Recently I have found myself feeling more connected to the specificity of my previously *un*specified Jewish heritage. My grandparents were both from former Soviet republics, though neither of them were Soviet at the point at which my various ancestors left. My maternal great grandparents left the Ukraine, slightly outside of Kiev, a few years before my grandma was born. Her side of the family was full of rabbis, and since then has produced a Pulitzer prize winning journalists and lots of academics. My grandfather left then-Russia--later-Soviet Union--now-Poland when he was three. His family were mostly tailors, a prospect that did not thrill my materinal grandparents. Nonetheless they married, had three kids, and experienced what seems to have been a very happy marriage.
So there are a few reasons I feel more connected to this than in the past. 1) Pop culture has come after me: Gogol Bordello, Eastern Promises, Everything is Illuminated. 2) A few years ago, I moved to Ukranian Village. I didn't really think twice about this until my dad found my great grandparents naturalization papers and discovered that they and my 6 year old grandmother lived about 4 blocks away from my current apartment, uh even on the same street. 3) Last Thanksgiving my dad transferred old audio recordings to cd, and I heard my great grandmother's thick Yiddish accent for the first time. This accent has been parodied in my family since as long as I can remember. But it's a whole other thing to actually hear it. Actually really nice. It's a reason to record your own voice. Cheesy for you but really nice for your descendants. 4) I went to a Breaking-the-Fast celebration recently and the place just dripped with former Soviet traditions, people, and food. And former Soviet food is really really good. 5) My advisor thinks I mispronounce my own last name, which I don't. But her insistence has refocused my attention on the history of my name. Once upon a time my grandpa changed shortened/anglicized his last name to Lef for business. Nonetheless he kept it otherwise and passed it on to my dad and now it's mine. As much as I bitch about my last name, I'm actually really glad we didn't change it. I like having it in full. It's as Jewish/Russian a name as you can get. And that's that.
