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Soviet Jewry

Protesters rally in support of the hostages in Central Park, New York City, June 8, 2025. (Luke Tress/ Times of Israel)
January 26, 2026, 8:46 pm
Ran Gvili’s return marks the end of a movement that united Jews across the globe
In an era of polarization, a movement linking Jewish people across differences seemed unlikely, but ‘Bring Them Home’ activism showed they can still come together
By Ben Sales
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
Beniamin Levishvili, 23, is the gabbai of the ancient synagogue in Akhaltsikhe, Georgia. His late father Simon and grandfather Ioseb Levishvili held the position before him. (Sofia Poznansky)
April 18, 2025, 8:23 am
In Georgia, a 23-year-old maintains a venerable synagogue, the last remnant of his community
Soviet repression caused most Georgian Jews to flee, leaving behind a 2,500-year-old history whose memory is beginning to fade. In his village, one young man seeks to preserve it
By Sofia Poznansky
Portrait of Soviet-born human rights activist and writer, Eduard Kuznetsov, in his home in Motza Illit, Israel, April 8, 2015. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
December 22, 2024, 1:58 pm
Former prisoner of Zion, anti-Soviet dissident Eduard Kuznetsov dies at 85
Refusenik was one of the leaders of Operation Wedding, a failed attempt to hijack an empty civilian plane to escape Soviet Russia and head to Israel
By ToI Staff
'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
Mark Dovev speaks at a Nativ event in Ukraine on October 10, 2021. (Nativ)
December 7, 2022, 6:29 am
Aiding Ukrainians, immigration official finds what it means for Israel to be a haven
Head of office that checks citizenship eligibility for Ukrainian immigrants reflects on early days of Russian invasion, vows to abide by whatever coalition decides on Law of Return
By Judah Ari Gross
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
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, center, is escorted to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, June 18, 1992. Gorbachev was concluding a five-day private visit to Israel. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
September 1, 2022, 4:29 pm
On Jews and Israel, Gorbachev’s legacy is under threat
The last Soviet leader has passed away precisely as Putin’s Russia tangles with the Jewish Agency, moving to shut down the Israeli organization that handles Jewish emigration
By David Horovitz
Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev, left, and US president Ronald Reagan during a meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, Oct. 11, 1986. (AP Photo/Scott Stewart, File)
August 31, 2022, 4:02 pm
Sharansky: Gorbachev wouldn’t have released Soviet Jews if not for global pressure
Former prisoner of Zion praises late Soviet leader for freeing Jewish prisoners but says his policy was driven by the cost to the Soviet Union, not sympathy
By Jeremy Sharon
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, center, is escorted to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, June 18, 1992. Gorbachev was concluding a five-day private visit to Israel. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
August 31, 2022, 12:00 pm
Gorbachev first seemed regressive, but ultimately opened the gates for Jews to leave
The numbers allowed to exit actually fell at the start of his rule. But he wound up approving the exodus of millions, freeing refuseniks, ending restrictions on religious worship
By Ron Kampeas
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev addresses a group of 150 business executives in San Francisco, Monday, June 5, 1990. (AP Photo/David Longstreath, File)
August 31, 2022, 4:30 am
Jewish groups mourn Gorbachev as man who freed Soviet Jewry
Former Soviet president remembered as a humanitarian for allowing Jews to practice their religion freely and emigrate, which they did en masse — much to his disappointment
By Judah Ari Gross
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
Yelena Lembersky, author of 'Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour.' (Courtesy)
July 26, 2022, 1:43 am
Relics of a USSR both maddening and sweet emerge in blockbuster Jewish memoir
Yelena Lembersky’s ‘Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour’ is a surprisingly even-handed tale of escape from the Iron Curtain with her grandfather’s famous Babyn Yar massacre paintings
By Julie Masis
Moyshe Beregovsky is seen with various documents and sheet music collected in his vast archive of Yiddish folk and klezmer songs. (Courtesy Jewish Music Forum/via JTA)
March 22, 2022, 2:47 am
Documentary showcases the Ukrainian Jew who saved Yiddish music from oblivion
‘Song Searcher,’ a new film about Moyshe Beregovsky, the Jewish folklorist and ethnomusicologist who traveled his native Ukraine in the 1930-40s, is all too relevant today
By Andrew Silow-Carroll
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