Pogroms - The Need for Alternative Leadership

"Always changing, always the same," is an expression which fits the spirit of today's world events. There is much talk of a new Russia, a new leadership, a democracy, but with the old anti-Semitism. How can it be that talk of Glasnost and pogroms are uttered in one breath? Yes, never before has there been so little clarity in dealing with current events.

For many Jews the famous lines from Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness," has come to define these turbulent times win which we live. Here in America, we are told that the Russian Jews and those behind the Iron Curtain will be leaving as fast as they can. We think that they are exercising their new gift of democracy and want personal and political freedom. However, this is not true. Now we are told it is not the lure of freedom that is driving them but rather the fear of anti-Semitism. Pogroms, the nightmare of every Jewish family, has become the new threat of the old anti-Semitism. Freedom can bring out the best and, unfortunately, the worst in people.

European and American leadership are groping to find an answer. In one instance the Federation leadership has appealed for special help to settle immigrants in Israel as quickly as possible. Others have tried the ways of the 1960s by staging public demonstrations and the like. Business leaders speak of enticing Eastern Bloc governments with fat contracts from Jewish companies for protection. I believe there is still another avenue yet to be explored.

In the early 1970s there was a big drive by the Jewish establishment to raise consciousness for the plight of the Russian Jew. As the holiday of Passover arrived many American families were asked to perform a symbolic gesture at the seder meal. Each family was asked to place a setting at the seder table for a Russian Jew and by doing so they would show their concern for those behind the Iron Curtain. They claimed that the empty place at the seder table would raise consciousness.

Rabbi M.M. Schneerson, respectfully known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the leader of the Chabad movement, was asked about this idea. I remember his comments which went something like this, "They should place an extra setting at the table and then invite someone to the seder who wouldn't have a place to go." That would be a more constructive way to raise consciousness. It seemed so obvious and yet none of us had even thought of it.

Now that there is much talk that the cold war is over and that freedom is finding its way behind the Iron Curtain, we rally have our work cut out for us. Do we spend time worrying about pogroms and anti-Semitism? Do we join the alarmists? What has the Lubavitcher movement been doing about this problem in recent months? In an unprecedented move the Rebbe has been busy sending young people to the Eastern Bloc countries with the intent of helping Jews learn about their heritage. New Yeshivas and Shuls have opened. Russia, Poland, Hungary and other places have their Chabad Houses and rabbis. Instead of jumping on the band wagon and sounding the alarm about the new anti-Semitism in Russia, the Lubavitcher Rebbe has moved on and taken the positive opportunities which are available.

Perhaps now is the time that leaders should turn to older and wiser veterans for advice. After all, the Lubavitcher Rebbe has the largest Jewish following in Russia and is a Russian immigrant himself. There certainly is no world leader more experienced than the Rebbe. He has done this quietly, successfully and with the blessings of the Eastern Bloc countries.