From Russian Pogroms to Nobel Peace Prize

I had an amazing chain of events hearing and reading about the pogroms in Russia in the late 1890’s and early 1900. The stories were first so far away in time and place I could not quite relate to them. 

I wanted to talk to people about the pogroms, but many did not even hear the word. I googled the word:  it is a Russian word meaning total devastation. 

A few months ago, I read a book about Israel where the writer talked about a famous poem in each period of Jewish History. In 1905 the famous poem was: The City of Killing, by the poet H.N. Bialik. 

Bialik was a young journalist at the time of the Kishinev Pogrom. The town was attacked by hooligans who killed and raped and destroyed everything in their path.  Bialik was sent to the town to take testimonies and report on the event. He spoke to the women who were in shock, and to the men, some brave some cowards. In his poem he cries out about the rabbis who made the decree that the women who were raped were not allowed to their husbands. “What dark minded leaders are these?”  Cried Bialik. 

Sometime later I heard about a specific family who was affected by the Kishinev pogrom. This was a presentation about another Israeli poet who just passed away in his 90’s Haim Guri. His mother was always sad. The story was that as a young girl she watched her mother being raped. After that the mother was banned from the family. She used to come at nighttime and watch her children sleeping.  In the end she could not take it any longer, she walked to the river and never returned. This is a real story where the rape of one woman affects not just her but her children and grandchildren. 

This past year my friend recommended the book "The Last Girl," written by Nadia Murad. She is one of the young Yazidi women captured by ISIS.  These women became the slaves of ISIS warriors and were gang raped daily.  Nadia managed to escape, and she became a spokeswoman for molested girls everywhere.  She won the Nobel prize for peace this year together with Dr. Mukwege.  He is the gynecologist who healed the wounds of many women raped in the war in Congo.  In her book Nadia talks about the Yazidi leaders who pondered the fate of their raped women.  They were more enlightened than previous leaders and decreed that it was not the women’s fault, therefore these women are allowed back in society to lead a normal healthy life.

To end this story, I want to mention the biblical story I happened to read to my students: Joseph and his dreams.  Joseph serves at Potiphar's house the minister to Pharaoh and he does a great job.  He is very handsome, and Potiphar's wife tries to seduce him. He keeps runing away from her, but one time she manages to get hold of his clothing and tears away a piece.  When her husband comes home, she blames Joseph for attacking her and Joseph is sent to Jail.  It did not escape my young student that this is an early story of “he said she said.”