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Soviet Jews
Evgeny Kissin with Russian conductor Dmitry Kitayenko and piano mentor Anna Kantor at the rehearsal of his debut with two Chopin concerti in Moscow. (Courtesy)
July 29, 2017, 6:59 am
Noteworthy piano virtuoso trumpets his Jewish heritage
World-renowned pianist Evgeny Kissin holds three passports, but the one that defines him has a menorah on it
By Jenni Frazer
Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov and her mother Sylva Zalmanson at the airport from which the filmmakers parents tried to make their escape. (Courtesy/Franz Koch/ Israel Broadcasting Authority)
May 19, 2017, 8:15 pm
Israeli filmmaker chronicles parents’ failed attempt to hijack a Soviet plane
Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov's new documentary 'Operation Wedding' uncovers overlooked chapter in Soviet Jews' fight for freedom
By Julie Masis
A Soviet customs official examines luggage. (Courtesy 'Stateless')
April 14, 2017, 10:38 pm
Why 189,000 Soviet Jews fled to Italy rather than the Promised Land
New documentary examines those Russian Jews, who with only $96 in their pockets, bided their time in Europe until allowed into the American Goldene Medina
By Julie Masis
Screenshot of the Facebook group 'Russian Jew Vines.' (Julie Masis/Times of Israel)
April 1, 2017, 2:44 pm
Babushka knows best and other universal truths of the Russian-Jewish experience
With short viral videos, a Facebook group gets thousands of laughs when US-born bilingual youth poke fun at their esteemed Russian-speaking elders
By Julie Masis
Yakov Sklarsky visiting the synagogue of Bershad March 9, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA)
March 28, 2017, 10:08 am
Passed over by Nazis and Communists, remnants of Ukraine’s last shtetl prepare to celebrate
Numbering just 50 today, the Jews of Bershad have managed to protect their 200-year-old clay synagogue through successive despotic regimes
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Leonard Bernstein and daughter, left, with Lilian Hochhauser. (Courtesy)
February 11, 2017, 10:39 am
At 90 and with stories to tell, this British impresario still presents cultural legends
Lilian Hochhauser, historic promoter of Russian artists in Britain, continues to toil in her latest project: a three-week run from the acclaimed Mariinsky dance company
By Jenni Frazer
Democratic district leader of the 45 Assembly District in Brooklyn, Ari Kagan. The 45 district contains a large and influential Russian-Jewish population. (Courtesy)
February 10, 2017, 9:00 pm
When it comes to supporting the US president, former Soviet Jews say Israel trumps all
Due to his perceived strength, the Russian-speaking community has long-backed Donald Trump -- but there's one red line he mustn't cross
By Cathryn J. Prince
Syrian refugees walk on their way back to the Syrian city of Jarabulus on September 7, 2016 at Karkamis crossing gate, in the southern region of Kilis, Turkey. (AFP/Bulent Kilic)
January 28, 2017, 9:29 am
Former Soviet Jews protest Trump’s refugee ban
'US must not turn our backs on the human beings fleeing violence and persecution like our families did when we left the FSU'
By JTA
Masha Gessen, author of 'Where the Jews Aren't.' (Lee Towndrow)
October 10, 2016, 10:27 pm
Author opens the Pandora’s box of Russia’s curious autonomous Jewish ghost town
While Chaim Weitzman and Nahum Sokolow were in Britain campaigning for a Zionist state, the Bolsheviks were busy implementing their own vision -- in the USSR
By JP O’ Malley
Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel arrives for a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC March 2, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images via JTA)
August 25, 2016, 11:27 am
Russian Jews posthumously honor Elie Wiesel
Holocaust activist and Nobel laureate penned 1966 book that inspired movement to free Soviet Jewry
By JTA
Rabbi Yona Yaakobi stands in front of the larger synagogue currently active in the Jewish Azerbaijani town of Krasnaya Sloboda. (Courtesy)
June 22, 2016, 4:10 pm
A glimpse into Azerbaijan’s hidden all-Jewish town
Even as its future is uncertain, the unique north Caucasus community of Krasnaya Sloboda is experiencing a religious revival
By Lee Gancman
Former President Shimon Peres with Sergei Brin of Google at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. (Photo credit: Moshe Milner/ GPO/FLASH90)
From the WebAugust 3, 2015, 2:46 pm
Have a hot technology start-up today? Thank Comrade Gorbachev
Forbes: Jews who were let free from the old Soviet Union went on to build some of the biggest names in tech
Illustrative: An Israeli rabbinical court reviews a conversion case. (Flash90)
May 22, 2015, 3:18 pm
Expert: State has failed ex-Soviet would-be converts
Amid decline in conversions, Israel Democracy Institute's Netanel Fisher says more must be done to remove obstacles
By Gedalyah Reback
Renowned Soviet refusenik Vladimir Slepak in 2007. (screen capture: YouTube)
April 25, 2015, 7:07 pm
Renowned Soviet refusenik Vladimir Slepak dies at 87
Influential dissenter who waged 17-year campaign to emigrate to Israel will be buried Monday in Jerusalem
By Justin Jalil
More than 6,000 young Russian-speaking Jews participated in summer camp programs offered by the Jewish Agency in the former Soviet Union. (Photo credit: Courtesy of the Jewish Agency via JTA)
March 20, 2015, 8:26 pm
Finnish Christians celebrate 25 years of aiding Russian aliya
Nordic country's Zionists commemorate anniversary of helping ex-Soviet Jews emigrate to Israel
By JTA
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