May 19, 2017
8:15 pm

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)

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

April 14, 2017
10:38 pm

A Soviet customs official examines luggage. (Courtesy 'Stateless')

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

April 1, 2017
2:44 pm

Screenshot of the Facebook group 'Russian Jew Vines.' (Julie Masis/Times of Israel)

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

March 28, 2017
10:08 am

Yakov Sklarsky visiting the synagogue of Bershad March 9, 2017. (Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA)

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

February 11, 2017
10:39 am

Leonard Bernstein and daughter with Lilian Hochhauser. (Courtesy)

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

February 10, 2017
9:00 pm

Democratic district leader of the 45 Assembly District in Brooklyn, Ari Kagan. The 45 district contains a large and influential Russian-Jewish population. (Courtesy)

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

January 28, 2017
9:29 am

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)

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

October 10, 2016
10:27 pm

Masha Gessen, author of 'Where the Jews Aren't.' (Lee Towndrow)

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

August 25, 2016
11:27 am

Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel arrives for a roundtable discussion on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC March 2, 2015. (Win McNamee/Getty Images via JTA)

Russian Jews posthumously honor Elie Wiesel

Holocaust activist and Nobel laureate penned 1966 book that inspired movement to free Soviet Jewry

By JTA

June 22, 2016
4:10 pm

Rabbi Yona Yaakobi stands in front of the larger synagogue currently active in the Jewish Azerbaijani town of Krasnaya Sloboda. (Courtesy)

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

August 3, 2015
2:46 pm

Former President Shimon Peres with Sergei Brin of Google at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California. (Photo credit: Moshe Milner/ GPO/FLASH90)

Have a hot technology start-up today? Thank Comrade Gorbachev

From the Web Forbes: Jews who were let free from the old Soviet Union went on to build some of the biggest names in tech

May 22, 2015
3:18 pm

Illustrative: An Israeli rabbinical court reviews a conversion case. (Flash90)

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

April 25, 2015
7:07 pm

Renowned Soviet refusenik Vladimir Slepak in 2007. (screen capture: YouTube)

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

March 20, 2015
8:26 pm

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)

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

February 7, 2015
12:31 am

US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (L), at the House Democratic Caucus retreat on January 29, 2015 in Philadelphia (photo credit: AFP PHOTO/NICHOLAS KAMM)

Pelosi meets Knesset speaker, recalls former ties

US House speaker says she lobbied for release of Yuli Edelstein when he was imprisoned as refusenik in the USSR

By JTA

Topic: Soviet Jews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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

Russian Jews posthumously honor Elie Wiesel

Holocaust activist and Nobel laureate penned 1966 book that inspired movement to free Soviet Jewry

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

Have a hot technology start-up today? Thank Comrade Gorbachev

From the Web Forbes: Jews who were let free from the old Soviet Union went on to build some of the biggest names in tech

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

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

Finnish Christians celebrate 25 years of aiding Russian aliya

Nordic country’s Zionists commemorate anniversary of helping ex-Soviet Jews emigrate to Israel

Pelosi meets Knesset speaker, recalls former ties

US House speaker says she lobbied for release of Yuli Edelstein when he was imprisoned as refusenik in the USSR

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