Kishinev’s Jewish revival

PAUL LUNGEN CANADIAN JEWISH NEWS

For those with a feel for Jewish history, the city of Kishinev, in Moldova, is inevitably linked with pogroms and antisemitism. In 1903 and then again in 1905, under the Russian czar, mobs enraged by a blood libel rumor murdered dozens of Jews and wounded hundreds more. The events were an international cause célèbre at the time, and renowned poet Chaim Nahman Bialik penned his famous work, “In the City of Slaughter,” based on events there. The pogroms prompted a substantial emigration from the Bessarabian capital.

Things only got worse during the Nazi occupation, when 100,000 Jews there were killed. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, thousands of Jews jumped at the opportunity to depart for Israel and Western nations. Today there are only 7,000 to 10,000 Jews in Kishinev and in other centres of the independent state of Moldova, according to Yisrael Livshits, a native of Kishinev who made aliyah to Israel in 1991 but returned three and a half years ago to help revitalize the Jewish community there.

During his sojourn in Israel, Livshits became observant and knowledgeable about Jewish culture, tradition and lifestyles. Working under the principle of “Torah v’avodah” (Torah and good works), he’s attempting to transfer that knowledge to Jews who have chosen to remain in Moldova.

It’s a daunting task, he said recently during a two-week visit to Toronto and Montreal. “After 70 years of the Soviet regime, they didn’t give any opportunity to local Jews to develop Jewish traditions.”

Since his return, Livshits has been a sort of Jewish jack-of-all-trades for the community there. He serves as shochet and mohel, runs the chevra kadisha, makes sure the cemeteries are in good condition and officiates at one of the city’s two synagogues. (The other is under the supervision of a Chabad rabbi.) Livshits also oversees production of a local kosher wine, which “is very good quality based on an old Moldovan village technique,” which he hopes to eventually export to raise funds for the community.

A secular Jew when he first moved to Israel, after serving in the army and studying business, he began taking an interest in religious studies along with some of the other expats from the former Soviet Union. They gathered and read Talmud, and gradually became more observant.

Kishinev Jews, many still traumatized by an antisemitic tradition that was common to the czarist and communist eras, are reluctant to identify openly as Jews, he said. That may be why the Jewish Agency estimates there are 25,000 Jews in Moldova, a figure he disputes, though “nobody knows for sure,” he clarified.

Today, he said, there is little open antisemitism – at least by earlier standards – and a few Jews even sit in the Moldovan parliament. There are also a few-high profile successful Jewish businesspeople, and “the Moldovan people respect the Jews, as they give a lot to the local economy.”

As Jewish life revives, the community supports two Jewish public schools, which, Livshits noted, also attract non-Jews because of their quality. There’s a Jewish kindergarten, a library, a cultural centre and the synagogues with two ritual baths. Outside the capital, however, there are few Jewish facilities, he said.

It’s all a far cry from the situation in the early part of the 20th century, when Jews were about one-third of the population and the region was home to 72 synagogues. More than half of the buildings were destroyed by the Nazis, and the rest were confiscated by Soviet authorities and put to other uses. Since the disintegration of the Soviet state, one of the synagogues has been returned to the community.

Livshits officiates at the Sciusev Street Synagogue, which attracts 50 worshippers to Shabbat services. On High Holidays, some 100 people attend services. The Chabad House attracts similar numbers, he noted.

“We have built a little religious community, but even some non-religious people come to Shabbat and holiday services,” he said.

Needless to say, operating facilities costs money, and one of the reasons for his presence in Canada was to meet people with ties to Moldova to seek their support and to solicit investors in the kosher wine business.

“We want to build a working, fundraising community that doesn’t need support from outside … and restore Jewish life as it was for [hundreds] of years,” he concluded.

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