The Jewish Underground of Samarkand - English (Zaltzman)

Author: Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman
Format: 6" x 9" Paperback, 438 Pages
Language: English

Under Communist regimes in the USSR Jews were frequent targets of Soviet persecution. Open participation in religious activities resulted in severe repercussions. Using the KGB and undercover agents, the Communist regimes intimated and imprisoned Jews who secretly continued to celebrate their holidays and traditions. Many Jews in the Soviet Union eventually lost knowledge of Jewish rituals and traditions.

But a few communities in the USSR resisted these efforts to erradicate Jewish traditions and rituals. When the Nazis invaded Ukraine, throngs of Jews fled eastward to the Soviet provinces of Central Asia. Members of the Chabad stream of Chassidism settled in the cities of Samarkand and Tashkent in Uzbekistan. Hillel Zaltzman’s family was among these refugees. How this community resisted repression and maintained their religious traditions and rituals is revealed in this unique memoir by Hillel Zaltzman. It is the largely unknown story of the Chassidic Jewish underground that operated in Samarkand under the watchful eyes of the KGB—a story of faith, courage, and resilience.

After World War Two, Jewish communities across the Soviet Union faced renewed efforts by Stalin and the Soviet regime to shut down their religious institutions and eliminate Jewish religious identity. As a child, Hillel studied in secret with Chassidic teachers who could have been sent to Siberia if discovered. At sixteen, Hillel was recruited to join Chamah, an underground organization founded by a small group of young men to promote Jewish life through education. This clandestine group succeeded in establishing a network of underground Jewish schools for more than 1,500 children, as well as a secret yeshiva in Samarkand for older students. Zaltzman describes the memorable people he worked with and the sacrifices they made to share their love of Torah and Jewish learning. He also recalls some of their more
colorful adventures—their attempts to celebrate Jewish holidays in secret, hold prayer services, make their own Passover matzah, and obtain religious texts when it was illegal to do so.

In 1971, after fifteen years of waiting, Zaltzman finally received his exit visa and emigrated to Israel with his family. There he helped reestablish Chamah—this time to help new immigrants from the Soviet Union settle in their new homes and reclaim their Jewish identity.
Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman is president of Chamah, a successful organization assisting Jews in the US, Israel, and the former Soviet Union. Under his leadership, Chamah expanded its activities to include social and medical services, educational programs, and a publishing division. Rabbi Zaltzman and his family live in Brooklyn, New York.

“Zaltzman’s stirring memoir, which was originally published in 2015 as Samarkand and has been condensed for this new edition, recounts his attempts to preserve Jewish culture in Soviet Uzbekistan. … He writes of these achievements in steady, unshowy prose, succeeding in his stated goal to enlighten readers who are unaware of a thriving Jewish community in the former Soviet Union. It’s a fascinating blend of personal and cultural history.” —Publisher’s Weekly

”A debut history that details the plight of a family of Jews who fled from Ukraine to Uzbekistan while pursuing their faith… A remarkable job of vividly depicting the city of Samarkand…famous for its tenacious preservation of Jewish customs despite zealous political persecution. It serves as an effective historical study of Jewish life under Communist tyranny.”—Kirkus Reviews

“While the Kremlin ruthlessly suppressed organized religion, Chassidic Jews in Samarkand managed to sustain their traditions with determined ingenuity. Brimming with vivid detail, this book will interest anyone curious to know how they survived in the face of Stalinist repression.” —Joshua Rubenstein, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University and the author of nine books on Soviet history including The Last Days of Stalin

“An important contribution to the historical record of Soviet Jewry.”—Pamela Braun Cohen, author of Hidden Heroes: One Woman’s Story of Resistance and Rescue in the Soviet Union.

“Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman has written a remarkable and very moving memoir… Reading this is a bit like reading Chaim Grade’s My Mother’s Sabbath Days. It is filled with chaimishe details, a veritable cholent of characters, an inspiring tale of religious Jewish heroes and heroines.” —Phyllis Chesler, PhD Emerita Professor of Psychology at CUNY, legendary feminist leader, author of over twenty books including the National Jewish Book Award winner, An American Bride in Kabul and numerous classic feminist books like Women and Madness and About Men.

“The inspiring story of Chabad’s underground followers in far-off Samarkand as recounted by a Lubavitch activist who defied the Communists and survived to tell the tale…. An unforgettable chronicle of courage and perseverance.” —Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University.

“Rabbi Zaltzman’s earnestness, his humanity, and modesty are irresistible. The bravery of resistance dominates throughout. You have in your hands a cultural treasure!" —Cynthia Ozick, Award-winning American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

“Sheds light on aspects of the Jewish struggle for religious liberty in the Soviet Union…. This book will inform the reader about events that took place in Samarkand that in many ways changed the course of Soviet Jewish history.” —Michael N. Dobkowski, John Milton Potter Chair in the Humanities, Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

“Part historian, part I. B. Singer, Rabbi Zaltzman has the storyteller’s genius. In this astonishing narrative, he tells of his family’s journey and that of fellow Chabad Lubavitchers to Samarkand, fleeing the Nazi invasion of Ukraine, and their struggles to keep their religious practices alive under the brutal rule of the Soviet Union.”—Sol Gittleman, Alice and Nathan Gantcher University, and Professor Emeritus, Tufts University.