Comments on: Russians, Jews and Isaac

By: E Harris

E Harris — Wed, 11 May 2011 03:14:45 +0000

The official recording of Jewishness in government ID in the USSR likely helped to prevent their assimilation and thus helped to preserve them as a distinct people. That may not have been the intent, but compared with Imperial Russia, Jews were not treated badly, at least no worse than Russians in general.

There was little discrimination against Jews at the top. Many of the top party officials from the earliest days were Jewish, and many others had Jewish wives.

By: Anton Sherwood

Anton Sherwood — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 03:41:01 +0000

“imposed by society”? Peer pressure and that sort of thing?

By: Doug K

Doug K — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:44:35 +0000

I used to work with a Russian Jew and she certainly did have that internal passport, though my sense of it was that there wasn’t a choice about carrying it, it was imposed by society. She left Russia with her parents in the late 80s. Her father’s Russian passport and war medals were confiscated as part of the deal. He’d fought for Russia in WW II so this was heartbreaking for him, but it was still better than facing the antisemitism in Russia.

By: Tom Tetzlaff

Tom Tetzlaff — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:55:52 +0000

David Goldfarb gets the gold star.

Chapter 6 of “I. Asimov” (Doubleday [of COURSE] 1994), the author gives it as ‘Jefferson Scanlon.”

‘Harlan Ellison’ isn’t all that Jewish-sounding a name, now that I think on it…

By: Michael Parker

Michael Parker — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:10:59 +0000

Perhaps I don’t have the most Jewish name but my family, especially on my father’s side, were Russian Jews. I am American through and through, and Jewish.

Like Asimov, while not religious by any means, it is my culture and ethnicity, and I’m proud of it. Does that mean that I must call myself an American Jew and devote myself to Jewish causes?

I know Asimov’s work inspired me and his personal history connected with me on another level. And for me, that was good enough.

By: Ross Presser

Ross Presser — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 01:55:24 +0000

One quick way to explain the “Russian Jew” qualifier is that the word “Russian” modifies “Jew,” not the reverse. At least that’s how it ends up in American Jewish culture.