Soviet Union, The (Former)

Golda didn't know what to say until finally she blurted out in Yiddish, "adank aich far bleiben yidden". Her words spread through the throng like wildfire, and she felt her limp words were a poor mockery of prophetic incantation. "Thank you," she had told...

Defying rogue regimes, the Rebbes of Chabad-Lubavitch and their emissaries risked their lives to keep Judaism alive across the Soviet Union. Their efforts enabled the embers of Judaism to spark the transformation of Jewish life thriving there today.

With restriction on religion being officially released, the ashes, glowing for seventy years, finally burst into flame. The warmth of Judaism began to glow for the millions of Jewish men, women and children across Russia who didn’t even know the meaning o...

Betsheva's father had taken all possible precautions to hide the illegal factory, covering its entrance with large planks of wood. But the approaching footsteps sounded like they knew where they were headed...

Zaidy embraced the Torah for the last time and gently laid it, in its wooden case, under a tree. He lifted his young child in his arms and journeyed on through the forest

When Jews are united as one body, a Jew in a free land can provide life to a Jew living under oppression

Growing up in the Soviet Jewish underground in the 1960s, Baruch Lepkivker would often hear his father, Yaakov, sing a single refrain from a particular Chassidic melody. It was just a movement, what’s referred to as a tenuah, a piece of a much longer nigg...

The oys and joys of moving to Rostov, Russia, and serving a Jewish community that has reawakened after 70 years of Communist repression.

As far as Jewish communities go, Boston has a certain vibe. Its members tend to be well-educated, genteel and perhaps a bit more cautious about standing out as Jews. In the face of it all, Rabbi Moshe Gurkow, who passed away on Friday, 30th of Tishrei, No...

Living abroad, in a new country, with a new language, new laws and a massively different culture is a daunting prospect for many people. For the Jewish community of the Former Soviet Union in the United States—who make up approximately 10 percent of all A...