Immigration

Soviet Jewry

A large population of Jews from the former Soviet Union resides in the Hartford area. Much of the philanthropic work of the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Center has focused on helping these new arrivals to adjust to life in America.

Note: the terms “Soviet Jewry,” “Russian Jewry,” “New Americans” and other terms are often used interchangeably to describe persons who came to the United States from the area formerly known as the Soviet Union. The files in this series pertain primarily to the era when the term “Soviet Jewry” was most often used. However, after 1991, when the Communist regime ended, it becomes appropriate to use term New Americans. Researchers looking for information on this population group should look under both terms.

The Soviet Union was never hospitable to its Jewish citizens. Under the Soviet regime, Jews were forbidden to practice their religion, but often maintained their religious and cultural heritage in secret. Even those Jews who were nonobservant and completely assimilated suffered discrimination and abuse.

From 1967-1975, the Israeli victory in the Six-Day War led to increased discrimination against the Jews in the Soviet Union. Soviet Jews began to look for ways to leave the USSR. Initially, Israel was their favored destination. Most of the Jews in this era were intensely Zionist and had a strong sense of cultural Judaism.

From 1976 onward, the Soviet Union continued to be actively anti-Semitic. Additionally, severe economic problems led to increased hardship for Soviet Jews. After 1976. American Jewish resettlement agencies started to foster and support immigration. Thus, from1975 until 1981 the pattern of Soviet immigration shifted with more Soviet Jews seeking homes in the United States than in Israel.

During these years, the Soviet government permitted some emigration. However, many potential emigrants were refused permission to leave and became known as “Refuseniks.” American Jewish organizations campaigned to “Free Soviet Jewry.”

In 1982, the Soviet government further reduced the opportunity to emigrate and the years 1982-1987 were a time of great frustration among Soviet Jews. Many politicians, including Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut were active in the cause of Soviet Jewry. The United States offered arriving Jews “refugee” status. Many of the Jews in the Hartford area arrived during this time.

From 1987-1991, with the rise to power of Gorbochev, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union began to change. Although the Gorbochev administration permitted Jews to leave the Soviet Union, President Ronald Reagan discontinued the practice of allowing Soviet Jews into the United States as “refugees,” making it harder for Soviet Jews to obtain American citizenship.

President George H. W. Bush (1989-1993), however, increased the number of immigrants allowed each year, leading to a mass influx during his time in office. When the Communist regime fell in 1991, immigration escalated and approximately 300,000 Jews came to the U.S.

The Soviet/New American immigrants of this later era possessed a sense of cultural Judaism, but were unlikely to have had any Jewish religious education. These new arrivals also maintained a strong affiliation with the cultural traditions of the area from which they arrived. The resettlement programs developed by American organizations focused on helping these immigrants to develop a stronger sense of specifically Jewish identity, an identity that had been denied to them under the Soviet regime.

Sephardic Jewry

The term “Sephardic Jewry” refers to those Jews whose culture derives from a blend of Spanish and middle-eastern culture. Literally, the word Sepharadim means “Spaniards”. Unlike the Ashkenazi Jews who traditionally spoke Yiddish, Sephardim of the Iberian Peninsula spoke a dialect called Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Additionally, the artistic, musical, liturgical, and culinary traditions of the Sephardic Jews are very different from those of the Ashkenazim.

Sephardic Jews are sometimes confused with the Mizrachi, those middle-eastern Jews who speak Arabic as their first language. The Mizrachi do not comprise any one nationality. Instead, they are often referred to as “Iraqi Jews,” “Egyptian Jews,” etc., depending on their point of origin. Although the Arabic speaking Jews have some cultural traditions in common with the Sephardim, they also represent a variety of other cultural traditions. Both Sephardim and Mizrachim have settled in the greater Hartford area.

The Iberian Jews of Spain were expelled from the country in 1492. As exiles, they settled in the Turkish Empire, in the Balkans, North Africa, Italy, Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Later these communities were joined by additional wave of refugees from Portugal. Many of the Sephardim later migrated further and settled in the Netherlands, the West Indies, and North America.

The nineteen thirties and forties were a time of severe hardship, displacement, and insecurity for all Middle Eastern Jews. During the Holocaust, European Sephardic Jews were forced to flee their homes and many died at the hands of the Nazis. After the founding of Israel in 1948, Ladino and Arabic speaking Jews in the Middle East experienced a backlash of increased anti-Semitism and persecution. Eventually most of the Middle Eastern Jews sought refuge in either Israel or the United States.

The cultural distinctions between the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim have often made it especially difficult for the Sephardim to carry on their traditions, which differ not only from mainstream American culture, but also from the dominant Ashkenazi Jewish-American culture. Moreover, due to their smaller numbers, Sephardic Holocaust victims and survivors have not always received recognition.