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Yiddish World The ideological journey of the Forverts in the first half of the 20th century
Read this article in Yiddish. Transatlantic Russian Jewishness: Ideological Voyages of the Yiddish Daily Forverts in the First Half of the Twentieth Century Gennady Estraikh Academic Studies Press, $119, 354 pp In the history of American journalism, the Forverts is a genuine outlier. Over the course of the first half of the last century, the…
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Nazi collaborator monuments Nazi collaborator monuments in Russia
In Yelanskaya, a memorial complex employs a common whitewashing tactic: lumping both problematic and non-problematic figures into a single pantheon of “heroes"
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Opinion In Ukraine, I was never allowed to forget that I was a Jew
As told to Nora Berman; edited for length and clarity I find it offensive when people describe me as a Ukrainian Jew. I am Jewish, and I was born in Ukraine, yet I feel quite separate from the buildup of Russian troops on the eastern border and the threat of invasion. In Ukraine, I was…
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Culture Yiddish porn, Einstein’s letters and Rabbi Schneerson’s sermons united in ‘largest single remnant of Jewish life’ in Europe
In 2014, Jonathan Brent discovered something he didn’t know he was missing. Walking into the Wroblewski Library in Vilnius, he saw a long table covered with boxes. Inside were documents belonging to the organization he heads, YIVO, the Institute for Jewish research, which was founded in Vilna and moved its operations to New York in…
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Yiddish World Yiddish translation of iconic Russian song plays on national Russian TV
Yoel Matveyev, the Forverts’ correspondent in Russia, was sitting alone in a Moscow train station in the middle of the night, when he suddenly got the inspiration to translate the Russian song, “Nadezhda”, about two lovers separated by a long and difficult journey, into Yiddish. Although the song was written in 1971, it remains hugely…
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News The global proportion of Jews living in Europe is as low as it was 1,000 years ago. And the future there doesn’t look bright.
Jews’ share of the population of Europe is as low now as it was 1,000 years ago and is declining even further, according to a landmark new demographic study. The study published Wednesday by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research found 1.3 million people who describe themselves as Jewish in continental Europe, the United…
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Community Adin Steinsaltz was essential to the revival of the Russian Jewish community
In the wake of his passing on August 7, 2020, I remember Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in conversation, as the ever youthful rebel, questioning the whole universe, with a biting sense of humour. In the Orthodox world, where clothing defines the person, he made sure to stand out as a unique creature, combining worn jeans with…
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News Russia has a full-time surgeon whose only job is circumcising Jewish men
(JTA) — The religious Jewish world has created some unusual jobs, from shofar makers to etrog pickers to mashgichim – kosher certifiers whose job is literally to watch others cook. But one of the more bizarre surely belongs to Dr. Yeshaya Shafit, who is Russia’s only mohel, or professional circumciser, for adult men. Shafit, a…
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Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
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Opinion I spoke out against Mamdani. Then he won. Here’s how we walk forward together.
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Opinion Why a concert hall should be the last place for a protest — particularly an antisemitic one like this
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Opinion The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis
In Case You Missed It
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News Indiana University removed its Jewish studies director. His replacement has ignited a firestorm over Israel.
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Fast Forward Groundbreaking analysis of Hitler’s DNA shows no Jewish ancestry — but finds a genetic disorder
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Opinion A single arrest has thrown the battle for Israel’s soul into sharp relief
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Culture A young Muslim woman moved in with a 96-year-old Jewish actress – and it was bashert
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