August 1988: 3 Days of Spying and Connecting Jewishly in Kiev

For nine months starting in fall 1987, Rita and I prepared to visit
refuseniks in the former Soviet Union in the summer of 1988. Our
daughter wanted to get married just that summer - the date four days
before we were scheduled to leave for our mission. Rita and I did not cancel - disappeared in the middle
of sheva berachot because our trip was, until we returned . a secret.

Our itinerary was unusual over twenty-five years ago because
in June 1988 President Reagan and Secretary of State Schultz were
in Moscow with Gorbachev so the doors were opened then
for thousands of formally forbidden tourists. Landing in
Moscow we made it through customs- no confiscation of tallitot,
siddurim, mezuzot, tefillin, video tapes of Israeli songs and sites
and pocket Bibles in Hebrew with Russian translation.

First stop Kishniev, famous for 1903 pogroms - the KGB was
still very active there. We made our calls on the post office
public telephones as instructed using our tiny notebooks
filled with coded information. Saw one refusenik family
not long after arrival - then the following morning, by private
car and driver, trip to Bendery - where in 100,000 people one
Jewish refusenik family. Conversations at the family's home were
taped; we were accosted by intourist guides for not extending
our stay in Bendery; on return to Kishniev arranged meeting
did not materialize but KGB agents gave us some harsh advice:
stop immediately or suffer the consequences.

From Kishniev we had a stop in Moscow, when we saw the
Kremlin briefly. Then on to Kiev for 72 hours. As we were driven
to our hotel, all the current public spaces now aflame were
pointed out, and our guide informed just the two of us
- what to see in the city. That night reached Alex Gogerman,
the key liaison for young Russian Jews in their 20s and 30s considering
aliyah. He would meet us the next morning and we would see
a little of Jewish Kiev, mostly in disrepair in 1988 before the fall of
the former Soviet Union.

A young man in his late twenties, Alex spoke several languages
including Hebrew haltingly and was an engineer with a large company.
He explained that in the evening at his home, we would be meeting
Kiev Jews whose dream was Israel. He took us to the Sholom Alechem
synagogue, and we strolled through its unlocked doors peering
at the shelves where hundreds of beaten up sefarim and siddurim
were either standing or on their sides. There was an aron kodesh, an
ark, but it did have a padlock on it so assume there were sefrai
torah inside. There was also a Sholom Alechem house nearby
where the author had once penned some of his books and stories.
I think that there was some kind of plaque there.

Our next stop was Babi Yar. Alex helped us on to a streetcar,
told us how much to pay the conductor. The streetcar was crowded,
we huddled together so we would not fall; the streetcar rushed along
barely stopping every so often. The ride was a lengthy one because
Babi Yar, when all the Jews were murdered, was technically
outside the city - now it is actually a part of Kiev. While we are riding
through sections with commercial shops, with block housing
projects and some parks, we are taking mental notes
as we did in Kishniev and Bendery. "Nothing can be written
down - make your memory work," our handlers in Israel
said emphatically in preparing us.

Alex told us to get ready - ours was the next stop - we got off
quickly just before the train started to move again. For the next two
blocks, we walked through housing projects. Suddenly, no more
buildings - just a green patch with a statue. The grassy area
was filled with trash - the statue bore no explanation plate.
"Rita and David, you are standing on top of the lengthy pits
which were dug into which the Jews descended or thrown and were
killed by machine guns trained on them - young and old -
the screams must have been horrendous but no one cared
they were just Jews."

Not knowing what to do - we laid down on the ground with
our faces deep into the grass and soil and we recited kaddish.
In our lives we have never been to the death camps so for us
Babi Yar is our personal Holocaust experience. We arose, our eyes
wet from tears, our bodies shaking from the anguish of knowing -
it was right here they were murdered.

Now Alex nudged us - we had to go - you have to rest before
this evening - he whispered softly - tonight you will meet the
future. Returning together to the hotel, he wrote down his address,
said give it to the cab driver and he will get you to my parents'
apartment where I live.

We had a soft drink at the hotel bar and some salad
we had missed at lunch since we were at Babi Yar. We rested,
filled up a small suitcase, just for such purposes, with
a variety of items we had brought with us. Down to lobby into the cab
we had a wild ride but we arrived safely.

Alex's father had been a colonel in the Red Army, was an advisor
to the Egyptian missile brigade officers before and during
the Six Day War. Now he was retired - he and his wife knew
that Alex would soon leave them for Israel - they really had not decided
what to do. Without a security clearance the retired Jewish
colonel could not leave the country. But now there were knocks
on the door - it seemed young people just kept pouring in
about 35 in all. Then unexpected guests - a reform Rabbi and
his wife from San Diego California who were also in Kiev to
visit refuseniks.

You can always pinpoint those moments in life which will be
unforgettable. Rita and I are both staring in wonderment at these
young Russian Jews, mostly in their 30s, unmarried only a few couples.
Rita already had studied some Russian before the trip so she began
to engage them in conversation. I stuck to English. They were
engineers, scientists, teachers, doctors, architects all born
and raised in Kiev. In most cases both of their parents were
Jewish. Through Alex they began to learn about Israel - especially
that the Israelis did not kill and eat Arab babies. They found out
from material they read that Israelis married, bought small
apartments and larger ones as their families grew. In Israel there
were theater performances, movies, beautiful parks. No one was forced
to live on a kibbutz and have a rigid structured existence. Both
Israeli men and women at age 18 entered the Israel Defense Forces;
the country did have enemies so everyone did his or her share
to protect the nation..
..
The phone rang. Alex motioned - everyone was silent . He answered,
said a few words, hung up. Then he said aloud "that was not the
KGB who monitor me all the time." We began to sing - hava nagila -
am yisrael hai - not boisterous just singing with smiles on our faces.
Alex interrupted - said a few words in Russian and called on Rita.
He had asked her to speak in Hebrew about our family in Israel and why
we left USA and made aliyah.

Very movingly Rita looked at them with real joy on her face and
spoke. "Our new friends here in Kiev. My heart and my husband's
heart are churning as we meet you today. Previously, we only heard
about how difficult life was for Russian Jews. Now, incredibly,
we see you face to face and we saw other Jews in Kishniev and
Bendery, and we realize that am yisrael hai that the people of
Israel is a part of you right here in Kiev. You sing, you laugh, you
ask questions about Israel - hopefully you will get to make
aliyah and live with us there."

Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Rita's words began to flow.
"Six days ago our daughter was married in Jerusalem and we
thought - how wonderful. Now as we sit here with you - we realize
that there is family happiness but there is the great happiness
of being with amcha (our people) especially ones who have
been mentally if not physically persecuted for being Jews. We cannot
give you a visa to travel - but we can open your spirits by
describing to you what Judaism means to us in Israel and
what it can also mean to you. All three of our children served
in the army - they have all been going to college - we now
have an Israeli son-in-law. Our parents are in America - we
were born in America but we decided that as Jews, we wanted
to live in Israel. I am a school psychologist and have worked
in my field; David, my husband has different university degrees
but he chose to write and edit in English which he does at the
Jerusalem Post. Nothing is ever perfect but Israel, for us, has
been the right place to raise our family. May God let you join us."

That night some gave us names of relatives in Israel and phone
numbers - no internet in 1988. We gave them religious objects,
books of Hebrew poetry and stories with Russian translation.
Magen Davids on chain to wear - hai pins - videos of Israel
with Russian voice overs.

The Reform Rabbi spoke in English. His wife said a few
words also. They stressed that everyone should go to Israel if
the gates ever open. However, the rabbi said the Jews in USA
will receive you if you get a visa to America.

We were on cloud nine - what a simcha - six days earlier a wedding
and now a symbolic wedding with these Kiev Jews
whom we had never met before. As we later learned Alex, his parents,
and twenty or so present that night made aliyah in the 90s
after the Communist countries came apart and the Berlin Wall fell.
Once we did meet Alex at a wedding - friends of our who also
had been in Alex's home in Kiev.

The next day in Kiev was another miracle which we also could
report about to our "handlers" in Jerusalem. When we came down
for breakfast entering the large dining room, we were struck
by small Israeli flags on each of the tables. "Now we are done
for we said to ourselves. Our cover is blown."

That was not the case - there about 50 or 60 people having
breakfast and speaking Hebrew. When we asked our waiter
where they are from - he answered they are from Israel. On
that day in August 1988 the first group of Israelis, who had parents,
siblings and other close relatives in Kiev and other cities, had
arrived receiving permission to visit their families. We could not tell
them that we were fellow Israelis who lived in Jerusalem but
we could listen to them speaking about this unusual Jewish couple from
America, our cover, traveling alone in Russia. We spent the day
touring with them since there was room on their bus. In the late
afternoon a very lively Ukranian Folk Dance festival was
presented at one of the Kiev auditoriums which has been
a rallying center for the insurgents these past few weeks.
What a lovely day in Kiev with Israelis to boot. That night a
spirited soccer game was the evening venue.

Next morning we were off for our final days in Leningrad then,
now St. Petersburg once more. At the massive central
synagogue Rita met a young man who told her that he was studying to be a
cantor. He wondered if she would give him her small red tanach
which she was using. Delighted to do so, she showed him that her name and Israeli
address was written in it. Three years later, he came to our home in Gilo, to play a flute with a musical ensemble, and he
brought her the tanach and told her how it inspired him. "Keep
this tanach as a sign of our friendship and as a sign that God
has brought you home."

When Rita wrote the report about our mission in the former soviet
union, it contained 42 typewritten pages - 15 were about
our Kiev experiences. Hopefully, the quiet beautiful Kiev we
recall will soon reappear.

 

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