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Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe

Elena Keidošiūtė: Beyond Archival Sources: Discovering Through Contemporary Art.

Moshe Rosman: Leah Horowitz's Call to Boost Jewish Women's Cultural Capital

Eli Lederhendler: Refugees, Immigrants, or Repatriates? Russian Jewish Ambiguities

Anat Vaturi: Infant Care and Population Growth: Jews in Old Poland

Vladimir Levin: The Jewish Monuments in the Post-Soviet SPace: a Shared Heritage?

Shaul Stampfer: Khazar Myth and Jews of Eastern Europe

Lola Kantor-Kazovsky: Jewish Artist as “Other” in the Israeli Art Field: Michail Grobman and his ‘Leviathan’ Group

Bartal Israel: Forty Years in Exile: Missing Imperial Odessa

Judith Kalik: Vodka and Rural Jews in Eastern Europe

Samuel Barnai: Advanced/Inhibited Minority: Jews in the Soviet Occupational System: 1950s-1960s

Jonathan Dekel-Chen: East Meets West in Diaspora Zionism: A Personal Story

Leona Toker: Representaion of Jewish Charachters in Varlam Shalamov's "Kolyma Tales"

Alex Valdman: Zionism and Nostalgia: Israeli Visitors to the USSR and the Idea of Soviet Jewry

Elena Tolstaya: Multilingualism in Anna Isakova's 'Gitl and the Rock of Andromeda'

Dubnov, Simon. The History of Hasidism. Moscow-Jerusalem: Mosty Kultury/Gesharim, 2014. (Russian)

Memoirs of the prominent historian, publicist and public figure Semion Markovich Dubnov (1860-1941) constitute an encyclopedia of Jewish life in Russia.

Simon Dubnov constructed his memoirs from the diaries that he kept throughout his life; these reflect the rich panorama of events from the second half of the nineteenth century into the early decades of the twentieth century. Dubnow was an active participant, and a witness, to the crucial events of the era, such as the decline of the Jewish enlightenment in Eastern Europe, the emergence and development of Zionism and other political movements, the 1905 and 1917 revolutions and the Russian Civil War. Dubnov lived and worked in centers of Jewish life, such as Odessa, Vilna and St. Petersburg, during years of dramatic changes in the life of the Jewish people. In this memoirs he included vivid portrayals of his friends and colleagues, among them famous authers - Sholem Aleichem, Byalik, Frug, Leskov, Volyn, as well as public figures: Vinaver, Gruzenberg, Landau, Sliozberg and many others.

The first two parts of the memoir deal with scholarly, social and political life of Russia and Russian Jewry. The third part provides insight into the life of Russian-Jewish immigrants in Europe, where Dubnov resided from 1922 to 1933. This new edition of Dubnov's memoir not only contains a new preface, but significantly supplemented and revised biographical and bibliographical commentaries.

full text (pdf)

Goldin, Semion. Russian Army and Jews: 1914-917. Moscow: Mosty Kultury, 2018. (Russian)

From the start of military actions in August 1914, the Jewish population of Russia’s World War I frontal zone directly experienced various forms of the Russian army’s hostility: local deportations, executions on trumped-up charges, lootings, and beatings by soldiers and officers became daily tribulations. In January 1915, the supreme command of the Russian army issued a special declaration that termed the Jewish population of both Russia and occupied Galicia – an enemy, warning that harsh repressive measures would be adopted against the Jews. The principal measure was massive expulsions from entire gubernias, affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the winter-spring of 1915. When the Russian army withdrew from Poland, Ukraine and Lithuania in the summer-fall of 1915, a large-scale wave of fierce pogroms swept over Jewish towns, and an enormous flood of Jewish refugees inundated the army’s rear. In reaction, the Russian government was forced partially to rescind the Pale of Settlement, thus implementing one of the Jews’ main long-standing demands. These events were a stark manifestation of the systemic crisis encompassing Russia before the revolution.

Goldin's book investigates important aspects of this topic: what in reality did the Jews experience in the zone of the military authorities’ responsibility; how and why did the Russian army declared them enemies in this region, where three quarters of world Jewry were living? Book's analysis of relations between the Russian army and the Jews during the war provides a basis for posing new questions and refining already existing conceptions about the events of 1914-1917.

full text (pdf)

Nevzlin Center & TLV1 Collaborative Podcast Series:

Founded in 2013, TLV1 is an English-language podcast network based in Tel Aviv. Their acclaimed shows engage local and international audiences on topics in Israel that matter, whether from street-level or the hallways of government. These podcasts are produced and recorded in the TLV1 studios located in Tel Aviv in Kikar HaMedina.

Dr Anna Kushkova, an anthropologist, postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry (2022-2025) discusses her research on Jewish underground entrepreneurial networks in the Soviet Union.

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Prof. Jonthan Dekel-Chen, Rabbi Edward Sandrow Chair in Soviet and East European Jewry at the Hebrew University and the academic chairman of the Nevzlin Center for Russian and East European Jewry, takes a long view on the history of Jews in Russia and its past and present territories, from the turn of the 20th century to the 21st.

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Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe Journal

In September 1985, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem launched a modest English-language bulletin titled Jews and Jewish Topics in Soviet and East-European Publications. Its editor, historian Shmuel Ettinger, defined its purpose as follows: “The bulletin will serve as a source of important information, not only for specialist scholars, but also for academics in various fields, public figures, journalists, and others.”

The first seven issues consisted mainly of bibliographies and surveys of books and articles published in the USSR on Jews, Judaism, and the State of Israel. Most of the bulletin’s articles, written largely by staff members of the University’s Centre for Research and Documentation of East European Jewry, dealt directly or indirectly with antisemitism.

In spring 1989 (issue 2[9]), the publication underwent several changes, reflected in its new title, Jewish Topics in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. An editorial board of scholars from Israel and the United States was formed, and the journal began publishing analytical articles, some original, others reprinted from publications in other languages.

With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the journal once again shifted focus and changed its name. Beginning with issue 1(20) in 1993, it appeared as Jews in Eastern Europe. While earlier issues were mainly political and historical, the journal now adopted an interdisciplinary approach, publishing articles on sociology and cultural subjects, including literature, theater, religion, and art.

From issue 1(50) in 2003, the journal entered a new partnership with the Leonid Nevzlin Research Center for Russian and East European Jewry. Its title was slightly revised to Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe, highlighting its renewed focus on Russia. Each volume was expanded in length, allowing for longer articles and the inclusion of selected document collections.

Overall, Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe was published as a peer-reviewed scholarly journal by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1988 until 2008. It earned a strong reputation in the field of East European Jewish studies, serving as an important academic platform and resource for scholars, community activists, and institutions.

Publication ceased in 2008, with issue 58 (2007) being the last to appear. Much of the journal’s valuable scholarly content remained undigitized. The Nevzlin Center has since undertaken the task of scanning all issues, making them accessible to scholars and the general public.

The Nevzlin Center has recently partnered with J-Doc to make all issues available on J-Doc’s website, offering a more effective platform for reaching a wider audience.