Posts Tagged: Soviet Union Jews
The Jews of Samarkand: Remembering the Death of Stalin
“The Jewish Underground of Samarkand: How Faith Defied Soviet Rule” by Rabbi Hillel Zaltzman (Mandel Vilar Press, 2023) “The Jewish Underground of Samarkand: How Faith Defied...
Antisemitic Tropes in the Age of Post-Soviet War
The Russians are playing the “Jewish card” to ideologically justify their invasion of Ukraine, explaining it as a “fight against the radical nationalist, fascist, and...
Gorbachev: The Man Who ‘Let My People Go’ — With Some Prompting
In October 1986, US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev met for a summit in Iceland. A group of Soviet Jewry activists from the...
30 Years After USSR Collapse, Soviet Jews Are Home in America
This year will mark 30 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, officially ripping apart the Iron Curtain, and providing the long sought-after freedom...
Soviet Antisemitism in a British Guise
JNS.org - It’s back. The “it” I refer to is a phenomenon pretty much unknown to newer generations of Jews in terms of direct experience, but it...
Hopes Betrayed: The Russian Revolution and the Jews
JNS.org - Another week, another centennial. Following the Balfour Declaration’s milestone, it’s now time to look back on the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, where a communist...
Telling Our Children the Story of Russian Jewry
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld of Ohev Shalom, the oldest Orthodox synagogue in Washington, DC, has written a touching and powerful new children’s book, An Extra Seat. This easy-to-read picture...
Who Is a Jew? And Who Gets to Decide?
Since Israel's founding in 1948, one of its most contentious problems has been trying to define "Who is a Jew?" The premise behind Israel’s creation was to...
Opting Out of Freedom
During the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany, a young woman found herself traveling on a packed tram. She was Jewish but living in hiding...
50 Years Later: The March That Launched the Soviet Jewry Movement
JNS.org - "We didn't know you couldn't organize a mass rally in four days, and sometimes if you don't know, then you just plunge...
Jews in the Former Soviet Union Embrace Jewish Identity
JNS.org - In a complex journey that can start as simply as children asking their parents what their family name means, younger Jews...
Jewish Agency Board Convenes for First Time in Former Soviet Union
JNS.org - The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) convened in the territory of the former Soviet Union for the...
Christian Program Brings Youths Together on Tours of Israel
A program run by an international Christian organization is bringing Christian youths from around the world on two-week tours of Israel to understand the complex...
