In 1987, Robyn Helzner traveled to the Soviet Union to sing for Jews and refusniks in cramped apartments without the knowledge of Soviet authorities. At that time, Jews were not permitted to rent a public space to hold a public meeting. Robyn appeared in clandestine concerts, where she found young Jews eager to meet someone who could share our Jewish musical heritage.

Robyn was impressed with the courage and fervor of the Jews who attended her performances. “Those who knew the words sang with such joy and gusto. And those that didn’t know the songs sat there with eyes shining and faces gleaming with pride. They welcomed me like an angel that had touched down in this harsh, Soviet world.”

The following year, as a result of drastic changes in the political climate, Robyn was the only American artist invited to appear in the sold-out concert halls in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with the approval of government authorities. It was the first time that Hebrew was heard publicly in the Soviet Union in more than half a century. “These historic concerts enabled audiences to reclaim their Jewish identity,” Robyn noted.

When she returned home, Robyn began performing concerts for Russian-speaking Jews who had moved to the United States. By including beloved Russian songs in her concert repertoire, Robyn became a favorite of the émigré community because she could transmit our shared Jewish heritage while connecting to the immigrants’ Russian past.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Robyn has performed for Jewish leaders from newly independent nations created after the demise of the Soviet Union. Conditions were always secretive and a bit dangerous when Robyn met the leaders’ predecessors on Soviet soil. But how times have changed! Instead of organizing clandestine meetings, she collected business cards from the Chair of the Jewish Community of Estonia, the Vaad of Ukraine, and the Vice-Chairman of the Moldovan Jewish Culture Committee. While these performances reminded Helzner of her first underground missions to the former Soviet Union, she continues to marvel at the new freedoms that the leaders and their communities enjoy.