TUULA-HANNELE IKONEN Daughters of the Vale of Tears Ethnographic Approach with Socio-Historical and Religious Emphasis to Family Welfare in the Messianic Jewish Movement in Ukraine 2000 ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be presented, with the permission of the board of the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of the University of Tampere, for public discussion in the Väinö Linna-Auditorium K104, Kalevantie 5, Tampere, on February 27th, 2013, at 12 o’clock. UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE ACADEMIC DISSERTATION University of Tampere School of Social Sciences and Humanities Finland Copyright ©2013 Tampere University Press and the author Distribution Tel. +358 40 190 9800 Bookshop TAJU [email protected] P.O. Box 617 www.uta.fi/taju 33014 University of Tampere http://granum.uta.fi Finland Cover design by Mikko Reinikka Acta Universitatis Tamperensis 1809 Acta Electronica Universitatis Tamperensis 1285 ISBN 978-951-44-9059-0 (print) ISBN 978-951-44-9060-6 (pdf) ISSN-L 1455-1616 ISSN 1456-954X ISSN 1455-1616 http://acta.uta.fi Tampereen Yliopistopaino Oy – Juvenes Print Tampere 2013 Abstract This ethnographic approach with socio•historical and religious emphasis focuses on the Mission view of Messianic Jewish women in Ukraine circa 2000. The approach highlights especially the meaning of socio•historical and religious factors in the emergence of the Mission view of Messianic Jewish women. Ukraine, the location of this study case, is an ex•Soviet country of about 48 million citizens with 100 ethnic nationalities. Members of the Jewish Faith form one of those ethnic groups. Following the Russian revolution in 1989 and then the establishing of an independent Ukraine in 1991, the country descended into economic disaster with many consequent social problems. Women, children and families were the most vulnerable groups in society and it was within these, and additionally in an• swer to an emotional vacuum and failure of female activism that an interest and commitment to Religion returned after about 70 years exile. Messianic Judaism emerged in Ukraine during the late 1980s. The purpose of this study is to describe the content of the Mission view: family welfare. This study addresses the following questions concerning the Messianic Jewish Movement: 1) What is the Mission view of Messianic Jewish women? 2) Why and how did it emerge? 3) How do women produce family welfare according to this Mission view? 4) What are the ideal types of Messianic Jewish women for contributing welfare to society? Under Soviet Communist rule Ukrainian Jewry lost their religion, culture and lifestyle. In order to sur• vive they assimilated. Jewish women became part of the work force and the institution of the Jewish family as a centre of Jewish community life collapsed. Religious Jewish women became secular Soviet citizens. This study describes Jewish women in the midst of past and present evolving suffering. The Mission view presents an ideal model within the context of welfare for the role of Jewish women and Jewish family life for the future. This study is theoretical however it also uses empirical material, which consists of discussions with 47 persons and questionnaires completed by 33 members. Theoretical sources consist of written literature such as academic studies and articles (mainly representing Jewish study tradition), documents, statistics, and ten memoirs. The ethnographic approach includes the use of the theoretical frame, the OOM (the Organization Onion Model), which has been developed by sociolo• gist of religion and cultural anthropologist Muukkonen (2000). The results of this ethnographic analysis show that the Mission view focuses on three tasks of family welfare: to create integrity at home and in the family, to rear children in order for them to grow into per• sistent, resilient human beings, and to continue and maintain Jewish lifestyle in the family. The generated Mission view includes the ideal of authentic Jewish women who want to produce welfare for the Jewish family. This analysis opens up new perspectives concerning family welfare in Jewish families. Key words: Messianic Jewish Movement, Jewish women, the Mission view, the Shoah, Ukraine, tran• sition society, the Pale, ideology, identity, family, social welfare, the OOM, ethnography, triangulation. 3 4 Acknowledgments The undertaking of a project of this sort could not have been conducted without the generous intellec• tual and emotional support of many people with their time and memories. I am grateful to professionals in Finland and Israel and the volunteers in Ukraine who opened the way into the largely unknown Jewish women’s world and who were willing to share their often painful experiences. I have been in touch with countless Jews in Ukraine and other countries mentioned in the text although in accordance with their wishes and my promise I changed their names. I am deeply thankful for their voices, which became agents of their own Jewish history. My concern with and their devotion to family and welfare has created this study report. I want to express my special thanks to those, who have encouraged me during my study process at the university. I remember with gratitude professor, Dr.Briitta Koskiaho•Cronström, who was my first offi• cial supervisor at the University of Tampere and who first showed scientific interest in Diaspora Jews although this subject is quite uncommon in Finnish social policy. Especially I remember our fruitful dis• cussion concerning transition society.I warmly thank Dr. Ritva Nätkin, scholar of social policy at the University of Tampere, who was my second supervisor directing me to social policy questions and family research. I warmly thank also professor, Dr. Anneli Anttonen, scholar of social policy at the University of Tampere, who gave me important comments. I am deeply grateful that my supervisors gave a great atten• tion to this interesting, important and fascinating theme concerning Jewish women. I have been privileged to receive supervision from Dr. Martti Muukkonen, sociologist of religion and a cultural anthropologist whose expertise in the inter•disciplinary context of social and religious Move• ments was invaluable. Dr.Muukkonen also highlighted the theoretical path of social welfare from the ancient world to contemporary Western societies and from the point of view of this study this emphasis made a significant contribution to its framework. At the final stage of the research processprofessor, Dr. Pertti Koistinen, social policy scientist at the University of Tampere gave me encouraging feedback, con• structive suggestions and practical instructions. His positive energy combined with scientific analytical approach was a decisive factor to successfully finish this study. With great pleasure I warmly thank both of them. I am fortunate that Dr.Tova Benski, scholar of the social Movements and gender studies (Israel, Tel Aviv) was my preliminary examiner: Her positive and constructive feedback guided me toward content• enhancing additions and analytical clarifications and gave me inspirational encouragement to complete this study. My sincere gratitude to professor, Dr. Leena Eräsaari, scholar of social policy and social work at the University of Jyväskylä who was another preliminary examiner gave me confidence, courage and scientific impetus to make final important refinements to my challenging work. I am grateful for the grant to assist with expenses for proofreading and light editing from the School of Social Sciences and Humanities of Tampere University. I am also grateful Seijato Veneskoski for her assistance with the layout of the thesis. I thankElena N. (in Ukraine) andKaija Puustinen (in Finland) who interpreted the Russian/Ukrainian/Finnish languages, andRaymond M. Muggeridge who assisted with English. The support of my familymembers and friends was important and last, but not least, I express my deep gratitude for all his encouragement to my husband,Ossi. Surely, they also will finish 'something im• portant' which was linked us to our mutual emotional, intellectual as well as to practical living process. Years passed while they recognized how I ‘always’ was sitting at my computer, when I ‘always’ had a high pile of books to be read, when ‘something’ important like the text reviewing was ‘always’ in my hands. However, I am convinced that this long•lasting process is a sign of our commitment with the an• cient and modern phenomena of Jewishness and its many charming and inspiring adventures. This pro• cess brought joie de vivre to our life and will remain in our hearts forever. I would like to share that expe• rience with all readers of this study. 5 6 Preface ‘I must know… ’ – A Personal Point of View Every scientific study is based on previous research however an author who wants to bring new ideas and new discoveries to a topic must weed out old prejudices, out•dated facts and verify the accuracy of constantly competing interpretations. The end result will be a new story, a revelation which has its own priorities and perspectives as has happened in this study process. Religion and history have been my favourite subjects from elementary school to high school and be• yond. I especially remember the Bible's historical story of the baby boy Moses in the basket on the Nile River in the first book of religion. We children learned the Bible because our religion teacher and form master was a cordial Lutheran1 priest who seemed to love Biblical stories about Israel and Jews. We learned verses of the Old Testament (Hebr. the Torah) by heart, and nobody protested. Also at that time a unique person from Finland’s history, Mathilda Wrede2 caught my imagination. Wrede fed Idealism into my young soul and this historical woman became my female paragon although as a child I was not wholly aware and could not clearly explain her influence upon me. Today, things are much clearer. Deep in my soul as a child I admired charity, i.e. helping oppressed, poor and sick people.