“In Russia,” Sirotin says sadly, “I was told I cannot be Russian because I have a Jewish face. Here, the Jews say, ‘Can these be Jews? They’re so Russian!’ What does it mean to be a Jew without feeling for the religion that is a whole national-spiritual-ethical way of living? I can’t explain it. But I feel Jewishness in my essence, under my thoughts. I feel it in my heart. So now we are trying to find a way to be. It was very difficult to be a Jew in Russia. But it is not easy to be a Russian Jew in America.”

…

More than a few of the new immigrants were outraged that those who had lived comfortably in the United States for much of this time would dare to tell them that they were not Jews. Indeed, surveys of Soviet immigrants in the United States show that a large majority strongly identify as Jews, far more strongly than do most American-born Jews.

(via vladislava)