Lack of an intellectual elite, of a tradition of learning and interpreting texts, and of a common cultural canon, relevant to the given place and time, leads to atrophy of the cultural languages and therefore to loss of values and blurring of moral and ethical boundaries.

The Jewish community has three pillars to stand on: prayer in synagogues, Torah studies, and burial according to Jewish customs.

Russian-speaking Jewish communities nowadays consist of those who we call “Russian Jews”- they are the Jews of the USSR.