Luba is middle-aged, divorced and disabled. She has an adult daughter but no one to talk to. She struggles with loneliness and isolation.
Katya is a young medical resident, busy and distracted. She loves medicine but she gets discouraged by her workload and harsh treatment from older colleagues at the Moscow hospital where she practices.
Luba and Katya have two things in common: Both are Jewish and both have a friend in Ruth Johnson, a Southern Baptist worker in Moscow. Johnson invites Luba over for tea and conversation. When Katya needs encouragement, she knows she can call Johnson.
Johnson’s call from God is to share the love of Christ with Jews in Russia, but for now, reaching Jews in Moscow — who number anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 — is challenge enough.
“There isn’t a specific area of the city that is Jewish as there is in many other places,” Johnson explained. “And there’s a hardness of heart among not just Jews but Muscovites in general.”
Long persecuted in Russia (and in the Soviet Union), many of the Jews who haven’t emigrated to Israel, America or other places have assimilated — changing their names, marrying non-Jews, abandoning Jewish traditions, raising their children as secular Russians.
A Jewish revival has bloomed in post-Soviet Russia, and some Jewish emigrants have returned home to enjoy new freedoms and economic opportunities. But a revival of hostility against all ethnic and religious minorities — including virulent anti-Semitism — also has emerged in recent years.
Many secular or assimilated Jews remain understandably reluctant to embrace their heritage.
Johnson has found, however, that teaching religious traditions to Jewish members of the English-language club she started last year opens the door to talking about the God of the Jews — and of Jesus. “We celebrate Jewish holidays and talk about Israel,” she said. “They don’t know much about their own traditions, and they don’t know anything about the Bible. They’re learning.”
After one Passover “Seder” (celebration), in fact, 10 people gave their hearts to the Lord. Johnson prays the English club itself will become a worship group.
“Pray for people to come and join us in this work, and for God to raise up Russian believers with a vision for what He wants to do,” Johnson asked. “My vision is that God would draw Russian Jews together into vibrant messianic congregations. I would love to see that.” (BP)
EDITOR’S NOTE — Name changed for security reasons.
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