My wife and I recently returned from a two-week river cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg with four stops along the way. Even a brief tourist visit confirmed Winston Churchill’s description of Russia as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” To be sure, Russia is experiencing a strong religious revival. Everywhere we looked, Orthodox churches were being rebuilt or restored to their pre-Communist status. I have serious concerns about the Russian Orthodox revival. Will it enhance true spirituality and religious liberty or mark a return to the ugly tyrannical past?

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)