Vicki Boykis

There is nothing more Jewish than Passover, the holiday of hope. There is nothing more Russian than trying to get a little something extra from the U.S. government. So I thought I’d take this time leading up to Pesach to talk about my hope that the Russians who keep defrauding the government cut that out. They’re giving the rest of us a bad name.

Recently, the New York Times had a story on an insurance fraud ring in New York. It noted:

“This [crime ring], like many others, was rooted in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the locus of the city’s Russian-speaking immigrant population, many of whom grew up under a Communist system that bred disdain for the rules and a willingness to cheat to get around them.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

This intense distrust of the government, combined with Jewish ingenuity, has led to some pretty interesting schemes. New York isn’t the only place where select Russian Jews have creatively interpreted Medicare law. For example, in my hometown of Philadelphia, Russian ambulance services are proving to be the most popular way to make a little extra on the side:

“Investigators say [Ivan] Tkach created a scheme to fraudulently bill Medicare by transporting patients by ambulance who were able to walk or travel by paratransit van. Over six years, prosecutors said, Tkach scammed Medicare out of $1.26 million.”

They’re not the only ones. In my weekly trips to the Russian grocery stores, I’ve seen women dressed in the standard Russian fur coat, Gucci sunglasses firmly planted on their freshly-dyed hair, pay for their groceries with food stamps and a straight face. All before taking their purchases out to their Lexus.

As someone whose family got off of food stamps and welfare as soon as they could after immigrating because they didn’t want to take advantage of America’s goodwill, this makes me extremely angry. On the other hand, you can’t help but applaud the chutzpah.

On the third hand, as Tevye would say, I really hope that the fact that American authorities have finally gotten smart enough to detect these white-collar crimes means that less of them will be happening. Because, as a Russian-Jewish hyphenated American, I’m getting tired of being associated with the regular Russian mafia, the Russian Medicare mafia, and, most frighteningly, women who wear fur coats and drive Lexuses.

My fantasy hope for Pesach is that Moses, no, Moshka, leads our people, the Russian Jews, out of the headlines (hopefully not into an ambulance if we can still walk.)

Hag Sameach!

Vicki Boykis, 25, works in Philadelphia and is pursuing an MBA from Temple University. Her roots are in Belarussia and Russia. She immigrated from Yaroslavl in 1991 along with her family.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount