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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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Fast Forward Russian Jews Celebrate ‘Victory Day’ in Times Square
Dozens of Jewish war veterans who fought with the Soviet Red Army in World War II gathered at Times Square to celebrate the Hebrew date of Victory Day. Accompanying the 50-odd veterans — who wore their Soviet uniforms and WWII medals — on Thursday were local rabbis and leaders from New York’s Jewish community, organizers…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Books In ‘Something We Said,’ Richard Pryor’s daughter finds words to discuss the unspeakable
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Opinion It’s time for Jews who love Israel to give up on Zionism
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Sports Memes, mashiach and ‘Torah-cyclopedias’ put a Jewish twist on the Knicks’ title chase
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Fast Forward Hebrew Union College claims Ohio’s charity-law suit violates its First Amendment rights
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Fast Forward 6 months after her father was killed at Bondi Beach, Sheina Gutnick has become a leading antisemitism advocate in Australia
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Fast Forward 13,000 Jews were driven out of Poland in 1968. Now, some are returning to tell their story.
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Yiddish World מע קען שוין אָנגעבן אויף דער י. י. סיגאַל פּרעמיע 2026The 2026 J. I. Segal Award for Yiddish literature is now accepting submissions