Jewish Identity Conundrums in the Memoirs of Twenty-First-Century Russian–American Jewish Writers

For most Jews living in the Soviet Union, Jewish identity was largely a matter of contending with anti-Semitism. Regardless of whether Soviet Jews encountered anti-Semitism as an ever-present undercurrent or a blatant form of persecution, in nearly all recollections of life in the Soviet Union, Jews describe the experience of formal, cultural and casual anti-Semitism as the major, if not exclusive, constituent of their Jewish identity. This resulted in a complicated negotiation of Jewish identity once they left the Soviet Union and took up residence in North America. Freed from the stranglehold of discrimination, many of them became mainly untethered to any sort of personal Jewish sensibility. This predicament is addressed in memoirs by Gary Shteyngart, Lara Vapnyar, and Boris Fishman. All three acknowledge a keen sense of being Jews, however, what their accounts of life beyond the Soviet Union reveal is that the idea of a Jewish identity, circumscribed by communal, social and religious commitments, without the menace of anti-Semitism, was not sufficiently compelling to lead them into more Jewishly engaged lives. There are suggestions in the fiction of Russian-American Jewish writers that a contributing factor to this disinterest was the reception they received from the local Jewish community. When organizations, synagogues and individual Jews realized that their newly arrived, formerly Soviet brethren were not the “huddled masses” yearning to become engaged, moderately traditional Jews, there was a mix of confusion, disappointment and condescension. Yet, even if this had not been the case, Shteyngart, Vapnyar and Fishman’s memoirs strongly insinuate that not even a more sensitive, perceptive welcome would not have awakened a newfound Jewish identity among Russian-American Jews. The Soviet Union had successfully severed Jews from tradition, culture and religion and American Jewish influences could to counter this multi-generational disconnect.