Life

What We Are Reading at the Blognik Beat

Gal Beckerman

By Maia Efrem April 13, 2012

Gal Beckerman, Forward’s opinion editor and author of “When They Come For Us We’ll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry,” the defining book on Soviet Jewry, talks about meeting the refuseniks who attempted to hijack a plane and draw attention to the troubles of Russian Jews.

What is life like for the Bukharian Jews who have found a new life in New York? The Forward’s Paul Berger spends an evening at a Bukharian restaurant where old and new memories are celebrated by the community.

Despite having grown up in an overbearing society, people raised in the former Soviet Union feel that they do have many happy childhood memories.

What does it mean to be a Jew in journalism? A touching appreciation of the late Mike Wallace, son of Russian immigrants and renowned American reporter.

How do Russian billionaires celebrate Passover? The members of the Russian Jewish Congress recreated the Hebrew slaves’ Exodus from Egypt and traveled on horseback through the Arava desert.

Maia Efrem is the former research editor and assistant to the editor and was also responsible for the Forward’s annual Salary Survey. Previously she served as the editor of Blognik Beat, a blog written by students who emigrated from or have ties to the Former Soviet Union. Maia is a graduate of Hunter College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

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