JEWISH HERITAGE SOCIETY
          REBIRTH OF THE JEWISH SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES
          IN THE FORMER USSR:
          Achievements and Problems



Scholarship

The revival of Jewish studies in the CIS and the Baltic states after perestroika had its unique features, which were best summarized by Professor Avraham Greenbaum of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem: "The countries of the former Soviet Union, and especially Russia, have experienced a revival of Jewish (in the sense of Judaic) scholarship since the days of perestroika. And yet: as against the interwar scholarship whose practitioners were professional Jewish scholars ..., and who had the use of large libraries, the newcomers were usually trained for other professions ..., and often do not have even the basic works of their field at hand. This is something to be kept in mind when we admire their accomplishments and criticize their failings."

Generally, the recent upheavals in Russia have opened a variety of scholarly activities within academic and higher educational institutions. Several themes and fields of research, which had been banned in the USSR, have acquired a legal status. Among them are Jewish studies and Jewish history. Jewish history as a field of research suffered complete excommunication from the humanities, and its sources - archival materials and research libraries of pre-Revolutionary Jewish scholarship - were inaccessible by scholars for some 40 years. That is why the new opportunities of the early 1990s changed scholarly preferences of a good many Russian-Jewish intellectuals. Many historians and philologists, archivists and librarians, university professors and students switched to Jewish history and Judaic studies. Many amateurs - rank and file Jewish intelligentsia interested in the topic - shared those interests too. Yet their enthusiasm lacked professional training and many of them had to start from scratch. They developed mostly descriptive studies of regional Jewish history, biographical notes about Jewish personalities and source studies rather than an analytic approach to history. Numerous works prepared in recent years are still unpublished due to limitations of the few Jewish periodicals of the CIS and the Baltic states. Their isolation from the mainstream in Jewish studies worldwide also frequently hampers their efforts.

Thus, the first step in the rebirth of Jewish studies in the former USSR set a range of problems for its further development. Among these problems - a demand for coordinating centers:

  • to provide a variety of scholarly services - references to the basic research in the field, information about current academic life all over the world, review of new publications, etc.;
  • to support consolidating and integrating efforts of research institutions and individual scholars;
  • to publish and to distribute research works among scholars in the field worldwide.

Exploration of sources

The rediscovery of archival sources on Jewish history in the CIS and the Baltic states is difficult to overestimate. Having visited archival repositories in Kiev in 1991, Professor John Klier of University College London wrote: "The changes produced by glasnost have now opened the archival doors and students of European Jewry should be aware of the archival treasure trove awaiting them."

Scholars have only just begun to make use of the valuable sources of Jewish history which were hidden in Soviet repositories for decades. Those sources - archival records, manuscripts, libraries and museum collections - cover virtually all major themes relevant to Jewish history and culture in Eastern Europe of recent centuries: Hasidism and Haskala, Zionism and Jewish Socialism, ethnic Jewish groups - Bukharan, Crimean and Caucasian Jews, Hebrew and Yiddish culture, Holocaust, etc.

New Russian-Jewish historians, cut off for decades from the scholarly tradition, took advantage of their access to archives and archival materials on Jewish history, making this their share in scholarly exploration. Their work is mostly based on developing of thousands of primary sources, many of them of extreme importance and value. A source study or an annotated archival description as a specific genre of research is frequently substituting for the classical historical survey, monograph or scholarly article.

The current status of exploration of extensive source material for Jewish history in the CIS and the Baltic states requires:

  • a complete reference directory to sources spread over hundreds of repositories and collections;
  • systematic scholarly exploration and publication of archival materials;
  • free access for scholars to sources and reference materials.

New opportunities are being used and new demands are being met by the Jewish Heritage Society.

Continuity of scholarly tradition

S. Dubnov wrote in his article "On Research in the History of Russian Jews and the Establishment of a Jewish Historical Society" in 1892: "Let us get down to work. Our work will explore the soil of the past but the harvest will belong to the present and to the future. I appeal to all civilized people - Jews and non-Jews - to contribute to the sacred duty of creation of Russian-Jewish historiography. Let us, Russian Jews, show that we have a rich past and that we are able to treasure it. We can also make use of its lessons."

Begun by the pioneers of Russian-Jewish historiography, that work should be continued. Presently, there are dozens of active Jewish communities on the territory of the former USSR possessing source material for Jewish history such as books, archives, and ritual artifacts. Unfortunately, due to economic hardships the Jewish communities can hardly describe, explore and preserve those unique materials. That is why an urgent task on the scholarly agenda is to catalog, explore, publish, restore and preserve those collections.

The goal is preservation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Jewish people and the continuity in scholarly tradition. The work started a hundred years ago by the first generation of Russian-Jewish historians is now being continued. The activities of the Jewish Heritage Society are part of this work.

 

All comments, suggestions, inquiries and orders should be sent to the Jewish Heritage Society at info@jewish-heritage.org

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