Tarp tradicijos ir modernumo: litvakų tautinio tapatumo paieškos ir kaita

LTKultūrinis tautinių mažumų paveldas yra neatsiejama kiekvienos šalies kultūros dalis. Rytų Europos šalyse, nagrinėjant tik vyraujančio etnoso istoriją ir kultūrą, buvo pamiršta čia gyvenusių etninių mažumų grupių reikšmė kuriant bendrą istoriją ir kultūrą. Šiandien nenutrūkstamai vyksta žydų kilmės autorių inicijuoti Rytų Europos judaikos tyrimai visame pasaulyje, tačiau dar prireiks daug laiko, kol bus užpildytos visos istorijos ir kultūros spragos. Kol kas Lietuvoje ir kaimyninėse Rytų Europos šalyse ypač mažai yra tyrinėta Rytų Europos žydų tapatumo samprata ir diasporos bruožai, identifikavimo ir saviidentifikacijos problemos, todėl kiekvienas šios pakraipos tyrimas yra svarbus atskleidžiant daugiatautės Rytų Europos multikultūriškumą. [...] Kiekvienas naujas reiškinys, istoriniai, politiniai, ekonominiai įvykiai keitė ne tik Lietuvoje gyvenusių įvairių tautinių bendruomenių gyvenimo būdą, tradicijas ir vertybių sistemas, bet ir lokalių bendruomenių tapatumo sampratas, todėl šiame straipsnyje siekiama aptarti litvakų tautinio tapatumo paieškas ir kaitą veikiant globalizacijai. Tuo tikslu reikia atsakyti į klausimus: kokie saviti bruožai yra būdingi litvakų bendruomenei? Ar suvokė litvakų išskirtinumą etninėje žydų grupėje kitos tautinės bendrijos? Ar skyrė litvakus etninė Rytų Europos žydų grupė? Ar tapatinosi patys litvakai su jiems priskiriamu išskirtiniu statusu? Kaip tolydžio kito susiformavęs litvako būdas ir kokie svarbiausi veiksniai lėmė tuos pokyčius? [p. 185-186] Esminiai žodžiai: tautinis žydų tapatumas, Lita, litvakas, ortodoksas, chasidizmas, Haskalos sąjūdis, sionizmas, Bundas.

ENUp to the middle of 18th century Lite territory was populated by an integral Orthodox Jews community, which was later named Litvakes, and who had (and still have) themselves for the only and true followers of the Rabbi or Talmud Judaism. Over time, Lite Jews created their own North-Eastern Yiddish language dialect, noted for colourful, broad and emotional accent, also a cheerful and poignant style of speech. The Jewish community of Lite, both by way of living, traditions and mentality, was different from those of other Jewish communities, populating the neighbouring territories. Yiddish folklore created a typical image of a Litvak, known for reasoned thinking, love for scientific studies and equable character. The names of the Jewish communities - Galitzianer, Poylish, Litwaky, Litivacy - indicate rather obviously that they identified themselves and were identified by other Jewish communities with a particular territory. Eastern European national communities - Lithuanians, Poles, Latvians, Belorussians, Russians and Ukrainians - did not see Litvakes apart from the Jewish ethnic group. Historical sources and various legal documents, all refer to them by a single name - žydas, żyd, еврей, эвре!, jud.. By the middle of the 18th century the habits and beliefs of the Orthodox-Litvaks began changing. Ideologies and ideals that were propagated by various movements and reformers during the last two hundred years changed the traditional Litvak community beyond the recognition. It should be noted that most of those destructive factors - Hasidism, Haskalah and Zionism - were not of the external, but of the internal nature, and were fathered by the Jewish community itself.The branch of Hasidism - Habad, which linked regular studies, characteristic of the Orthodox Jews and spiritual Hasidic prayer exercise, made Hasidism desirable for reasonably thinking Orthodox Judaism protagonists and thus shattered the integral Litvakes' religious consciousness. In 1860 - 1870 the Haskalah movement reached Lite. Haskalah emancipated and integrated Jews into the surrounding environment and governmental infrastructures, gave an impact to the processes of secularization, while emergence of the reformed Judaism gradually was causing the split of Lite Jewish community into Orthodox-Litvak and Hasid. In the eight decade of the 19th century the national Jewish movement, Zionism, began its formation in Lite. It instigated abandoning the traditional life in shtetls and immigrating to Erec Israel lands. This national Jewish movement, to a certain extent, erased the outright delimitation between a religious Litvak-Orthodox and a secularized Jew. Ever increasing number of all types of politically active Zionistic groups also contributed to splitting of the Jewish community's integrity. At the turn of the 19th century new players arrive onto the political arena - the Social Democratic Group of Vilnius Jews (founded in 1890), Russian, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian Jewish Labour Union - Bund (founded in 1897, in Vilnius) and revolutionary upheaval in Russia decided on the intense Lite Jews secularization and assimilation. The First World War changed the Eastern Europe's geopolitical situation and disrupted the integrity of Lite territory, causing the destructuralization of Lite Jewish community, while the World War II and genocide destroyed it. Today Lite Jewish communities exist in USA, Israel, South America and Argentina. Keywords: Jewish national identity, Lita, litvak, orthodox, Chasidism, Haskalah movement, Zionism, Bund.