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June 30, 2006
Adjusting to their new lives
Jewish immigrants from around the world find a home in Vancouver.
ELIZABETH SHEFRIN
For those of us who grew up in North America, the immigrant experience
can be difficult to imagine. But suppose one day you found yourself
transported half a world away to a country where no one spoke your
language, where the food and the culture and the climate were different,
where your training and job qualifications no longer applied? These
are some of the challenges facing new immigrants to Vancouver.
Alex Aminov and his wife, Orit, arrived from Israel with their three
children 18 months ago.
"It's a different mentality – very relaxed here,"
Aminov observed. "People move more slowly than in Israel."
When the family first arrived, they found the going rough.
"We came in the winter. It was hard to find a job," Aminov
recalled. "There was no semi-conductor industry in B.C. I had
to compromise. I work as an elevator mechanic. When we arrived,
there were meetings with Shalom B.C., the JCC, Jewish Family Services
[JFSA], meetings with other immigrants. The JFSA tried to search
for a job for me, they really tried, but they weren't successful.
I found the job myself. It's a really different mentality here.
I thought it would be much more high-tech, but it's the opposite.
I can't say it's good or bad, but we need to adjust to this life.
"For example, in Israel, your employer does your tax. Here,
you have to do it yourself. Nobody tells you this. [Immigrants]
don't really know what to do. Generally, it was easy for me and
my family to start our life here. I really like the beauty of B.C.
I like the stability of not having terrorist action, not to see
soldiers with guns. Before we came, we had a lot of fears, a lot
of question marks. But it was OK. Generally I'm really happy here."
Natalya Likholatnikova is from Ukraine. She and her husband, Anatoliy
and their younger daughter, Irina, arrived in Vancouver in 1999.
Two months ago, with the help of JFSA, she finally found a job in
her field. Likholatnikova came to Canada because she feared for
her safety.
"After the fall of the Soviet Union, many people lost their
jobs and things were a mess," she said. "When something
big changes in a country, many people look for someone to blame.
I was afraid Jews will be seen as the enemy. We decided to leave
Ukraine. The choice was Israel or North America. My daughter was
already in America."
Likholatnikova explained that in Ukraine, it was difficult to live
an observant Jewish life.
"We celebrated holidays, but from a traditional, rather than
a religious, point of view. In Kharkov, where we lived, before 1930
there were many synagogues. In 1990, the first synagogue reopened.
I began to go occasionally. Many people came to synagogue to try
it out, not because they were religious. I don't know why I went.
Something took me. Now we keep kosher, we go regularly to Chabad
of Richmond."
Like Aminov, Likholatnikova finds life in Canada more relaxed.
"It's peaceful here, quiet," she said, "I've stopped
being nervous. Here there are clean streets, lots of flowers. People
are very friendly in Vancouver. I don't like to say that Russian
people are unfriendly, but there are many problems there.
"My sister lives in the Ural mountains, in a small city. She
e-mails me that people write on the walls, 'Jews, Get Out.' Anti-Semitism
is inside everyone and when there is some problem, it comes out.
People need to fight with some enemy."
One of the opportunities Likholatnikova has had by moving to Canada
was to have a proper Jewish wedding.
"My husband and I were married in 1969 in the Soviet Union,"
she said. "On Feb. 26, 2006, we got married again, this time
under a chuppah. After 37 years of marriage, we got married all
over again. Now I know who pointed the way to shul."
Alexandra Gerson is the resettlement and integration counsellor
for JFSA, helping to settle immigrants from as far afield as Russia,
Israel, Mexico and Argentina.
Gerson, an immigrant herself, has her own stories to tell.
"The former Soviet Union was very communist under the Soviet
regime," she noted, "very political and closed. Students
studied English, but the stress was on reading, not speaking. When
I came to Canada in 1994 from Russia, I didn't know how to say 'Hello'
in English, but I could say, 'My best friend is the Communist party.'
"
Gerson recalled a story from her early days of struggling with English.
Suffering from a stomach ache, she went into the pharmacy at Safeway
and somehow managed to convey enough information to buy a bottle
of Tylenol. However, when she got it home, she became concerned
they had given her the wrong drug, because the bottle specified
not to use the contents if your neck was broken.
She marched straight back to Safeway and announced to the pharmacist,
"My neck is fine!" He gallantly replied, "Yes, I
absolutely agree with you. Your neck is beautiful, but why you are
telling me this?" Indignantly, she showed him the warning,
which on closer reading proved to be referring to the neck of the
bottle. The pharmacist laughed until he was in tears.
But funny though the story is 12 years later, it does illustrate
the struggles of new immigrants. Gerson explained how pleased she
is to be in a position to help.
"I'm crazy about my job," she said. "I like to work
with people very much. I would never have had this opportunity in
the former Soviet Union. We didn't have [a] Jewish community there
because it was not allowed. To me, just to work for my nation, it's
a huge present for me. Even after eight years, I can't speak of
this without emotion.
"I left the Soviet Union for Israel because of anti-Semitism.
I was born in St. Petersburg and I miss it very much, but it's very
painful when your people in your home don't want you. We couldn't
speak about being Jewish. I miss Russia and I miss Israel, but I
love working with newcomers to Vancouver."
Elizabeth Shefrin is a Vancouver freelance writer.
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