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Fast Forward Russia Accuses Jewish Group of Being ‘Foreign Agent’
Russia’s Justice Ministry placed a Jewish cultural association with ties to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee on its list of nongovernmental organizations defined as “foreign agents.” The Hesed-Tshuva group, which is based in the city of Ryazan located 120 miles south of Moscow, was placed on the list on Sept. 11, according to a…
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Opinion Why Vladimir Putin Embraces Jews — But Not Gays
(JTA) — For the Kremlin, the interfaith roundtable last Thursday at Kazan’s Hall of Culture provided the perfect propaganda moment. Before the meeting, dozens of journalists snapped pictures of Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar posing alongside the mufti and archpriest of Tatarstan — a predominately Muslim state with its capital, Kazan, 800 miles east of…
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Fast Forward Crimea Rabbi Thanks Vladimir Putin for Russia Annexation
During a meeting with Vladimir Putin, a leader of Reform Jews in Crimea said his community’s situation has improved since Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine. Anatoly Gendin, chairman of the Ner Tamid Reform Synagogue in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, thanked the Russian president Monday for what Gendin described as Russian authorities’ attentiveness to…
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Opinion It’s Time To Stop Patronizing Russian Jews
A black and white film. Moscow’s snow-covered streets. Lines of silenced Jews. Then: protests of Jewish youngsters shouting, “Let my people go.” Avital Sharansky appears, then the Jackson-Vanik amendment. Finally, the Berlin Wall falls, planeloads of Russian Jews arrive in Israel, a new era begins. “Because of us, the USSR fell apart,” activists say proudly….
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Opinion Can My Kid Be an American Jew Without Losing Her Russian Culture?
In my family, we do Judaism like jazz does covers of popular songs — it only sometimes resembles the original. We celebrate Passover, but we always have fluffy Russian cakes because you can’t have a meal without a good dessert. We rarely light Shabbat candles, but when we do, we usually have a movie going…
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Fast Forward Russian Jewish Leader Shot Near Moscow Museum
A prominent member of the Russian Jewish Congress was severely wounded in what the group said may have been an armed anti-Semitic attack in Moscow. Sergey Ustinov, a 62-year-old businessman and RJC board member who in 2011 founded the Museum of the History of Jews in Russia, was shot Thursday afternoon by a lone assailant…
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Fast Forward Chabad Chides Vladimir Putin Over Russia Foreign Funding Bill
In a rare rebuke of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policy, a senior Chabad rabbi from Moscow expressed concerns over a bill aiming to limit foreign involvement. Boruch Gorin, aide to Chief Russian Rabbi Berel Lazar and chairman of Moscow’s Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, on Tuesday expressed his criticism of a government-backed bill on foreign-funded…
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The Schmooze Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky Face Off (Again) in New Chess Drama
Chess isn’t what you’d call a blood sport. Unless, of course, it’s 1972 and your name is Bobby Fischer. At the time, the face-off between the chess-prodigy from Brooklyn and Russian champ Boris Spassky had the world riveted. And soon, you’ll be able to relive the whole thing on the big screen. Tobey Maguire and…
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Music In 1964, when he was just 23, Bob Dylan wrote the prophetic anthem that encapsulates Trump’s America
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Fast Forward What does the election of Mark Carney mean for Canadian Jews and Israel?
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News State Department plan to deport ‘pro-Hamas’ students relies on a 1952 law that targeted Jews
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News Jewish groups targeted Columbia grad Mahmoud Khalil — then ICE arrested him
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Opinion I grew up under a terrifying authoritarian regime. Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest is right out of their playbook
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Fast Forward Trump guts Department of Education, slashing office handling antisemitism complaints
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Fast Forward As ICE targets a pro-Palestinian activist, some Jews are asking if this is the fight against antisemitism they signed up for
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