It happened in Bensonhurst two weeks ago. Anna Vinokur, an elderly Russian-speaking Jew who arrived in the United States in 1993, was on her way home from the grocery store. She noticed a group of tall, tanned, and athletic Russian-speaking youths having a lively discussion. But when she got closer, her face fell: their “discussion” included an abundant use of select swear words.

Anna, a teacher, still considers it her duty to set youths (and not only her grandchildren) on the right path. This is why she decided to approach this group and let them know that their behavior was unacceptable.

Anna is still not able to recall what happened in the next minutes without shuddering. One of the youths, a muscular young man aged 16 or 17, wearing a cross, grabbed her hand, brought his face close to hers, and whispered, "Who do you think you’re talking to, you old Yid? Go raise your own Yids, bitch, and leave us alone. Isn't it enough that you've taken over everything in Russia, that you’re sucking our blood. You wouldn’t leave us in peace there and you want to control us here! Shut up and go away, you nasty old witch, while you’re still in one piece.”

Shocked and unable to react (should she slap this scoundrel or call for help?), Anna froze. The young men stood next to her smirking. Then they went on their way and soon disappeared around the corner.

“I felt like I was in the Soviet Union again," said Anna. "I felt like I had no rights and was completely helpless, that anyone could bother me and that no one would defend me. I saw before me the face of an animal, a pogromist. But the most frightening thing was that this scoundrel turned everything upside down. We, the Jews, tried to escape from people like this. We had to leave our homes, our friends, and our graves. And they followed us to America and are not afraid to treat us with contempt.”

Unfortunately, this grievous incident is not the only one of its kind. Recently, many Russian-speaking Jews living in Brighton Beach and other neighborhoods densely populated by Russian speakers complain that the atmosphere in these areas has come to resemble the atmosphere in the Soviet Union. Specifically, people have begun to sense that half-forgotten anti-Semitism in the air.

We have all had occasion to hear the absurd myths about our immigration. Some assert that we came to America not for reasons of self-determination and independence, but for wealth and the freedom to “make deals.” Others insist that we would still be sitting in our native countries if we had not been extracted (“enticed”) by American Jews who wanted to increase their ranks in this country or, even worse, use us as servants. After all, we had all been senior engineers, doctors and editors there. But if we reject all these cynical and blatantly stupid theories and look truth in the eye, we will understand (or, more accurately, remember) that we fled the USSR-CIS primarily because of anti-Semitism in all its forms, whether it be on the part of the state or everyday people, aggressive or diplomatic, zoological or intellectual.

We fled contemptuous sneers and leers and impudent statements and condescending phrases like, “You’re a good guy, even though you’re a Jew.” We fled the impossibility of getting into prestigious universities, the necessity of changing our first and last names, the need to put in twice as much work, and the obligation to do our own work and someone else’s just to keep our jobs. We fled humiliation and fear. We fled the constant expectation of campaigns against “rootless cosmopolitans” or “Zionist aggressors.” We fled uncertainty in tomorrow and in a normal future for our children.

And now, when we have been in America for some time, when we have more or less adjusted to freedom, more or less embraced the heritage of our ancestors, and more or less restored our downtrodden dignity, we are suddenly beginning to feel that we have again ended up among anti-Semites. They are not native born Americans or people of other ethnicities (there are plenty of anti-Semites within these groups, but that’s for another discussion), but “our people” – non-Jews from former Soviet republics.

We get the same contemptuous sneers and leers, the same subtle hints and rude statements. We see the same readiness to spread dirty rumors about Jews and to believe the most fantastical Judophobic myths.

I remember how one of my friend’s co-workers called him a “Yid huckster,” for which that co-worker earned a black eye. I remember how the home attendant for my friend’s parents (who were intelligent, well-meaning, and sociable) admitted that she believed that horrible tales about adding the blood of Christian children to matzos were true(“You know yourself, it’s true,”she said). Meanwhile, my neighbor found herself in a situation similar to Anna Vinokur’s: in response to her questions, the clerk at a “Russian” store – a blond beauty wearing a cross – blurted out, “When we came to America we thought that we had gotten rid of you for good, but you even got to us here.”

Here is a more alarming example. My Jewish friend (I’ll call her Dina) works at a company whose owner employs illegal immigrants – Russians, Georgians, Uzbeks. He leads an international (in the Soviet understanding) team. Two or three Jews also work there. One of them is elderly and timid. During Jewish holidays, he acts like we did in the USSR, quietly approaching Dina and discreetly wishing her a good holiday.

Here is one more example, which is entirely incomprehensible. After Russkaya Reklama published my article entitled “Building bridges revisited,” which was about Jewish self-identification, many of my friends, including activists from Jewish organizations and even journalists marveled at my...bravery and the bravery of the paper! They were amazed that I had written such an article not for a Jewish publication, but for one of the main papers that everyone in the Russian-speaking community reads. One might think that it is 1967, that we are in the USSR, and that Pravda had just published my article in support of Israel.

Why are these incidents occurring? What has caused this blossoming anti-Semitism in “Russian” America? And why do some Jews feel that they are again in the USSR, where Big Brother Russian ruled and where everything Jewish was driven underground? One of the reasons is, of course, the changing character of post-Soviet immigration. While earlier the majority of Russian-speaking immigrants were Jews, now they are mostly not Jewish. Some of these people bring the seeds of Judophobia with them.

The situation is complicated by the fact that unlike Jews, who came here as refugees (or at worst as parolees), the majority of non-Jews have come here on temporary visas or without any visa at all. As a result, they frequently end up working for Jews, whom they are used to treating with disdain. The vast majority of babysitters, home attendants, and housekeepers are not Jewish. And the majority of illegal immigrants doing the dirty work at “Russian” (meaning Jewish) businesses are also not Jewish.

These babysitters, housekeepers, and laborers are often intelligent, educated people, while their new bosses are social climbers from the nouveau-riche who mercilessly exploit them, either avenging previous wrongs or portraying themselves as important businesspeople. Unfortunately, many Jews, who were known for their obedient and servile behavior in the USSR, now relish their new role as “master” and are trying to gain a foothold at the expense of the people who “serve” them.

I know a very intelligent woman from Georgia who has worked as a home attendant in Russian Jewish families for several years. As luck would have it, this pleasant, friendly, and open-minded woman always ends up with very capricious clients who harass her. The children of these clients are no better, trying to show the “servant” her place and to emphasize the social chasm that separates them from her. It must be agreed that in such a situation even the most well-meaning, unprejudiced person could form an unflattering picture of Jewish people and even become an anti-Semite.

But this kind of lordly behavior is not the only thing we do to add fuel to the fire. Unfortunately, many of us show the same intolerance towards non-Jews as the worst of non-Jews show towards us. We also leer at them and have offensive nicknames for them: (goy, shiksa, khazarin). We also try to point out that they (at least here in our community in America) are second-class people. Sometimes we even openly tell non-Jews “We thought that we had gotten away from you for good when we left the Soviet Union, but you even ran us down here.”

One of my acquaintances, a Russian woman who emigrated here with her Jewish husband and their three children, told me what happened one day when she took her youngest son to the park soon after their arrival in the United States. Both mother and son, with their blue eyes, blond hair, and snub noses are clearly Slavs. An elderly Russian-speaking Jew sat next to them on the bench. She apparently believed that Jews have the exclusive right to emigrate to America. After making small talk about the son’s good looks, the old lady asked the mother a "direct" question: "How did you manage to come to America?"

Paradoxically, the blossoming of anti-Semitism in Russian-speaking America is encouraged by Russian Jewish immigrants’ readiness to forswear everything Jewish. We allow ourselves to be called Russian (in quotes) as if fearing that the phrase “Soviet Jew” will offend non-Jews. We take any appeal to join Jewish culture as an attack on the great Russian culture. We add a bit of Russianness to all the events we hold to show how enthusiastic we are about this great culture. But Russians (without quotes) are outraged by this bow to culture, claiming that Jews have appropriated their heritage and have stolen their brand to use for their misbegotten goals.

I remember when a certain Russian lady, who immigrated to America after WWII, candidly told me during the first Russian Heritage Festival in 2003: “I can’t understand who are these people who call themselves ‘Russian'." I recently had a conversation on the subway with a short, swarthy man who maintained that he was Russian even though he didn't speak Russian well. It turned out that he was a mountain Jew.”

True, for some Russians (especially those who recently emigrated), the appropriation of their brand by Jews is fine by them since it allows them to unite with the “kidnappers,” participate in their opulent Russian events, find sponsors, and even lay claim to aid from rich and influential Jewish organizations in the United States. The strangest thing is that even immigrants from other Soviet republics, who had earlier burned with the desire to break away from the Russia that subjugated them, now find an advantage in the fuzzy (or multiple) definitions of “Russian.” Ukrainians, who despised the hot-shot Muscovites, and proud Georgians, allow themselves to be called Russian because this promises certain privileges.

In short, a mini USSR is forming in America, with Russian Jews playing the role of the Big Russian Brother who has direct access to the Party and the government. True, some of those Jews are willing to give the seniority back to “the great Russian people,” while others feel that the latter is enslaving them again (as one of my fellow journalists put it, “we have been occupied”). But many of us continue to believe in the Soviet notion of "friendship of the people,” forgetting about the frightening currents that flowed beneath the stitching of this artificial union.

To conclude, I will recount one more story. A Ukrainian woman, who had come to the United States to earn some money, was working for a Russian Jewish family as a babysitter. She was the ideal nanny, the equal of Mary Poppins. Her charges doted upon her, their parents adored her, and it seemed as if she had a good relationship with them. After several years, the Ukrainian Mary Poppins had saved up a nice amount of money and decided to return home. An opulent going-away party was thrown for her replete with flowers, presents, tears, and promises to keep in touch. But at the airport, when all the goodbye ceremonies were over and all that was left was for the nanny to board the plane, she announced out of nowhere: “Well, now I can speak frankly. I'm sorry that you weren't all burned at Auschwitz. "

Sure, this is a special case. It’s not typical, but it is appalling. And there would be no point in recounting it if situations and conversations of a clearly xenophobic nature were not constantly springing up around us. Russians against “Russians.” Or is it the other way around? And where is this happening? In America, where racial and ethnic intolerance are strictly punishable by law.