The Long Lasting Journey

Over three thousand years separates biblical Jews exited from Egypt from the last wave of Jewish migrants exited from Russia. In present time, hundreds of thousands modern day Russian Jews found themselves in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. Why did they leave their country of birth? Why people that used to be Jews in Russia became Russians in America? What country are they loyal to? And finally, who is the Russian Jew? The author reflects about the reasons for the Jewish...
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Over three thousand years separates biblical Jews exited from Egypt from the last wave of Jewish migrants exited from Russia. In present time, hundreds of thousands modern day Russian Jews found themselves in the United States, Israel, and elsewhere. Why did they leave their country of birth? Why people that used to be Jews in Russia became Russians in America? What country are they loyal to? And finally, who is the Russian Jew? The author reflects about the reasons for the Jewish emigration from Russia in 1970s-1990s and the eternal question of Jewish loyalty to a country of their residence. This book is about the principled fiber of the people deeply rooted into the Russian culture but keeping the elusive difference from the Russian mainstream; their mind-set also alienates them from the American mainstream. Historical and social conditions of the twentieth century have formed the distinct culture of Soviet Jews – educated, secular, and ambitious. Through the example of his own fortune, the author attempts to describe the divisive experience of these people and observe how their culture melts to an American one going through identity crisis. A combination of personal experience, focused observations, and subjective reflections about people of the last exodus determined the substance of this book.