Shmuel Polin, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, won the drawing for $700!
Title of the lesson/activity
Natan Sharansky and “Let My People Go”
In earlier this year, I gave a lecture at the Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion’s Scheuer Chapel that centered on the struggle for the freedom of the Soviet Jewry. The discussion recounted the rallying cry of the Exodus narrative and the Soviet Jewry Freedom Movement: “Let My People Go!” The discussion included personal stories of a time when I met Natan Sharansky in Jerusalem and also of my son’s bris. In terms of content outside the scope of personal experiences, I drew from primary and secondary source literature. I discussed Natan Sharansky’s memoire Fear No Evil and secondary source material, including Robert S. Wistrich’s book, Anti-Semitism the Longest Hatred. Much of the lecture was recorded.
The end of the lecture included a call to action for Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion. The call to action defined that cantorial, rabbinical, and graduate students must not graduate without knowledge of the Soviet Jewish experience, (i.e. they should know who Natan Sharansky is), the students must be versed in anti-Semitism by course offerings, and finally, there must be no excuse for anti-Semitism.
Following the lecture, students and faculty met over a Kiddush and spoke about their experiences relevant to the FSU Jewish community for about an hour. Some faculty shared their stories of how they had been part of the Soviet Jewry Freedom Movement. Students, most of who were born during the post-Soviet period, shared stories about their trips to the FSU through HUC while in their year in Israel of rabbinical seminary.
I am happy I led this lecture and the discussions that followed at the college. After my call to action, the college announced a new course being offered on Anti-Semitism across HUC-JIR’s four campuses. The course syllabus did cover the various influences that coalesced into Soviet anti-Semitism. It is my hope that discussions like this will continue in the progressive movements of the rabbinate.
Biography
ShmuelPolinis an artist and imminent rabbi of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Born in greater Philadelphia as part of the large Russian-Jewish community, his rabbinate and his artwork affirm this identity. As a subject of academic research, he has issued sermons and published articles on the FSU Jewish experience. In 2018, he worked at the Holocaust and Humanity Center of Cincinnati, translating survivor testimonies from Russian into English.
Meanwhile, his art encapsulates the same calling of his rabbinate. He began exhibitions as young as 11 with his father (also an artist). Currently, he is leading “The Opening the Ark Project” of Cincinnati. The project is rebuilding one of the great arks of Ashkenazi Jewry destroyed in the Holocaust (in 1942). The ark was originally built not far from Bialystok.
Throughout the summer of 2020, woodworkers and artists will be convening at his woodshop to work on the project. The project pulls other talented artists from within the Jewish community: woodworkers, painters, architects, etc. The finished product will be a 17-foot-tall Aron HaKodesh, which will be on exhibition at an important museum in Cincinnati (the Skirball Museum).
As part of his project, Shmuel will be offering lessons and classes about the history of the wooden arks of Europe. The Jewish artists who survived the destruction of the Nazis had to change their craft under Soviet oppression. Shmuel has included in his lessons interviews with an artist from the FSU who worked on synagogue architecture before the war, but afterward and under Soviet oppression, he had to change professions (only to return to his trade after coming to America).
Shmuel currently lives in Cincinnati, with his wife Daniella (also of the Philadelphia Russian-Jewish community), and his son Micha. His son’s bris was a powerful moment in his life. It was the first bris done freely, without fear of the KGB, here in America, for his wife’s family.