Katiusha question

[Peter Scotto]

I guess for me Isakovsky's whole self-presentation is that of someone with deep
roots in Russian village life, that it seems unlikely that he thought of himself
as Jewish, whatever his parents marriage documents may have said.

I have written to the author of the article, but no answer yet.

Peter Scotto

> This actually brings up another interesting point, as the "who is a Jew"
> question has been debated within the Jewish community for some time, with
> some groups only acceptin maternal descent, and some accepting paternal
> descent as long as the individual was raised as a Jew.  In other words,
> someone with a seemingly Jewish last name or a Jewish identity listed on an
> internal passport would not necessarily be accepted as Jewish by other Jews,
> while non-Jews will tend to automatically categorize someone based on name or
> appearance alone.  (Monica Lewinsky and some of the oligarchs come to mind as
> those some portions of the community would really like to disclaim. 
> Unfortunately, everyone is probably stuck with Jack Abramoff).
>    
>   The Forverts, being a secular paper, probably has no position on the "Who
> is a Jew" issue (neither am I proclaiming one here!), but in my personal
> opinion, would be less likely to go by name alone than some other sources. 
> However, they could still be misinformed.  I'm not sure how this question
> could be answered, actually, without examining Isakovsky's parents' marriage
> documents and also taking a position on whether Jewish means both maternal
> and paternal identity, or one or the other.
>    
>   Pardon if this is entirely too much information or veering off-topic.
>    
>   
> SEELANGS automatic digest system <LISTSERV at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> wrote:
>   Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2006 12:14:19 -0400
> From: Edward M Dumanis 
> Subject: Re: Katiusha question
> 
> While there were many Jewish shtetls in Smolensk Province, the village of
> Glotovka was hardly one of them. I think that the Jewish Daily Foreward
> is confused by the fact that the poet's name sounds like Jewish. However,
> it might be (and probably so) of some Polish origin (Isakowski). I am not
> able to comment on the origin of this name in Polish.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Edward Dumanis 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 27 Sep 2006, Deborah Hoffman wrote:
> 
> > While I must confess to a lack of personal knowlege, it doesn't seem
> inconceivable. There were certainly poor peasant families who were Jewish,
> and there was / is a community in Smolensk which itself is not that far from
> the old Pale of Settlement boundary... 
> > ------------------------------
> > 
> > Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:12:11 -0400
> > From: Peter Scotto 
> > 
> > Subject: "Katiusha" question
> > 
> > Form the _Jewish Daily Foreward_ 8/18/2006
> > 
> > "[Katyusha} was a Soviet-period song composed in 1938 by two Jews: Matvey
> > Blanter, who wrote the music, and Mikhail Isakovsky..."
> > 
> > Is this correct? Is this possible? Was Isakovsky a Jew? Everything I've
> read
> > abiut him (Soviet and non-Soviet)says that he came from a poor peasant
> family in
> > Smolensk province.
> > 
> > Peter Scotto
> > Mount Holyoke College
> > pscotto at mtholyoke.edu
> 
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