Jews and Cossacks

Furry Bolshevik
Cossacks? This is something new!
Max Otto von Stirlitz

I began my lecture on ethnicity in the course “Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology” with the question:

— What nationality do you think I am?

Uncertain voices from the field:

- Looks like a German?

- No, rather a Jew.

- How did you determine this? - I ask.

- The surname is German.

- But the name and patronymic are Jewish.

- Well, and some external signs: dark hair, a hooked nose, bulging eyes.

I continued:

— My surname can be read from German, maybe from Hebrew - Yiddish, which is essentially a dialect of German. As for the name and patronymic, the name is purely Russian: Lev Tolstoy, Lev Gumilyov, Lev Pushkin - this name was borne by the poet’s grandfather, uncle and brother. But after Leo Tolstoy spoke out against anti-Semitic pogroms, the name became very popular among Russian Jews. The patronymic, of course, is biblical, and therefore Jewish, but together with other biblical names - John, Joseph, Mary, Gabriel, Daniel - it was also common among other nations, including among the British and Americans (Samuel, Uncle Sam) and among Russians - hence the Russian surname Samoilov. According to my passport, I am indeed Jewish. Does this somehow affect my behavior? On my ideological positions? On my social status? ... (Silence.)

The problem is that I don't feel Jewish. More precisely, I feel it only sometimes - when I encounter inconveniences, manifestations of anti-Semitism (this happens extremely rarely). Otherwise, I'm Russian. Russian is my native language, it is my first language, the language of my childhood. I speak several languages, but Jewish is not among them - neither Yiddish (the language of Eastern European Jews) nor Hebrew (reconstructed from the Hebrew language of Israel). There was no practical need to study these languages—English, German, and European languages ​​were more needed. I was born in Belarus, raised in Russian culture, my home is in St. Petersburg. I do not adhere to the Jewish religion, because I am generally an atheist, both my father and grandfather were atheists.

Grandfather lived in Warsaw. Before he became a manufacturer, he was a ringleader in the company of Poles, Russians, Jews and Cossacks stationed in Warsaw. For pranks sensitive to religion, he was excommunicated from the synagogue. My father entered the University of Warsaw, and graduated from it in Rostov-on-Don: during the German offensive, the university was evacuated, and has remained there to this day (a new one was created by the Poles in Warsaw). Upon graduation, he revived his family ties with the Cossacks - he entered a cavalry school, the entire graduating class of which joined Denikin’s Volunteer Army. It was with her (with the whites, that is) that he went through the Civil War. But at the end of it he went over to the side of the Reds (he did not go to Crimea with Wrangel).

My closest friends are mostly Russian. In Israel, Jews who arrived from the Soviet Union are called Russians - in Israel they speak Russian, read (and publish) Russian newspapers, listen to Russian radio, sing Russian songs. In America, Americans do not distinguish between Russians and Jews who came from Russia - for Americans they are all Russian. In all the countries where I have come to give lectures, I am a Russian scientist.

Isaac Levitan is a Russian artist (like the Armenian Aivazovsky); Mark Antokolsky - Russian sculptor; the founders of the Moscow and St. Petersburg Conservatories, the Rubinstein brothers, Russian musicians; for the whole world Blok, Pasternak, Mandelstam, Brodsky are Russian poets, Babel and Ehrenburg are Russian writers. Here Sholom Aleichem is a Jewish writer (he wrote in Hebrew for Jews), and they are Russian writers.

Those Jews who left for Israel did so not for ethnic reasons, but for political ones. They fled from oppression, from economic troubles, from an inconvenient regime for life. As many of them said, for the sake of the children. A significant part used the trip to Israel as a springboard for emigration to America. Those who remain in Israel (there are many of them) will gradually be included in the people of Israel, but for a very long time they will be immigrants to it. Their children will organically join the people of Israel. And those Jews who remained here belong to the Russian people. They are distinguishable among the Russian people, just as some of its other parts are distinguishable. Among the Russian people, Jews are now something like a caste. Like the Cossacks, but without a designated territory. Like those, they are distinguished and united by a special historical destiny. Jews also have some other differences: preferred professions, recognizable surnames, physical features distinguishable from the rest of the masses. But that's all.

So what is my nationality? I am Russian of Jewish origin. Like Pushkin, a Russian of Ethiopian origin. Like Fonvizin, Fet and Bryullov are Russians of German origin. Like Turgenev, Rachmaninov, Karamzin and Aksakov - Russians of Tatar origin. The Russian composer Tchaikovsky has one grandfather who is French and another who is Polish. Tsiolkovsky and Vysotsky, Dzerzhinsky, Tukhachevsky and Rokossovsky are Polish surnames. Bryusov? No, the Scottish sound of his surname is deceptive: his grandfather was one of the serfs of Count Bruce, an associate of Peter the Great. This one was from Scotland. But Lermontov, most likely, not without reason, traced his origins to Lermont, a native of Scotland (although the sound of the surname is French). I'm not even talking about all the Rurikovichs - of Danish or Swedish origin (Varangians). The Russian people have great abilities to assimilate foreign inclusions. This is its peculiarity, its advantage and its strength. There have always been persecutors of foreigners in Rus', but they have always acted essentially against the tortuous historical path of the Russian people.

Paradoxically, “Russia for Russians” means “Russia without Russians,” because separation and isolation contradict the nature of the Russian people, their indigenous historical traditions. Foreign inclusions are its significant source of growth. The Russian people have always absorbed all the peoples that came into their midst. Merya, Muroma, Ves, Chud, Golyad, Polovtsy, Torques, Berendeys - where are they all? They are Russian now.

In historical times, the Russian people included part of the Scandinavians, Tatars, Germans, Poles, Jews, Gypsies, Koreans (not to mention the Ukrainians and Belarusians) - and all contributed their own traits to Russian culture and Russian character. Where do the non-Russian names of our cities come from - Moscow, Ryazan, Vologda, Penza, Kostroma, Kineshma, Vyazma, Tver, Voronezh, Kimry, Arzamas? I'm not even talking about the names of rivers. Undoubtedly, our national idols are the half-Jew Vysotsky, the Georgian Okudzhava, and the Korean Tsoi. Half a century ago, a Buryat boy stood out on my stairs. Now his children have grown up - Russian, indistinguishable from those around them. Now a situation has arisen in which there are new contenders for joining the Russian people - Tajiks, Uzbeks, Moldovans, Chechens. You need to not be afraid of this (they will fill you with drugs or pour you wine!), but treat them with understanding and make it easier for them to assimilate normally. Whether you like it or not, these will be the new Russians of the future.