The Commencement of A Very Rigid Journey…

Welcome to the commencement of my journey as the Ralph I. Goldman Fellow for 2009-2010. Almost half a year ago I walked into the JDC NY Headquarters for the first time for my interview as a candidate for the Fellowship. A few months later in September I took one step closer towards my journey as I began my time in the NY office. With my departure to my first overseas placement- Odessa, Ukraine - my rigid search commences.

My blog title is borrowed from one of the chapters of one of my favorite novels/movies- Everything is Illuminated. The movie (as the novel is much more intricate) consists of a young North American man, a collector of his family’s past, who travels to Ukraine to search for the woman who rescued his grandfather from Nazis. Or so he believes, however along his “rigid search” the man and his guides’ stumble along various illuminations on the Jewish connections between themselves.

I have always found the movie/novel very relevant to myself- as it explores the various definitions and identity conflicts of being an American Jew of Soviet heritage- which I am. A little over thirty years ago my parents (teenagers at the time) along with their extended families, each began a long and difficult immigration process, traveling from Odessa to Rome to Austria to finally settling in New York City. My parents and their families were not alone in this journey, but were joined by tens of thousands of families on the same path.

I have spent much of my professional career, up to now, working with these families, their descendants, and the hundreds and thousands of families that would follow my parents in the opening of the Iron Curtain. Searching for the connection between us all and trying to understand my own identity through this community.

More than thirty years after my family made the long journey to New York City, I am about to embark on a journey back to Odessa. While my journey will consist of a quick plane ride, with one lay-over in Kiev, nothing like that of my parent’s almost whole year in transition – I am beginning my own search.

Always stuck between two worlds that of the American and Soviet- my strongest link between the two has always been being Jewish. Now I am searching to uncover and create other layers to my Jewish identity. I am also looking forward to expanding my knowledge and scope of the possibilities of Jewish Communities- by being a part of those different from my own.

As a concluding “illumination” in the movie, the main character ends by saying: Everything is illuminated in the light of the past.” Thus, the appropriate starting point for my rigid search for professional and personal illumination is Odessa.

My dear friends and colleagues, I hope you will join me on my rigid search through my posts and blog. I hope this is away for us to stay connected this year and I hope to hear your own illuminations in response to my experiences.

Miss you all already,

Violetta