Why I volunteer

I cannot idly watch my people slip through the cracks of indifference.

As a fresh-off-the-boat immigrant from the USSR, the place of hell most Americans still only tangentially understand, I made it my decades-long mission to impart history I know, via first-hand experiences, so that some of the mistakes Jews made in the 20th century may be anticipated and averted in the 21st.

By my 18th year in the U.S., I had doubled in age and began giving back to my communities, both Jewish and immigrant, by transitioning out of a lucrative corporate career to be Bramson ORT’s solver of first-gen immigrants’ problems. The knowledge and love of pedagogy I initially acquired while still in the USSR and a strong pull to mentor recent young adult immigrants, guided me.

My students began understanding capitalist business practices, getting into four-year colleges and securing jobs. Consequently, their earnings potential increased, thus validating their American dreams.

Since moving to Naples, I served on the local ORT America chapter board, as its former dean of academic services; then formed the Jewish Russian Cultural Alliance (JRCA), which helps recent Russian-speaking Southwest Floridians grow new roots. I also co-founded The Jewish Historical Society of Southwest Florida to formalize local Jewish history records and educate the entire community, and beyond, of the accomplishments by Jews in this area, which did not particularly welcome Jewish presence until fairly recently.

I am also a second- and third-generation Holocaust survivor and still volunteer as Oral-Visual History interviewer at our local museum.