In our conversation with Andrei Schwartz, he contextualises our privilege as Western Jews in the 21st century. Romania was once the fourth largest Jewish community in the world, but after the Shoah and Soviet Communism, its residents are moving on.
Andrei Schwartz is a founding member of the Jewish Diplomatic Corps, a co-founder of the Organisation of Young Jews in Romania and the Zionist Congress of Romania, and has been instrumental to the rebuilding of the Romanian Jewish Community since 1996. He has been actively involved in the World Zionist Organisation and he’s actually one of our own because he used to be a the Vice President of the European Union of Jewish Students.
Andrei talks to us about his childhood in Romania where he grew up unable to practice or acknowledge Judaism due to the impacts of Soviet Communism. He discusses the legacy of the Shoah and Communism on the Jews who remain, and makes pointed remarks about the leadership of Romania's community today, many of whom are the children of the securitate (Romanian Stasi).
We go back to Andrei's roots and discuss issues facing Jewish students on campus, specifically BDS, the nature of which Andrei goes into great detail about.
This episode is filled with lessons about Jewish pride, survival, gratitude and the value of moving on.
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