שתיל - שירותי תמיכה וייעוץ לקידום שינוי חברתי

"Shocking."
"Harmful."
"A cultural crime."
"An embarrassment."

These were among the emotional reactions of luminaries such as the poet Haim Guri, Bar Ilan Bible Professor Uriel Simon and journalist Bambi Sheleg at Monday's protest against the closing of the Russian library in Jerusalem. The colorful, lively demonstration was organized within days by a SHATIL-initiated Forum of Jerusalem Immigrant Culture Organizations, after a commitment by the municipality to find the library a new home went unmet (as reported in NIF News on August 19.) Now, the librarian has been threatened with dismissal and books are being packed.

As reported in NIF News on August 19, the 100,000-volume library is the largest Russian language library outside of the Former Soviet Union and the most used of Jerusalem's 25 public libraries. It serves as a cultural center and home away from home for thousands of immigrants from the FSU.

"It can't be that the biggest Russian library outside of Russia will close," Ira Dashevsky, a leader in Machanayim, a Russian immigrant group that promotes Jewish education, told the more than 100 demonstrators, among them four MK's who participated even though they were not invited and not given a platform to speak. "The last time I attended a demonstration was as a refusenik in Russia. It never occurred to me that I would demonstrate in Israel."

Professor Simon told the crowd: "I came today because I am shocked that the mayor of Jerusalem doesn't understand the symbolic significance of the closing of a library in Jerusalem. He should remember that Soviet Jews fought for the right to read in Hebrew and Yiddish - the authorities prevented them from doing so.

"Now they come to Israel, which is supposed to be their homeland - and we don't understand that they have a right to read books in their own language? Those who can't identify with immigrants and their traumas - which they came here to heal - now add a new Israeli trauma?

"There is no lack of respect and appreciation for culture in Israel, but everyone respects his own culture - Hebrew culture, religious culture - and doesn't appreciate the culture of others. That's what we must learn now."

Sitting amid signs that read, "The People of the Book without a Library?" and "Dostoyevsky is turning over in his grave," 78-year old Inna Braslavski, who immigrated to Israel from the FSU nine years ago, said the library was a lifeline for her.

"I was a teacher of German in Russia. I no longer work, but I need this library for my wellbeing. I come here several times a week (an hour round trip commute from her home in Gilo.) There are fascinating meetings with famous people; there are discussions and very special books. It's interesting. It's important. And it's necessary for the soul, for the mind -- for life itself."

The demonstration received wide media attention on television, radio and internet news sites.

"The struggle is not yet over and the road is long," said SHATIL's Ilana Litvak, one of the demonstration's organizers. "But we now see we have with whom to work - there is a community that cares and that is beginning to awaken."