Book
“Tell It to Your Children, and Their Children to Next Generation.” Cultural Memory of Russian Jewry Today
Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Москва, 2013, 576 p.
For many centuries “to be a Jew” meant to “perform ceremonial laws of Judaism”, i.e. religion determined identity, culture and cultural memory. In this book the author attempts to define “pillars” of Jewish cultural – both historical and collective memory in contemporary Russia. Basing on results of various sources – texts of interviews, surveys, statistics, fiction, press and web-resources – E. Nosenko-Stein examines different factors – religion(s), family, traditions, friends, anti-Semitism, State of Israel, communal life, Holocaust, language practices and others in constructing Jewish memory. The author tries to clarify the mechanism of transmitting cultural experience among people of Jewish origin and demonstrates what they want to remember and what they prefer to forget. The book is expected to be of great interest for social and cultural anthropologists, sociologist, historians, and specialists in Jewish studies, as well for students and everybody who is involved in the field.
РУССКАЯ ВЕРСИЯ: «Передайте об этом детям вашим, а их дети следующему роду.» Культурная память у российских евреев в наши дни