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Bukharan Jews and Their Adaptation to the United States

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Bukharan Jews and Their Adaptation to the United States BUKHARAN JEWS AND THEIR ADAPTATION TO THE UNITED STATES ANNA HALBERSTADT Clinical Coordinator, Refugee Assistance Services—NYANA On-Site Mental Health Clinic and ADELE NIKOLSKY Coordinator of the Russian Program, Madeleine Borg Community Services Clinic, Jewish Board of Family and Childrens Services, New York Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there has been a mass exodus of Bukharan Jews from the Central Asian republics. These emigres differ greatly from Russian Ashkenazic Jews in their Jewish identity, family structure and size, gender roles, child-rearing prac­ tices, expectations placed on their children, and attitudes toward mental health problems and their treatment. All of these differences need to be taken into account when working with this emigre population. he Bukharan Jews form a distinct, only about 3,000 Bukharan Jews still living Trather large group of emigrants from in central Asia. The emigres have moved Uzbekistan and Tadzhikistan, former Soviet primarily to the United States and Israel. Republics. They are members of an ancient In the United States, Bukharan commu­ Jewish community that has been living in rtities exist in the Greater New York area, the Central Asia literally from time imme­ Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Denver. morial. They trace their origin from the Growing Bukharan conunurtities exist as Jews of Persia and speak Tadjiki, a dialect well in the cities of Texas, Arizona, and of Persian. Their ancestors were merchants Florida. Bukharan Jews have followed the who settled in cities along the caravan distribution pattern of all immigrants from routes coimecting the Middle East and the former Soviet Union (FSU), gravitating China. They traded in silk, cotton, and Per­ toward large metropolitan areas with sig­ sian lamb skins. From the sixteenth century nificant Jewish population. until the Russian Revolution of 1917, this The most accurate way to estimate the community lived in Bukhara, Khiva, and size of the Bukharan commurtity in the Samarkand under the protection of the United States is to examine the number of Khan of Bukhara. In the 1930s, it was esti­ HIAS-assisted arrivals from the former So­ mated that the Jewish community numbered viet Republics of Central Asia—^Uzbekistan, about 40,000 (Gurvich, 1993). Tadzhikistan, and Turkmertistan. From 1980 to 1988, the number of arrivals was DEMOGRAPHIC DATA very low—less than 3,000. However, be­ tween 1989 and October 1995, more than Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union 19,000 Bukharan Jews have emigrated. when the independent Muslim countries of Another way to determine the size of the Uzbekistan and Tadjikistan emerged, there Bukharan commurtity is to examine the pro­ has been a mass exodus of Bukharan Jews. portion of emigres coming from different The recent rise of nationalism and of Is- parts of the FSU. The share of the Central lantic extremism has been accompanied by Asian arrivals in the total number of enu­ increasing anti-Semitism, discrimination at gres coming to the United States from the workplaces, beating of Jews, and looting of FSU increased from 4 to 5% in 1980-89 to their property. As a result, according to 10 to 13% in 1991-95. The present stream Bukharans living in New York, there are 244 Bukharan Jews in the United States / 245 of refugees includes a very diverse group of Queens, Crown Heights, and Starrett City Bixkharan Jews: from professionals from (Brooklyn), Bukharans open their own the capital cities of Tashkent and Dushanbe synagogues and lead the closely knit com­ who speak mainly Russian, and are often munity life unknown to the majority ofthe married to Ashkenazi Jews or even non- Russian emigrants in New York, except in Jews to people from small towns and rural the Russian-Ukrainian Jewish community areas who speak the local Uzbek language of Brighton Beach and the Georgian Jewish and Tadjiki, are very Muslimized in their community in Queens. culture and customs, and are in blue-collar or sales occupations. Family Structure and Family Roles Bukharan families are usually large, very DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BUKHARAN often with five, six, or seven children, and JEWS AND SOVIET EUROPEAN JEWS the three generations are very closely in­ Although Bukharan Jews do differ greatly volved with each other. The majority of from Soviet European Jews, they share the marriages are still arranged by relatives, common qualities of all the Soviet popula­ and many marry inside the extended fami­ tion described by Edgar Goldstein (1984) in lies. A traditional Bukharan wedding, still his definition of "Homo Soveticus." The a central event in a person's life, is very most important shared characteristic is their costly and festive, with up to 300 to 400 ambivalent attitude toward authority. They guests attending. Young couples usually are dependent on government authorities live with the in-laws, mainly with the and at the same time mistrustfiil of them. husband's parents. Life in the bureaucratic system has made them into its efficient manipulators both at Female Roles home and in their host countries. Bukharan Before the Revolution, Bukharan men, like Jews who lived with ancient Asian tradi­ their Muslim neighbors, paid money for tions of favors and bribes also discovered their brides, and Bukharan women wore their utility in their new life. veils. Since 1917, bride money and the wearing of veils have been prohibited by Jewish Identity law, but the status of women in Bukharan In contrast to many emigres from the FSU, famtiies remains low. Neither education Bukharan Jews had the opportunity to de­ nor the professional status ofthe women velop a positive Jewish identity. This com­ can necessarily provide her with the respect munity preserved some knowledge and of her family. Except for the most progres­ practice of Judaism and continued to cel­ sive families, Bukharan women always live ebrate Jewish holidays and life-cycle rituals. under the power of men—their father, Many families remained strictly observant, brothers, and then husband. Verbal and keeping Shabbat and kashrut. Their rate of physical abuse of women are frequent and intermarriage remained low. are not seen as something especially cruel As a result, they find it easier to inte­ or unusual. grate into the American Jewish community A double standard in sex roles is very than do other emigres. They often settle common in these families. It is much more among Chasidim and traditional Iranian acceptable for a man to have premarital sex Jews whose language they understand. and extramarital affairs, whereas young Both groups have become a source of assis­ girls are usually not allowed to date before tance and sometimes employment for they marry. Very often parents do not allow Bukharan Jews. Settting down in Rego them to even attend parties at school or go Park and the Forest HiUs sections of out with girlfriends for fear of these girls' SUMMER 1996 Journal of Jewish Communal Service / 246 possible "loose" behavior. A girl who loses own quite a few fiimiture stores on lower her virginity loses her chances for a good Broadway and jewelry stores and workshops marriage inside her community. on 47th street. Their business orientation However, a woman's status increases and skills make for a successful econontic with her age and number of children. An adaptation. elderly grandmother, a babulen 'ka, is often a decision maker for her adult children and Demographic Decisions and Child Care may control the family wealth. Her daugh­ Although today most Bukharan women ters-in-law are obliged to obey her, nurse work, they, like their Muslim neighbors her in sickness, and assist her in house­ (and unlike the Russian Jews), continue to work. value big fanulies as a gift of God. In the FSU, Jews relied on several sources of child Male Roles care for their large fantilies. Extended In contrast to men from other regions of the families, especially grandparents, were a FSU, who played a rather marginal role in primary source; using older children as their own families because they had been babysitters and the state child care were deprived of economic irutiative by the state other means. In contrast to Russian Jews, (Geiger, 1968), in the strongly Muslimized the Bukharans made extensive use of facili­ Bukharan family the male role retains many ties for children 1 to 3 years old, kindergar­ patriarchal features. Frequently, the tens (including those where children sleep Bukharan man retains the position as the over five to six days a week) and state sole or main provider for his family. Even boarding schools, which were known for the when his wife also works, he still, unlike a poor quality of child care. Russian-Jewish man, expects obedience from his wife and often holds the strings of Attitude toward Childhood the family purse. Like the Russians, Bukharans practice swaddling, and both groups discourage tod­ Role of Financial Security dlers' exploration of the environment. In In the Bukharan community a person's self- the view of some Freudian practitioners this worth is determined often but not always by encourages an inclination to passivity, de­ his or her family's fmancial security. Tra­ pression, and despair. ditionally, a well-to-do commurtity of mer­ Yet, there is a difference in the chants, the poor on the community assis­ nurturance of Russian Jewish and Bukharan tance rolls never constituted more than 1 infants. The former are frequently picked percent of the population. The majority of up, pampered, and smothered in affection. the Bukharan community members make In contrast, Bukharan infants are not occupational choices with the family's fi­ handled often. In the past (and now only in nancial security in mind. In the Soviet some rural areas among the least-educated economy of shortages, they traditionally families) infants were kept in rocking cribs chose occupations that provided access to with a hole in the bottom for elimination either consumer goods (retail salespeople, and tied with soft cloth ties as was tradi­ cooks, cafe and canteen managers) or to tips tional among all nations of Central Asia.
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