishment is not strict enough older man, who is a shoichet and also a mohel After he dies...

...The Realities of American Absorption of Soviet Jews " Analysis is published by the Institute for Jewish Policy Planning and Research of the Synagogue Council of America, in Washington, DC...

...The most important thing to understand, I think, is the issue of loss The Russians are simply clobbered by loss Think of all they have given up family, friends, memories, language, culture, status And what makes it worse is the knowledge that they can never go back, not even to visit What often happens in cases of loss is that the person will try to idealize the lost person or object This makes the adjustment even more difficult at times Occasionally, the losses are emotionally overwhelming and lead to real depression and immobilization The other mam problems are more obvious language and job And they are linked—it's hard to get a good job if you don't speak the language It's especially hard for people who were editors, writers, translators, people who worked with language, there are only a few job possibilities for them Those who arrive here with some English are miles ahead of the rest It's a very hard language for older adults to learn, and the process is slow and painful and frustrating One thing^Amencans .don't understand is that in Russia your job is everything More specifically, your actual title, even if it isn't the same as your job Your title is the equivalent of an American's job, financial and family status rolled into one The Russians often exhaust our social workers They have no concept of a philanthropic organization, and even though our Russian clients understand intellectually what our agency is about and how it works, emotionally, to them, we're part of a system they have spent their whole lives trying to overcome For us this is a tremendous responsibility, and for them too, in some ways But for them it's also a great advantage, this persistence and readiness to do battle with us It helped them to get out of Russia and must be considered a strength We have to see it from both sides Our main concern at this agency is the reunification of families Jobs are the responsibility of our sister agency, the Jewish Vocational Service, we are both funded by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and we work together There is a terrible problem with the old people, who often have mixed feelings about coming It's simply not worth it for many of them, and in Russia they have been through a lot, and have aged quickly But often the government insists that the old people go too, so they become, in a sense, reverse hostages, and that too causes problems They cannot work, do not adjust easily, and are eligible for only a small social security supplement There are now close to six hundred Russian Jews in Boston, and we take in about seventy-five families a year Their resettlement is long and complicated, and generally it takes a full year just to begin to adjust to their new lives here The people coming now are a little more realistic about what life will be like here, and about the job and language problems, they are under fewer illusions, and there are also a number of Russians in the city who can be of some help to them It's a tremendous responsibility, but I am very proud of the job we are doing We feel we are participating in a piece of Jewish history and our workers are dedicated to making that as meaningful as possible Moment/51 Americans still know relatively little about the Soviet Union, but in the past decade there have been many opportunities, including travelers, emigres, and, most recently, two extraordinary books, both by American journalists The Russians by Hednck Smith, and Russia by Robert Kaiser Both books are sensitive and fascinating, remarkably similar to each other, full of portraits and anecdotes of daily life in Russia Here are some facts, stories and jokes from these two books No map of Russia is allowed to be completely accurate...

...To be sure, there are scores of problems, but there is also slow and steady progress in the face of many obstacles...

...Except in specific scientific, technological and military areas, there is virtually no truth to the notion that the Soviet Union is a modern industrial society roughly on a par with the United States Many aspects of Soviet life are two, three, and even five decades behind America, Soviet dentistry is said to be equivalent to American dentistry in 1955 Nor is there any truth to the idea that Russia is a classless society...

...Why...

...In principle, yes...

...Here are some of the points she made with us in an interview...

...There are rock bands in Russia, but they are told what to play by the authorities...

...The conversations with Soviet Jews in Boston which are reported on the following pages are not intended to be a representative selection...

...I don't know what will be after he dies Here I go to several synagogues I go to Bet Pinchas, to the Talner Reb-be's, also to Soleveichik's shiur on Saturday nights The big difference for a religious Jew is that here there are opportunities to study Books9 Oh, we had books in Russia Not new books, but you don't always need new books English is not such a problem for me because I work in mathematics, which is a universal language We had a seder in Boston, yes Not, it really wasn't different from our seder in Moscow Boston is nicer than I had imagined I had heard that America had tall buildings and pollution I was happy to see all the trees here in Moscow Now I have a temporary research job here at Harvard, working for a scientist who studies sunspots and atmospheric characteristics Sometimes to get a job here you have to start as a volunteer In my case, I had help also from some Russian friends here Life here is very different from in the Soviet Union The hours at work are the same, and on the surface there is not much difference But the difference is in how you use your time In Boston, I go home after work In Russia, I had to go shopping, and this would take several hours on most days, and also a big part of the weekend Here I have much more time to be together at home with my family, watching television, reading, being with friends in the evening Leonid is a 25-year-old medical doctor, and we could have spoken with him for days He is absolutely charming, terribly sociable, and extremely bright and sensitive—almost too good to be true I am a very happy person Sometimes people see me and say, "Leonid, stop smiling so much, you've already been her° - "e" But I am happy ^ .".ere In Moscow I was a medical student, and during my training I became an ambulance driver In Russia an ambulance driver is almost a doctor, and it was almost like being a resident But a foreign doctor has to pass a difficult examination in the United States, and I don't know yet whether I passed the exam I have just taken I came here after spending five months traveling in Italy I had no great trouble fitting in I love sports, especially following the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots And I love cars I had a car in Moscow, a very old car which I fixed up myself And I even did a little racing there, but my father doesn't know, so we shouldn't mention it Who knows7 Maybe I'll race here too some day I didn't know I was a Jew in Russia until I was beaten up when I was a child I wasn't the only kid like this A nine-year-old girl who had learned all the anti-Semitic sayings in school was told by her parents that she was Jewish She cried and threatened to run away from home, until her parents told her how many of their friends were Jewish She gave them a funny look and said, "Hey, aren't there any Russians in this country...

...Any bus driver, taxi driver or gas station attendant in the neighborhood can also be of assistance...

...Did he invent even more things...

...Here, he has found part-time jobs, in universities and in private industry, as a consultant Natasha, ten years younger, was a professor of English literature, and her fluency in the language has been enormously helpful in her new life They came to Boston to join their daughter Alia, who recently married another Soviet emigre Yuli Am I homesick...

...Yes and no I was born in Kiev, and I spent my whole life there But you have to see the difference between the government and the people I hate the government, but there are many people I love Still, I can't say that it is easy to leave However much you want to leave the country you hate, you still leave your whole life behind While I was still in Kiev, some of my colleagues and friends were able to go to Israel The authorities would come to me every few weeks and ask me to denounce them in public, at a press conference I kept refusing, and finally I lost my job Only then did I apply for my exit visa Please understand I am not a fighter, a hero, or a dissident But I want to be an honest person, and that's why I had to leave Every person must create for himself a level below which he will not go different sources referred to these people as "creme de la creme" We were also struck by a new appreciation of the country in which all of this takes place This may best be summed up in the following passage, which is from a bilingual handbook distributed to Soviet emigrants in Rome by the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society "A concept that is difficult to I have two sisters, one in Israel, one in Moscow I am very close to both of them I have just made a tape to send to my sister in Israel But I must be very careful in writing to my sister in Moscow She has a son who is on his way up, and she doesn't want us to get him into trouble with our letters I think that the Western press does not really understand the Soyiet Union To me it is like Hitler before the war The Western countries kept hoping that if they would give him what he wanted, he would go away But he wanted more and more The Western press tells the truth, but they do not tell the whole truth, how bad things really are in Russia I think it is important that people know these things I think the only language that the Soviets understand is the language of power Natasha I quit my job before we applied for the visa, so that my friends would not be in trouble because of me Our house had always been full of life, with many visitors, and the telephone always ringing But an application to leave is a public act, and everybody knows about you Suddenly our house became empty, the telephone was silent People asked us not to call them except from a phone booth There are many more in Russia who want to leave, but they are afraid You explain and which may be difficult for you to grasp is that by identifying with the Jewish community, you will not be lessening your identity as an American It may sound like a cliche, but one of the benefits of being in contact with the Russian Jews in our midst is the opportunity to appreciate anew the privilege of living in a liberal democratic society never know for sure whether you will get permission Suddenly we got permission, and we had two weeks to settle all the affairs of our lives If we wanted to take some books that we owned, we had to buy them back from the State, even though they were already ours At the border station, things got very bad They try to humiliate people, and they do a good job, overturning your luggage, stealing from you, causing you to almost miss the tram, making you run to catch it with all of your luggage When the train arrived in Vienna, it was for us like sunshine after a heavy rain A bus met us at the station, people helped us with our luggage, and they were very kind But leaving is very difficult We know of a boy from Moscow who had a broken arm At the Moscow airport, they wanted to break his cast because they said he might be smuggling diamonds A doctor at the airport heard about this and he looked at the cast through an X-ray and he said it was really a broken arm But sometimes I wonder if that doctor got into trouble for this Vienna was for us a chance to rest We had matzah on Passover, and I was amazed by this In Russia when we had matzah in our house, if somebody knocked on the door we would hide them They are about 40, and have been in Boston less than a year Their English is very weak, and we spoke through an interpreter They both have jobs at a greeting-card company, where Anatoly is an artist Life is very different for us here We live in this apartment In Russia, you have your apartment for your whole life, and you take very special care of it Here it is In Vienna, I worked for two months for HIAS, translating for other Russian Jews This helped me regain my human dignity But sometimes people stay too long in Vienna, or especially in Rome, and they become frustrated or depressed When we arrived in Boston, the apartment was ready for us The first few months, though, are very difficult You don't know what you will be doing, and at our age it is very difficult to start over You actually have to forget that you once were something You have to be very modest when you come here We now have close friends, and the people here are very nice But jobs are the biggest problem Of course it is easier for the young people I taught Russian at MIT for one semester It wasn't a big job or anything but it made me feel wonderful Being able to work is so important Now Yuh is teaching at Tufts, and he has been helped through the American Council for Emigres in Professions, which is a wonderful organization in New York Of course we knew it would be difficult here, but you really can't imagine what another country will be like until you live there But we are used to problems In the Soviet Union, we have a saying the only permanent thing is temporary difficulties different You don't know how long you will stay, so you don't work on it so much Our last year in Russia was very bad There were two meetings in which a hundred of my colleagues talked against me, called me a traitor I was even accused of knowing military secrets, which is ridiculous We wanted to take some of my paintings out of Russia, and we had to buy them from the government, even though they were mine Being an artist in the Soviet Union is very different from here You are told what to paint, and what you cannot paint They would usually ask me to paint a picture of Lenin, or a mural of workers for the wall of a new factory You see this picture of Beethoven'' They asked me, why do you want to make of picture of him...

...Even in this age of spy satellites, each city, town and river must be depicted a short distance from its actual location...