For a while now, people have been talking with fear and even outrage over the Russian government's move to shut down the Jewish Agency there, and no one is daring to ask – is it really such a big threat to Jews in general and the Jews of Russia in particular if the Jewish Agency stops its local activity?
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Of course, the answer is no. Not only will stopping the activity not cause any harm, it might also turn out well for the Jewish people. Let's start with Russian Jewry itself – today, Jewish life in Russia is better than in some western countries, such as France. Anti-Semitism isn't on the Russian agenda today, thank God. A Jew wearing a tallit, walking with his children along the main street in Moscow, is a heartwarming sight. At the individual level, Jews in Russia are famously well-off. What's more, the Russian citizens enjoy the values that the Russian school system teaches – its attitude toward literature, culture, and parenting, values that have fallen apart in the democratic west, which inculcates liberal values that have yet to arrive in Russian culture.
And now about aliyah – there is no question that the Jewish Agency in Russia is active in bolstering Jewish community life, but most of the Jewish organizations in Russia won't shed a tear, to say the least, if the Jewish Agency stops promoting aliyah. The Jewish Agency supports non-Jewish Russian citizens making aliyah when they have no ties to Judaism and are only eligible under the Law of Return. Because of this work by the Jewish Agency, the percentage of Jews making aliyah is steadily dropping, and in effect a channel has been created for mass emigration of non-Jews to Israel.
Perhaps the Jewish Agency thinks that by doing so, it is continuing the path of the Zionist leadership in the early days of the state, which wanted high numbers of new immigrants, but back then, they were Jews.
It's not far-fetched to think that encouraging mass emigration, as the Jewish Agency does, is a trigger for the Russians shutting it down. The authorities do not look favorably on a drain of their brains, which they see as the result of Russian education combined with Jewish brilliance.
Another reason why Jewish organizations in Russia won't be especially sorry to see the Jewish Agency shut down there is that they feel that the main emphasis should be on Jewish education for the young generation so they will have a strong Jewish identity when they make aliyah. Those organizations think that encouraging children who have not received a Jewish education to make aliyah means there is no chance they will grow up in Israel with a deeply-rooted Jewish identity.
Eating falafel and hummus, and even IDF service, do not supply a Jewish identity. An Israeli one – yes, definitely, but that's not enough. On the other hand, a young Jew who receives a basic Jewish education in Russia will remain Jewish all their lives, and not even the liberal, secular atmosphere in Israel will challenge it.
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