Nahum Purer - a Russian Journalist Reaches Out

Every Friday, readers of the daily Russian paper “Novosti Nedeli” turn to the weekend literature and culture supplement. They skip the ballet and music pages and flip to the weekly Parshat HaShavua (weekly bible portion) column written by Russian journalist and Shvut Ami student Nahum Purer.

Purer launched the bible column nine years ago. He is uniquely qualified as perhaps the only Russian journalist in Israel with a background in Jewish texts. “Russians in Israel get their view of Israeli society from the press. I want to share a different perspective,” says Purer. “I want to expose them to ideas that are in tune with the traditional values of Israeli society and the role Jewish heritage plays for all Israelis.”

Purer writes about themes that speak to readers and strengthens their Jewish identity. “When I wrote about the exodus from Egypt, I chose the story of the Jewish people telling Moses they wanted to go back,” say Purer. “Russians are struggling with life here and their memory is selective, remembering only the good from Russia. In the story of the patriarch Abraham, I wrote about his receiving a divine command to go to the Land of Israel at age seventy-five, to a strange place he knew nothing about.”

Purer’s readers identify with his perspective. One devotee, a Holocaust survivor, used to call Purer every week to discuss his column. An 85 year-old man from Arad wrote that he had been an atheist his whole life until, through Purer, he saw just how rich and meaningful traditional Jewish texts can be.

In addition to the Israeli subscribers, his weekly column reaches readers in the US and the remotest regions of Germany. A collection of his columns in book form, Torah for all Times, has been published by the Shvut Ami Center. Purer first began to study Jewish texts when he was still living in Moscow. On his second day in Israel, a friend invited him to come along and participate in classes at Shvut Ami. Fifteen years have passed and Purer can still be found at Shvut Ami every day after work. What began as an effort for self-enrichment has blossomed into a special weekly link between Purer and Russian Jews throughout the world.