The train trip from Vilna to Moscow takes twenty-four
hours. You are scared out of your wits. Here you are racing eastward
through Russia to an unknown destination with only an aged
chasidic rabbi and his family to protect you. You confess your
fear to Rabbi Kalisch, who simply puts his hand on your shoulder and says:
I know. Have faith.
During your few days in Moscow, you must buy expensive, non- kosher food — that's all you can find — and you are harassed by anti-Semitic police. Finally, however, you leave on the Trans-Siberian Railway. For eleven days, the train chugs across Russia, through Omsk to Irkutsk and finally to Vladivostok. The trip is not uncomfortable, but you are tense, still afraid that, at any point, you could be pulled off and shot or sent to a labor camp.
In Vladivostok, you must wait in a hotel until the ice in the harbor thaws. Finally a small rusty Japanese freighter takes you across the Sea of Japan and into the port of Kobe.
You are met by Alex Triguboff of the Jewish community and settled in a dormitory, The floors are covered with soft Tatami mats, and you eventually rest comfortably without fear. But your visa is only for temporary transit. You learn that your entire group must soon leave for the Chinese city of Shanghai. You know that, when you arrive in Shanghai, you will still have important decisions to make.
If you choose to look for a job, continue to page 72.
If you decide to go to school, continue to page 73.