First CIS Students Conference on Jewish Studies
Moscow, July 4 - 7, 1996
OVERVIEW
By: Aleksei Siverstsev
The First CIS Students' Conference on Jewish Studies took place in Moscow, July 4 - 5, 1996 almost simultaneously with the the second stage of presidential elections in Russia. The very fact, that the conference was the first one of its kind, together with general uncertainity of Russia's polititical future, raised a lot of questions and doubts as to the prospects for this enterprise: Would it be able to meet the interests of various groups of students, in Judaic studies all over the FSU? To what extent would its Academic nature be appropriate for this? What would be the place of this initiative in the life of Jewish community ? An effort was made to answer at least some of these questions.
The conference was designed to be a continuation, and to a certain degree, a check-point in the process of reestablishing of Jewish Higher education in the FSU. The academic goal therefore was, to introduce students to the variety of Jewish studies both in the FSU and abroad, to help them overcome the feeling of intellectual and social isolation, and to look at their studies in a much broader perspective. At the same time, the idea was to establish close personal contacts among the participants, to introduce them to the Jewish life of Moscow, and to the general issues of Jewish community development in the FSU. As a result, a student would be able to bridge the gap between his/her academic interests and personal position in the Jewish community. It was also intended to introduce gifted and serious students from the FSU along with their works to the broad circles of Jewish scholars.
The fact, that the conference was immediately recognised as a part of Jewish academic, as well as community life in Moscow, played an essential role in successful realisation of its agenda. Financial and organisational support was provided by the Moscow branch of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Ralph Goldman and Seymour Epstein took part in the plenary session on the first day of the conference. The biggest and most important help in organising the conference came from the "Sefer" center in Moscow. It would be impossible to do anything without everyday practical help and moral support from its director Dr. Rashid Kaplanov, Victoriya Motchalova, Lyudmila Chulkova and Dr. Leonid Matsikh. The center also passed to us its authority and prestige among local students and researchers. In fact, the conference got the image of "Sefer's" second generation initiative.
During preparation of the conference we tried to take into account the full scale of academic and non-academic interests of prospective participants. The program included a plenary session with introductory lectures of world-famous specialists in particular fields of Jewish studies, a round table on the role of Youth Jewish organisation in the Jewish communities of the FSU, workshops on a specific branches of Jewish studies, Moscow Hillel's program and Shabbat program, organised by the Sohnut. The workshops were designed to reflect the whole spectrum of Jewish studies in educational centres of the FSU, from the traditional Jewish texts to Non-Ashkenasic Jewish communities (see the list below). Each workshop was co-chaired by a graduate student and a professor, specialising in an appropriate field.
The opening of the conference, as well as the plenary session, drew a significant number of guests, among them: Seymour Epstein, Shamai Golan, Ralph Goldman, Alla Levi, Michael Steiner, Eugene Weiner. In total, about 70 people attended the opening and the first session. Professors Michail Chlenov, John Klier, Leonid Matsikh, David Roskies, and Eugene Weiner agreed to report on the first day of the conference. It was very important that the conference was also designed for educational purposes. For most of the students it was a unique opportunity to attend the lectures of foreign professors, such as J.Klier, D.Roskies, or E.Weiner. The opportunity was both challenging, and contributed to their knowledge of various fields of Jewish studies.
The round table on the role of Youth Jewish organisations in the Jewish communities of the FSU was supposed to direct the attention of Jewish studies students to the contemporary Jewish community in the FSU. The idea was to demonstrate that research on the contemporary Jewish community is an integral part of Jewish research, and to develop connections between Jewish studies students and Jewish youth organisations.
Interest on the part of students represents the most important criteria, according to which the conference should be judged. About 55 people participated in the workshops of the second day, 25 of them were from the cities other than Moscow. There were six students from abroad - London, Oxford, Cleveland, and Washington - whose participation was one of the best parts of the conference. The papers presented dealt with a variety of subjects. Obviously, not all of them were of the same level, but there were a number of really good works, several of which are published in this book.
The most successful studies were in the history and literature of Soviet Jewry. Here themes of the papers included: The Reaction of Soviet Authorities and Soviet Jews to Bernard Mark's book "The Rise in Warsaw Ghetto by Semyon Charny (Moscow), Emmigration Factors from the example of the Ekaterinburg Jewish Population by Anna Dorman (Ekaterinburg).
A number of interesting papers were presented on East European Jewish history and literature: The Hasidic Dynasty of Tversky Tzadikim by Victoria Khiterer, and The 19th century Discussion of the Karaites Origins in Crimea by Artem Fedorchuk (Moscow). As a whole, there was a tendency to elaborate particular topics in local Jewish history, using local archives.
One may notice the interest in more "global" issues in Jewish literature and culture. Many papers dealt with Yiddish literature and studies of Jewish classics, among them: Byalik's Approach to Sholem Aleihem's Novel by Vera Tarasova (Ekaterinburg), Review of syntactic patterns in the Book of Joshua by Anna Solntseva (Moscow). This interest itself is very remarkable, and testifies to recreation of Hebrew and Yiddish studies in the FSU.
As a whole, the conference fulfilled its tasks. It also laid the foundation for further activities of the same kind. We hope, that it will turn into the annual event, which will contribute both to t he development of Jewish studies and activisation of Jewish life in the FSU.
In the end, we would like once again to express our gratitude to everybody who made the realisation of this project possible.