Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1994-09-29

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COMMUNITY FEATURE
Celebrating the immigrant experience
By Lynne Balaban
The year is 1894 ... Imagine packing a bag with your
possessions—not all of them,
only the ones you can carry —
and leaying everything else behind. You must leave behind
everything — family mem-
I bers, friends, a job, your home
i — you've ever known and
cared about. Imagine getting
on a crowded boat and traveling for what seems to be an
eternity, only to arrive in a
strange country, no one waiting for you when you arrive
and nowhere to go. You have
to find a place to live, learn a
new language, find a job. You
have to make a life'for yourself. There is no going back.
Now the year is 1994 ...
one hundred years later. Generation after generation persecuted — religiously, socially,
morally. Finally you're given
freedom to leave. To give up
all you've worked for your entire life in the hopes of finding
a better way of life for you,
your children and your children's children. So you pack
only what you can carry and
board a plane. Leaving behind
family and friends and traveling for what seems an eternity,
only to arrive in a strange
country— The story remains
the same, only the names and
faces change.
Have you ever wondered
what life was like for your parents and grandparents when
they moved from a place they
had always known to a new
country, nOt.knowing anyone,
having to start over? Do you
ever wonder what life is like
here in America for the new
immigrants from the former
Soviet Union? Could you do it?
On Oct. 9 and 10 the community will have the opportunity to relive life in those often-turbulent times when the
Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center (JCC) sponsors
the 5th Annual Celebration of
Life — "a two-day event designed to pay tribute to the
American Jews who laid the
foundations of our communities and our Jewish heritage,"
says event Chairwoman Helen
Samuels.
"Each year's program has
evolved into an uplifting thematic celebration where adults
of all ages can come together
to share positive and enriching aspects of life. This year
continues the tradition by celebrating the immigrant expe
rience," explains Marlene
Raiz, JCC Adult Services director.
A variety of performances,
lectures and displays, appropriate for ail ages, will offer
participants insight into the
thoughts of those who dared to
change their lives in the hopes
of finding something better.
Registration begins at 9:30
a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9. The
first workshop will take place
at 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
and will focus on local Columbus families' immigration experience.
Sam Gordon, whose father
emigrated from Russia as a
teenager, and Margie Wasserstrom Gross, whose parents
emigrated in 1902 from Austria and Hungary, are both
first generation Americans.
They will discuss the influence
their parents lives had on
them regarding their education, religious affiliation,
childhood and adult life.
Jody Scheiman is a second
generation „ American, born
and raised in Columbus. She
and her husband are trying to
raise their two children in a
socially conscious home.
"My parents were always involved with philanthropic
causes. I'm doing that now,
and I'm hoping to teach it to
my children. I had a very positive experience growing up in
my parents' home and feel
that the most important thing
I can give my children is a
good Jewish home life like my
parents gave me," Scheiman
■says, j
Abe Meksin, now 74 years
old, emigrated to the United
States with his family on May
4,1989.
"I will never forget that
day," he said. "For ten years
we tried to leave Russia. There
I was, an architect, and my
wife a physician. It is a beautiful country, but the government (would not allow us to
practice our religion). I came
to Columbus because my cousin lives here. I think Columbus
is the best place in the world to
live."
Abe, his wife, Sara; his son,
Victor, and daughter-in-law,
Esther, will join Sam and Betty Gordon, Scheiman, Gross
and Randy Wasserstrom in a
panel discussion on their experiences as first and second
generation American Jews.
Dottie Rosenfled will moderate the discussion.
see IMMIQRANT pg. 3
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