At this difficult time, a Russian World Service would need Russians like you to come back home and help set it up.

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There is nothing special about this time in terms of difficulty. :-)

AJWS is not a Zionist organization, but an organization that works in the spirit of the Jewish charity, whatever that is supposed to mean. Similarly, a Russian World Service would not work on the "ingathering of the exiles" but provide an opportunity to do charity in the spirit of, er, the broad Russian soul or something. Beslan relief worked; that could be a start, don't you think?

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I am not suggesting that a Russian World Service should call for the return of emigrants (exiles? I am not sure the population of Brighton Beach consists of exiles). I am just saying Russia is in transition, and a lot of immigrants here could help her meet their own expectations.

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"Ingathering of the exiles" is a just term from the Jewish parlance.

Russia, like any country, is always either in transition or in stagnation. I would not call this "difficult time" by any reasonable measure. No large-scale war, little suppression of personal initiative etc. Compared to other periods in life of Russia, or many other countries, it is not bad at all.

I think it is sad that the Russian charity traditions are so slow to restart. Maybe it simply requires more time.

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I guess you misunderstood me. I know what Zionism is and I am familiar with the term "exile" in the Jewish sense but I was talking about helping to set up a Russian World Service, not Russia, and I wasn't making a Zionism analogy.

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Right, I must have misunderstood you.

The Beslan relief effort and similar campaigns may be the first signs of improvement in the Russian charity traditions.

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