Subtly, almost with a smirk, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt slips in a slight warning before answering any questions: not being an oligarch, he cannot afford to pay for a bodyguard to ensure his safety. If his words remain measured, the message of the former Chief Rabbi of Moscow, leader of the Jewish community in Russia for nearly 30 years, resonates with terrifying force.
Last March, less than two weeks after the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Rabbi Goldschmidt left Russia overnight, only to step down four months later. As a religious leader, the authorities asked him to publicly support the “special military operation”. Morally impossible for this man of God, who has spent his career building bridges between peoples, especially with the Ukrainian Jewish community.
Today, Pinchas Goldschmidt recommends that all Jews in Russia leave the country as soon as possible, “while it is still possible”. For The Express, it recounts the rise of anti-Semitism in a country transformed by war and the risks weighing on the Jewish community in Russia, 200,000 strong before the conflict.
L’Express: You call on the Jews of Russia to leave the country while they still can. What are the risks for them?
Pinchas Goldschmidt: If I call on Jews to leave Russia, it is because the general situation is becoming more and more difficult, which is even more true for the Jewish community. The Russian borders will close more and more, especially for men of age to be mobilized in the army and it is more complex every day to leave Russia. Flights to Europe no longer work and Russian citizens can hardly obtain visas in European countries. In Israel, the new government is discussing the law of return, which gives every Jew and their children the right to emigrate to Israel, and discusses the possibility of limiting this law.
Living conditions in Russia are also deteriorating. Anti-Semitism is on the rise, including government anti-Semitism: government spokespersons are using anti-Semitism in their propaganda for war, and the government is shutting down the Jewish Agency, an extremely important organization for our community that dealt not only with emigration to Israel but also with education. Other large organizations of Russian Jewry are also attacked. General repression continues and thousands of people who protested against the war are sleeping in prison… For the Jewish community, life will become almost impossible in Russia.
What are the signs of a rise in anti-Semitism in Russia in recent months? Is it directly related to the war in Ukraine?
The Russian state changed on February 24. Until then, Russia was a more or less authoritarian state, it has become semi-totalitarian. Anyone who speaks their mind without being on the government line is now taking a big risk…
Street anti-Semitism, spontaneous, exists in all countries and it is not the one I am talking about. I am talking about the development of governmental anti-Semitism. Some think that Russia is going back to the functioning of the Soviet Union. During this period, anti-Semitism took the place of official policy: a Jew could not enter the good universities, he did not have access to many jobs, etc. We are not there yet, but there we can see the trend towards a return of the Soviet Union.
In history, the Jewish community has regularly been blamed for military defeats, as in Germany after the First World War or in the Soviet Union under Stalin. Can this tragic scenario be repeated in 21st century Russia?
I pray every day that history won’t repeat itself. The big difference with Stalin’s time or that of the czars 120 years ago is that today there is a powerful Jewish state. It changes a lot of things. Despite this, today there is a significant risk that this new Russia, born on February 24, will one day try to repeat the great mistakes of the past.
How does the Jewish community in Russia react to your appeal?
I receive messages from members of the community who have listened to my call and left for Israel, Dubai or Istanbul. I would say that 25 to 30% of the Jews of Russia have already left the country or are organizing themselves to do so. But many are staying.
You yourself left Russia two weeks after the start of the war. Why this decision?
My case is special. The authorities pressured leaders of religious communities to publicly support the war and I was not prepared to do so, for moral reasons. This war is a catastrophe not only for Ukraine and the Jewish community in Ukraine, but it is also a catastrophe for Russia and the Jewish community in Russia.
The Russian government claims to be waging this war to denazify Ukraine… What do you think of this argument?
This is a ridiculous argument, with no connection to reality. Can you imagine a country ruled by Nazis or neo-Nazis that would have an active and growing Jewish community? This was precisely the case in Ukraine until the war started.
We had very close ties with the Jewish community in Ukraine, which was 90% Russian-speaking. Like all the Jews of the former Soviet Union, we share many cultural points, a mentality. It is for this reason that, as President of the European Rabbinical Conference, I decided that not supporting this war was not enough: we must criticize this war and help the Ukrainian refugees.
Since the start of the conflict, Israel has found itself in a delicate position: the country condemns the invasion but refuses to supply arms to Ukraine. Does Israel’s foreign policy have a direct impact on the situation of the Jewish community in Russia?
The answer is yes and this is one of the reasons that make me fear for the future of the Jewish community in Russia. For years Binyamin Netanyahu had very close ties to the Russian government. But now we are talking about a state of war between the West and Russia, at least from an economic point of view, and in this situation, Israel, which is part of the West and has the United States as its main ally, going to have a lot of difficulty maintaining its relationship with Russia. This can have harmful consequences for the Jewish community.
You have worked for decades in Russia, how do you see the future of this country in the months and years to come?
Its future will be extremely difficult, both politically and economically. I think that a majority of Russian citizens no longer want to live in the Soviet Union, cut off from Western countries culturally, scientifically or touristically.
Do you miss Russia?
Of course, Russia is a big part of my life and that of my wife. We founded schools, rabbinical schools and associations there to help the Jews. We had to leave overnight, but we hope to be able to return one day.