Where the Jews Aren't: The Sad and Absurd Story of Birobidzhan, Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region, by Masha Gessen, is part of the fantastic Jewish Encounters Series.
The Soviet Union flirted with the notion of creating a Jewish SSR in Soviet Asia. The results were disastrous; many people died – as often happens in Russian and Soviet history as that benighted people and land, in their attempt to better themselves, let loose forces of destruction and death.
Gessen’s treatment really get to the bone of this issue. He, and then later she, has lived the life of the literal wandering Jew, never really finding a home . And this book is about the illusive Jewish home – a treatment no longer really happens after World War Two. American and Israel are the premier Jewish homelands, seemingly safe and secure. But if the history of both forced and voluntary Jewish migration is any indication, sadly, this may not always be the case.
The Soviet Union flirted with the notion of creating a Jewish SSR in Soviet Asia. The results were disastrous; many people died – as often happens in Russian and Soviet history as that benighted people and land, in their attempt to better themselves, let loose forces of destruction and death.
Gessen’s treatment really get to the bone of this issue. He, and then later she, has lived the life of the literal wandering Jew, never really finding a home . And this book is about the illusive Jewish home – a treatment no longer really happens after World War Two. American and Israel are the premier Jewish homelands, seemingly safe and secure. But if the history of both forced and voluntary Jewish migration is any indication, sadly, this may not always be the case.
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