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A Visit to Moscow – adapted by Anna Olswanger from a story by Rabbi Rafael Grossman, illustrated by Yevgenia Nayberg
(Reviewed by Monette Moradi)
Separating fact from fiction is getting harder in our age of misinformation. We expect Jewish children at the age of maturity to read, repeat, and interpret the Talmudic texts in front of them despite having access to a world of half-truths at their fingertips.
But one overlooked part of Talmudic learning is the stories within the text itself. The stories can be outlandish, contradict the rules of Judaism, or are true in many aspects but also stylized in a specific manner to serve as a message towards the greater lessons needed to stress the importance of chesed between fellow Jews in the diaspora. A Visit to Moscow, adapted by Anna Olswanger from a story by the late Rabbi Rafael Grossman, fits in with this last category.
This graphic novel doesn’t dwell on Jewish suffering, nor does it ignore the reality that Soviet Union Jews lived in during the 1960s. Rabbi Grossman was one of many Western Rabbis who volunteered to connect with Soviet Jews abroad during this period and assist them in being allowed to practice Judaism despite knowing the risks to their safety. That effort alone would be a noble cause, but delivering a letter to an American woman’s brother in Russia had a greater impact than Rabbi Grossman could have imagined and will be shocking to the reader.
What is seemingly a simple but dangerous task given the environment he was in; turns into a tale about Jewish faith and dedication in difficult circumstances. Despite being a story that was passed down and told repeatedly according to Rabbi Grossman’s children, Aviva and Shamai, it is classified as historical fiction due to the lack of direct sources about who ultimately had a profound impact on Rabbi Grossman. However, it is this truth between the lines of the story being told that is ultimately important.
These questions of right vs. wrong and good vs. evil are assisted by how the story is recounted. Starting from the beginning we understand that within the light there is an underbelly of darkness for the Jewish people post-World War II. However, when Jews commune together, a light can be found in the darkness. While the Holocaust is mentioned, it is not the most important part of the story. Rather, it is part of the motivation of Rabbi Grossman to complete his act of service towards a fellow Jew and help them above and beyond what was asked of him.
The illustrator, Yevgenia Nayberg, translates these themes beautifully and fittingly with an art style of drawing human beings reminiscent of Marc Chagall, an Eastern European expat like the illustrator. The background art is also tonally on point, using bright artificial lighting in cosmopolitan Moscow, transitioning to a bleak dark grey in the areas hit by poverty, and finally the warmth of reds and oranges in the home itself, as if they could be different worlds in different pockets yet also overlapping with each other.
There is a fear among Jewish parents post-October 7th as their twelve-year-old children are exposed more to the secular world’s opinion of Jewish people. Despite living in the “free world” of the United States, a country their grandparents escaped to from the Soviet Union, Jewish children are questioning whether they should hide who they are from the outside world; and if so, what is one solution that can make them feel safe. This makes this retelling of this story in the graphic novel format important. They will see themselves in the unfurling story – see themselves in a character at the same stage of life as they are. Most importantly, the story allows teachers and parents to start a dialogue with their students or children about being Jewish today and the moral questions involved. A Visit to Moscow is an important Yiddish tale for the twenty-first century that can easily be adapted for future generations’ trials and tribulations, but is also needed now.
