E-mail uit Moskou

Viktoria uit Rusland is op zoek naar een leuke joodse man.

We have a lot of Jewish clubs and organizations now – in my first column I wrote that Jewish organisations were forbidden in the Soviet Union, remember. But all has changed now. There are Sohnut, we have a Jewish Agency in Russia, Hillel, the Israëli Culture Centre, the Youth Centre at a Chassidic community, Joint in Russia and the Russian Union of Jewish Students.But our Jewish community is smaller than earlier – a lot of Jews have emigrated. Also, many Jews are assimilated, married Russian people and don’t want to communicate with the Jewish community, or are afraid to. That’s why you see the same people on all the parties, even though they’re held by different Jewish organizations. There are parties on all holidays – Hannukah, Pesach, Purim. We also have a summer and winter youth camp at Sohnut and the Israëli Culture Centre. So, people can study Hebrew and Yiddish, traditions and traditional dance – all free-of-charge. Earlier we could not celebrate our holidays in public, but now we can. In the centre of Moscow there even was a huge menorah on Hannukah.The Russian president Vladimir Putin was in the Chassidic Community Centre on Hannukah, where the rabbi presented him the shofar – a horn, which we blow on holidays.As a rule, there are guys and girls from 13 till 30 years old in the youth community I’m with. But, you know, it’s still hard to find a nice Jewish guy or girl. Don’t ask me why. I know a guy, he’s 32, he’s not very tall or handsome, but he’s so clever! He has two higher educations, knows English and Hebrew. But he wants to marry a girl from the Ukraine – because that’s the place he comes from. "Discrepancy of the dream and the validity", as my teacher said.I know a girl, 27 years old, who wants to marry a man who cares about her. But that’s not as easy as it sounds. It seems to me no guy makes the effort! I think the problem is that our youth community is too small. There are a lot of girls, but not enough men. Guys think that girls should care about them, and they only need to choose.I think this problem exists in more Jewish communities in the Diasporah. Moreover, even all my non-Jewish Russian friends find it very hard to find a good man. But it’s more difficult for us – the Jewish community is so small, and it complicates a choice.I really don’t want to sound pessimistic and I think, we all should remember the old Torah saying: Hakol Le-Tovah: "All to the best" or "All that’s done, all to the best".Take care you all!De eerste e-mail van Viktoria vindt u in het archief van de rubriek Around the world.