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Jews in the Former Soviet Union

Aerial view of the excavation area and the Great Synagogue of Vilna (Rytis Tamulynas, Vilna Great Synagogue and Shulhoyf Research Project)
August 4, 2026, 10:22 pm
Buried for 70 years, Vilna’s Great Synagogue reveals heart of pre-WWII Jewish community
First-ever excavation of prayer house, which served as spiritual center of Lithuanian Jewry before being destroyed by Nazis and Soviets, uncovers platform for reading Torah and other remains
By Zev Stub
Members of Armenia’s Russian-speaking Jewish community, along with invited Muslim guests from Egypt and Lebanon, attend a Shabbat dinner July 3, 2026, in Yerevan. (Larry Luxner/ JTA)
July 11, 2026, 5:42 am
Armenia’s Jews hope Israeli recognition of Ottoman genocide will jumpstart bilateral ties
An explosion of Jewish life in the former Soviet republic comes against the backdrop of frosty relations between the country and Israel
By Larry Luxner
Librarian Olga Sivak holds up a newspaper from 1913, Bessarabian Life, at the Jewish Museum of Moldova in Chișinău. (Photo by Larry Luxner via JTA)
September 23, 2025, 4:44 pm
Most Moldovan Jews fled decades ago. Local Jewish life is now fueled by their descendants
Decimated by pogroms, the Holocaust and years of Soviet rule, the small but tenacious community is coping with antisemitism, poverty and an influx of refugees from neighboring Ukraine
By Larry Luxner
Illustrative: People walk past a billboard depicting the first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in Tiraspol, the capital of the Russia-backed breakaway region of Transnistria, in Moldova on November 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
August 30, 2025, 3:11 am
As war rages in neighboring Ukraine, Transnistria’s Jews feel caught in a Soviet time warp
The Russian-aligned breakaway state in Moldova had a Jewish population of 300,000 before the Holocaust. The few remaining today battle heightened poverty amid neighboring conflict
By Larry Luxner
US President Donald Trump, center, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, right, and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, at a trilateral signing ceremony in White House, August 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Mark Schiefelbein)
August 22, 2025, 4:28 pm
After decades of conflict, Armenia-Azerbaijan peace plan gives Caucasus Jews new hope
Jewish communities in the two former Soviet countries have had no communication, while Armenian ties to Israel have been strained over arms sales to its foe. All that may change
By Larry Luxner
Avner Landes, author of 'The Delegation.' (Courtesy)
July 26, 2025, 7:40 am
The semi-true story of two Soviet Jews sent abroad by Stalin to fundraise during WWII
Avner Landes discusses his new book ‘The Delegation,’ an account of the adventures – and dark fates – of an actor and poet sent to raise money from coreligionists in the West
By Janice Weizman
Ilan Shor, then-mayor of the town of Orhei, Moldova, arrives to meet with supporters during a campaign event in the city of Comrat on February 15, 2019. (Daniel MIHAILESCU/AFP)
April 20, 2023, 2:41 am
A wanted Moldovan oligarch backs Russian interests at home from a haven in Israel
Convicted in absentia for stealing $1 billion from Moldova’s banking system, businessman-turned-opposition leader Ilan Shor is leading pro-Moscow protests in the country
By Jacob Judah
'How the Soviet Jew Was Made' by Sasha Senderovich. (Courtesy)
February 11, 2023, 8:56 am
‘How the Soviet Jew Was Made’: A tale of wandering, oppression, language and lore
In his award-winning book, Prof. Sasha Senderovich mixes a rich, centuries-old body of Yiddish folklore with early 20th-century events to define a notoriously nebulous Jewish group
By JP O’ Malley
Supporters for the freedom of Soviet Jewry rally in front of the Soviet consulate in San Francisco in a undated photo. (Courtesy of American Jewish Historical Society)
February 7, 2023, 4:17 pm
FBI memo: Bay Area Soviet Jewry protest leaders secretly sought Jews for Jesus’ help
Freedom of information request yields stunning revelation that leadership recruited the well-organized but widely loathed proselytizing group to help organize and bolster crowds
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
Illustrative: In addition to no heat and light in Chernivtsi, lack of electricity means lack of TV and radio use, along with spotty internet service. (Erin Clark/The Boston Globe via Getty Images via JTA)
December 17, 2022, 4:41 pm
In Ukraine, Hanukkah candles are a lifeline in the midst of power outages
As Israeli emissaries of Conservative Judaism arrive with supplies in the western city of Chernivtsi, they find fellow Jews in the cold and dark hoping for a miracle to end the war
By Steve Lipman
Books in both Hebrew and Russian sit on a bookshelf at Medzhybizh. (Jacob Judah/ JTA)
December 10, 2022, 5:23 am
Ukrainian Jews have historically spoken Russian. The war is changing that
History led Jewish communities in Ukraine to eschew the language, but disgust at Russia’s invasion brings change — and an increased perception of being part of Ukrainian society
By Jacob Judah
Russian immigrants attend an event marking the 25th anniversary of the major wave of aliya from the former Soviet Union to Israel, at the Jerusalem Convention Center, on December 24, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
November 17, 2022, 4:48 pm
Data shows most recent immigrants from former Soviet Union aren’t considered Jewish
Survey embraced as justification by opponents of Law of Return’s ‘grandchild clause’; critics allege bigotry
By Judah Ari Gross
A peace dove sits on the head of former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on Monday, June 15, 1992 as he sets another bird free during a leisure trip on the Sea of Gallilee, Israel. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
August 31, 2022, 3:25 pm
Israeli leaders eulogize ‘brave’ and ‘visionary’ Gorbachev
Leaders across West remember Soviet Union’s last head as pioneer who ended the Cold War; Putin offers ‘condolences’ but limited praise
By Ash Obel and Agencies
Clergy from the Peace Cathedral and its inspirations, including the House of One in Berlin, seen outside the complex in Tbilisi. (Nano Saralishvili/ via JTA)
August 6, 2022, 6:02 am
Can an interfaith Peace Cathedral help save Tbilisi’s dwindling Jewish community?
A house of worship for Jews, Christians and Muslims seeks unity in an increasingly divided Georgia. Its founder, Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, says it’s so crazy it just might work
By Johanna Ginsberg
Leonid Nevzlin (via Facebook)
July 30, 2022, 8:58 pm
Exiled oligarch in Israel: Putin doesn’t want to annex Ukraine, but to destroy it
His company dismantled and friends imprisoned, Leonid Nevzlin has lived in Israel for 20 years. He hasn’t ceased criticizing the Kremlin – and sees some parallels in his new home
By Ksenia Svetlova
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