“The Jewish Agency brought about a renaissance of Jewish identity in Gomel, Belarus after the fall of the Iron Curtain. Suddenly our community came alive with holiday celebrations and Jewish learning. For the young people, going to Israel was our chance for a better future.”

Anna Kopytov’s mother married a Russian man so her children would not suffer from anti-Semitism as she did. Until the age of nine, Anna, now 28, was an exemplary Soviet child, and had no idea of her Jewish identity. “There were signs, but as a child I wasn’t sure what they meant,” recalls Anna. “Like my grandfather’s name Zalman, and my grandparents speaking in Yiddish.” More