Michael Goldstein was born in Moscow. His father was a vice president of a large power tool company and his mother was a Moscow tour guide. After serving in the Soviet Army and rising to the level of sergeant, he entered medical school in Moscow. Two years later, he moved to the U.S., settling on the North Shore in Lynn. Michael went on to medical school at the University of Vermont, and is now a cardiologist on the North Shore, as well as a president of the county medical society and president of the Salem Hospital medical staff.Over the years, he has served as president of the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore. He is married to Victoria, and has two children, Ben and Rachel.

Please tell us about your upbringing and your family growing up. Where were you born? Where did you grow up?

I am a first-generation American. I was born in Moscow in the former Soviet Union into a Jewish family. Both of my parents were born in Moscow as well, although my grandparents, of course, were born in small towns in Poland and Belarus as the Jews could not reside in capital cities in czarist Russia. My father was a vice president of a large power tool company, who overcame the stigmas of being Jewish and having my grandfather as “an enemy of the state,” who spent a decade in gulag. My father became first a successful engineer and then an administrator. My mom was a tour guide in Moscow. There was not much exposure to Jewish life, as all the religious and not state-sanctioned activities were closely monitored by the government. I did my best to visit the only synagogue in Moscow on the holidays, although truth be told it was then mostly a place to try to meet a Jewish girl for secular Jewish boys. I had a pretty happy childhood if you discount the daily reminders of being a Jew and facing antisemitism on a daily basis. Certain universities were out of reach for the Jewish kids and I was admitted to Moscow Automobile Institute (Jews were allowed there), from where I was promptly drafted to the Soviet Army. Despite ever-present antisemitism, I did get through it with only minor injuries from the fistfights and gained a rank of a sergeant, which then allowed me to get into the medical school in Moscow. Two years later I left the USSR to immigrate to the USA via the support of the Jewish community at large and the North Shore in particular. Then odd jobs, college (shout out to Salem State!) and medical school (second round) at UVM in Burlington. My local sponsor is still my patient!

Why did you become a doctor and a cardiologist?

I somehow always wanted to be a cardiologist. Maybe it was the closest specialty to engineering and hydraulics that I started my education with at the engineering school. I did a research project in Moscow medical school that really cemented my career goals to be a cardiologist. The lab was in the sub-basement of the anatomy department, not for the weak of heart! I also met several great cardiologists during my early training that made me want to be like them. Cardiology is where the action is!

What do you like most about being a healer?

I like all living creatures and humans in particular. They are built in a most ingenious way, the real pinnacle of evolution. Understanding how the body works and being able to repair it when it malfunctions along with sympathy and compassion towards a patient – what can be a better job? Well, maybe being able to write rock ‘n’ roll songs – I could argue it is as awesome as being a cardiologist!

Why did you move to the North Shore and what do you like most about this area?

I was really lucky that I really did not have to move much at all. I only had to spend a few years away while in medical school, but then I was right back to the North Shore where I arrived to after immigrating from the Soviet Union (via Austria and Italy, but that’s another story!). During the immigration, you see where the Jews who looked for great houses of education, science and technology went, and it was the Boston area. Also, the family that sponsored me lived in Lynn, so that’s where I ended up. Also, New Englanders have a certain grit about them, maybe it’s the original immigrant character or cold weather in winter, or the fact that Bostonians had to be really frugal in the beginning. It also looks familiar! My first night after I arrived at Logan, I spent on a mattress on the floor in the apartment in Lynn … and now I am the only cardiologist for that city. I also see a lot of Russian-speaking patients, and it is great to be able to speak the original language of your patients. It helps a lot!

Tell us about your family – wife, kids, ages, what they do, where they live.

I consider myself extremely lucky to have met my wife Victoria by accident in Swampscott. She was born in Kiev (and no, we are not at war!) but grew up in the U.S. as she came 10 years before me. She has a successful IT career and currently works for the Berkshire Hathaway companies. We have our son Ben, who grew up in Marblehead (what a great place to be a kid), went to BU and has a career in banking. My daughter Rachel got a biology college degree from UMass-Amherst and is currently a medical student at UMass as well (go UMass!). Both are American-born citizens and, unlike me and my wife, can become president of the United States. The sky is the limit for them.

How has the Russian-Jewish community on the North Shore and Greater Boston changed over the years?

Well, I do have access to some numbers as well as the social aspects of the community due to serving as president of the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore and being a part of that community. I think the Russian-speaking Jewish community here is alive and well and I think it contributed a lot to the Jewish community of Greater Boston, but it could do more. The community faces the same challenges: assimilation, change in values, loss of the native language (although Russian speakers seem to be doing better than some other communities in keeping Russian language alive). But now the new challenge is here: ever-present but resurgent antisemitism and anti-Israelism. I sure did not expect to see it in the U.S. That was the most important reason I came here. I hope we can all face this challenge standing up straight and facing the storm.

Do you have any interest in returning to visit the former Soviet Union? And if so, why and what would you like to do there? (Or have you already returned there?)

I have been back to Russia a few times, as I wanted to visit my parents while they were still alive and show my kids where our family came from. Moscow is a great city to visit – it is truly one of the most amazing cities in Europe. But no, I would never go back to live there. The U.S. is where my family belongs.

You were president of the JCC in Marblehead. Why did you want to be president, and how was that experience?

I think I was maybe the first JCC president not born in the U.S. Well, if it’s true, it would be pretty cool … I wanted to give back to the community of Jews in our area that made the settling of the Soviet Jews possible. I am a strong believer in the concept of tzedakah (had to learn a few Hebrew words while being a president) – pay back in kind to people who helped you and your “tribe.” I also liked being a JCC president for the opportunity to meet new, like-minded people as well as to contribute to the success of our awesome JCC on the hill. I got a free membership for a little while after coming to the North Shore, and have been a member ever since, for the past 35 years.

What do you love most about being Jewish?

Wow, that is a serious question but an easy one to answer, as I think about it often. I like being Jewish mostly because I love belonging to a club that is several thousand years old, that does not charge a membership fee and does not require to show your ID! You are born into it; sort of like being born into the royal family. Yet you walk into any synagogue in the world, say that you are Jewish and people there will embrace you. Plus, former club members include Albert Einstein, Golda Meier, King Solomon, Kafka.

I also love the fact that my ancestors walked the streets of Jerusalem, especially after doing it myself during the JCC trip. But most of all, I love being Jewish because of all the Jewish jokes I know and can tell without offending anybody. Who is funnier than us?

How did Oct. 7 impact you?

Devastating … how else to describe it? The brutality, the disregard for human life reminded me of Nazi Germany, that we knew about by the virtue of being born and living in Europe. I consider Israel my ancestorial home and that was one bad home invasion. How could our fearless Israel allow this to happen? We will never forget! I am still furious about it. Maybe that was a confirmation of my belief of Jews being strong and armed.