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Opinion Sochi’s Olympic Games Are a Missed Opportunity
An activist wearing a mask of Russian President Vladimir Putin joins protesters on the opening day of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games. / Getty Images As the winter Olympics open today, there has been a crescendo of condemnation in the West of Russia’s many human rights violations. Sadly, in spite of all the attention Vladimir…
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News Sochi Gets Ready To Host Jews With Kosher Food and 3 Synagogues
(JTA) — Soft sand and turquoise beaches make Sochi a lovely holiday destination, but this coastal Russian city is less than ideal for providing religious services to thousands of Jewish tourists. With few native Jews and only one resident rabbi, the Black Sea resort of 400,000 residents would seem ill-equipped to handle the tens of…
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The Schmooze L.A. Shop Displays Holocaust Mannequin
Spotted: A mannequin dressed as a Holocaust victim on display at L.A. Jock in West Hollywood, California. Oy. But there’s more to the striped uniform and yellow star than meets the eye. The display is meant as a symbol of protest ahead of a rally tomorrow against Russian president Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay policies, according to…
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Fast Forward Russian Poklonnaya Hill Synagogue Rented Out for Parties
Several prominent Russian Jews criticized the recreational use of a Russian synagogue that also functions as a Holocaust memorial monument. The criticism regarded the renting out on Jan. 20 of Moscow’s Poklonnaya Hill Memorial Synagogue to the management of Russia’s Bank of Industrial and Investment Settlements, or PIR Bank. The bank’s senior staff celebrated the…
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Culture The Russian (Authors) Are Coming
One thing we know for sure is that 2014 will be a big year for young post-Soviet Jews who write in English. Gary Shteyngart’s forthcoming memoir, which he did not title “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Jewness,” has already called attention to itself with a four-minute video that almost but not quite redeems the genre…
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Fast Forward Russian Immigration to Israel Seen as Success Story
(JTA) — Growing up in the Urals, Pavel Polev was a precocious ice skater and a member of the Soviet Union’s national youth figure-skating team. But in 1992, at age 15, Polev’s life was upended when he joined the massive wave of Jews immigrating to Israel from the crumbling Soviet Union. After serving a mandatory…
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Fast Forward Anti-Semitic Vandals Leave Pig’s Head at Russian Shul
Vandals used a pig’s head to desecrate a synagogue in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. Representatives of the Jewish community of the city, which is located 600 miles west of Baku, Azerbaijan, found the pig’s head at the entrance to their synagogue on Dec. 20. They believe the perpetrators are also responsible for English-language…
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Fast Forward Freed Tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky Hits Russia on Political Prisoners
Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Sunday promised not to seek power in Russia but said he would fight for the freedom of people he considered political prisoners, challenging Vladimir Putin two days after a presidential pardon freed him from jail. Khodorkovsky told reporters in Berlin that “the struggle for power is not for me”,…
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News An Israeli restaurant chain said it closed due to boycotts. Protesters are celebrating.
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Opinion Jews are worried about Zohran Mamdani. Here’s why they shouldn’t be
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Film & TV What the new season of ‘Nobody Wants This’ gets right — and very wrong — about Judaism
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Opinion JD Vance just made a critical error in Israel — and time to curb Hamas is running short
In Case You Missed It
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Fast Forward ADL enlists major law firms to launch pro bono network for antisemitism cases
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Holy Ground American synagogues are closing at a record rate. This retired judge is rescuing their stained glass windows.
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Fast Forward German government pledges record $1B in funding for Holocaust survivor home care
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Fast Forward Vance downplays ‘little skirmishes’ as Israel bombs in Gaza and Hamas fails to return hostages
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