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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 564

Russian-speaking Jewish Americans

Alex Zeldin and Tamar Caplan are lifted on chairs during their wedding reception, August 21, 2022. (JC Lemon Photography/ via JTA)
October 17, 2022, 8:50 am
When the Torah cycle ended, their Russian-American romance began
After reconnecting at a Simchat Torah event, Tamar Caplan and Alex Zeldin find chemistry — and matching Jewish ideals — and level up from friendship to lifelong love
By Alix Wall
Chinese censors did not allow a local company to print copies of 'The Queen of Cleveland' for American publisher Hasidic Archives. (Book cover image courtesy of Hasidic Archives/ via JTA)
October 9, 2022, 3:03 am
Chinese censors ban the printing of Hasidic woman’s memoir for a US publisher
Citing ‘anti-Communist’ content, authorities won’t let locals print ‘The Queen of Cleveland,’ Shula Kazen’s story of surviving the Iron Curtain, even though it would be sold abroad
By Asaf Elia-Shalev
Gleb Gavrilov, owner of Moscow on the Hudson, stands in front of his store in New York, on March 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
March 19, 2022, 8:34 pm
For millions of Russian-Americans, war brings shock, horror — and backlash
Scientists decry rejection of papers by Russian scholars and cancellation of concerts by Russian performers, as many experience ‘shame by virtue of being Russian’
By AFP
David Sipress and cover of memoir 'What's So Funny?' (Photo by Nina Subin, cover courtesy of Mariner Books/ via JTA)
March 15, 2022, 3:52 am
New Yorker cartoonist David Sipress smiles through the pain in a new memoir
In ‘What’s So Funny?’ the Jewish son of Eastern European immigrants talks about growing up in New York, defying his parents’ expectations and finding inspiration in everyday life
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
Behind the scenes of 'Witness,' a new online production by the Arlekin Players. (Courtesy)
January 8, 2022, 5:53 am
In Boston, COVID sends Russian-Jewish theater group hurtling through space and time
In ‘Witness,’ playing through January 23, the Arlekin Players take their performance online, combining tech elements to transport viewers back to the ill-fated MS St. Louis in 1939
By Julie Masis
A still from 'Minyan' by director Eric Steel. (Courtesy)
October 22, 2021, 8:43 pm
Director Eric Steel on Jewish-LGBTQ film ‘Minyan,’ one of this year’s top 10
A surprisingly true to life depiction of Russian-Jewish immigrants in 1980s Brooklyn doesn’t hinder the universal message in the movie, opening Oct. 22 in NY and streaming Oct. 29
By Jordan Hoffman
Clockwise from top left: 'Hammer and Silicon' authors Daniel Satinsky, Sheila Puffer, and Daniel McCarthy (Courtesy Sheila Puffer); scientist Slava Epstein (Adam Glanzman/ Northeastern University); Vladimir Torchilin, director of pharmaceutical biotechnology and nanomedicine at Northeastern University; anti-aging researcher at Harvard, Vadim Gladyshev (YouTube screenshot).
February 19, 2019, 3:57 am
These are the Russian-speaking Jewish Americans you never knew changed your life
From cancer research to designing systems powering the Eiffel Tower, the unsung scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs found in the new book ‘Hammer and Silicon’ make an impact
By Julie Masis
David Shrayer-Petrov outside of the Brookline Booksmith store in November, where he and the translators of 'Doctor Levitin' spoke to a crowd. (Courtesy of Maxim Shrayer/via JTA)
December 19, 2018, 10:36 pm
Refusenik, 82, sees first English translation of his tragic 1979 novel
‘Doctor Levitin,’ the first literary work to deal with the experiences of the dissident Jews, written by renowned writer David Shrayer-Petrov, who escaped the Soviet Union in 1987
By Penny Schwartz
A tour group walks through the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Word of an August 2017 Justice Department inquiry into how race factors into admissions at Harvard University has left top-tier colleges bracing for scrutiny of practices that have boosted diversity levels to new highs. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
October 14, 2018, 3:13 pm
Son of Russian-Jewish immigrants fights affirmative action on behalf of Asians
Cato Institute fellow Ilya Shapiro says race shouldn’t factor into college admissions — and if an October 15 case against Harvard fails, he’ll go all the way to the Supreme Court
By Julie Masis
Naya Lekht
July 6, 2018, 5:59 pm
Naya Lekht
How do you inherit your heritage? Ritual!
Jokes and borscht from my parents’ Russia pale in comparison to the customs and practices of Judaism
Bonnie Frumkin Morales, owner and chef at Kachka in Portland, Oregon, and author of 'Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking.' (Courtesy/Olga Mazurenko)
April 5, 2018, 3:03 am
Chef tears down culinary Iron Curtain to make Jewish-Russian food great again
Though initially embarrassed by her family’s immigrant fare, today James Beard-nominated Bonnie Frumkin Morales sells a surprising amount of herring at her restaurant Kachka
By Rich Tenorio
Visitors to the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow viewing one of the many sculptures there depicting the history of Jewish life in Russia, May 21, 2013. (Courtesy of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center/via JTA)
January 24, 2018, 5:47 am
A son of refuseniks chronicles the slow dissolve of Russia’s Jews
Examining a community that numbers one-tenth of its size in 1989, Maxim Shrayer notes the disappearance of Jewish names from the achievement rolls of science and the humanities
By Penny Schwartz
The hadvalah ceremony at Limmud FSU in Oakland, California. (Ekaterina Efimova)
December 30, 2017, 11:16 am
Limmud FSU slams Israeli government for neglecting Russian-speaking Jews
Blaming ‘broken promises’ from unmotivated politicians, nonprofit dramatically scales back its global conferences
By Julie Masis
Svetlana Khvostova, the Russian State Library employee in charge of keeping the Schneerson Collection. (Courtesy)
June 27, 2017, 1:43 pm
Look, but don’t touch: Moscow’s Schneerson Collection goes online
Russian government continues to hold the Chabad dynasty’s seized collection of ancient books, but is opening it to public viewing on the web
By Julie Masis
Guests listen to a speaker at Limmud FSU in Westchester, New York. The conference ran from May 14-16, 2017. (Limmud FSU)
May 17, 2017, 1:46 am
In New York, Russian-speaking Jews say ‘da’ to Limmud FSU
Feeling marginalized from ‘mainstream’ American Jewry, people from the former Soviet Union gather for a conference that speaks to them
By Julie Masis
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