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| Alexei Kuchtekov in the synagogue at Nitzana |
SELAH Science student Alexei Kuchtekov seems to be following in the Jewish tradition of great violinists like Yehudi Menuhin and Yitzhak Perlman. The 19 year-old student from Smolensk in Russia, one of the sixty immigrant students from the Former Soviet Union in this year's SELAH Science program, is proving a virtuoso talent on the violin. Kuchtekov frequently performs for the staff and students of Nitzana, and visitors to the Negev residential village, with great gusto and skill.
Kuchtekov reached Israel in August and he hopes that his parents and younger sister, who are considering aliyah, will soon follow in his footsteps.
"I had not heard of Nitzana before I arrived," said Kuchtekov. "But I already love the atmosphere here. "When I arrived here at Nitzana it was five in the morning. It was still dark but I was restless and excited and I could not get to sleep so I took a walk around the village. It was dawn and I climbed a small hill and suddenly the sun rose. It was a glorious sunrise and a very symbolic moment for me as a new phase in my life in a new country was starting."
Kuchtekov recalls that he first became enchanted with music when he was four. He remembers a story about a small elephant that wanted to learn music and would nag his parents to let him do so. "I adopted the story," he said, "and nagged my parents."
Kuchtekov's parents were happy to let him have his way. He studied at a school for classical music and soon showed a great talent for the violin as well as the piano. While at high school he would earn money by playing in a local restaurant during his spare time. In addition to classical music he also taught himself country music and klezmer traditional Jewish music.
The SELAH Science program is ideal for him in that he will add scientific knowledge to his education but eventually he wants to study music and his ambition is to conduct an orchestra.
"I have come to Israel," he explained, "because of the quality of education here and because I will have a better and Jewish future."
Kuchtekov's musical talent extends to the shofar. Before Rosh Hashana he surprised everybody by blowing the shofar with great aplomb in the synagogue. He even rendered some traditional Jewish tunes with the shofar. His fellow students who were spending their first Rosh Hashana in the Jewish State were especially moved by Kuchtekov's ability as were the staff of Nitzana.
Kuchtekov blew the shofar with all the soul and guile of a devoted Jew who had returned to his ancestral homeland.
Nitzana News Bulletin: October 2003
The Nitzana Educational Community is Partnered with the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado.
Tishrei 5764 - October 2003