Unaware Of The Preceding Chapters

A cheder in Shepetovka, Ukraine
(Picture courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Jewish Life Before and During the Holocaust)

On my lunch hour I occasionally take walks with a Ukrainian Jewish man named Yevgeny. Yevgeny, now in his fifties, was able to leave Soviet Union with his family in the 1980's and now works in my building.

During our walks we commonly talk about Jewish history. Growing up under communism, Yevgeny was never taught about his country's rich Jewish history and culture. His knowledge of his country's history begins at 1917. While I realize that information on Jewish religion and history was suppressed by the Soviet government, it is still is amazing to me that a Jew born and raised in Ukraine may never have heard about the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid of Mezeritch, Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev, Rebbe Yaakov Yosef of Polonoye, Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz, Rebbe Zusia of Anapol, or Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

Being unaware of what came before him, Yevgeny cannot appreciate why I am so interested in Ukraine and what prompted me to visit my family's rural Ukrainian shtetl in the summer of 2001. He continues to be perplexed why some in American Jews spend their hard earned money to visit ancestral shtetls and see mass graves and the ruins of shuls and Jewish cemeteries.

I explained to Yevgeny that for the majority of American Jews, our knowledge of our family history begins with our immigrant ancestor. By returning to visit the shtetls where our families once lived, we connect with what came before us. Our visit allows us to view the history of our family in greater context; perhaps even giving us insight into our own role in history.

Despite my explanation, Yevgeny still does not understand. After all, how can one be expected to appreciate what one has no knowledge of? If his history book began on chapter 15, how could he know the contents of the preceding chapters?

A mass grave outside of Slavuta