Submitted Stories by Yasha Levine RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Yasha Levine
Despite taboo, Russian Jews look to cremation
Years of state-sponsored preference for cremation, combined with financial considerations — it's three times as expensive to bury a body as to cremate one in St. Petersburg — conspire to make it prohibitively difficult to bury the dead according to Jewish Read more »
Russians flock to kitsch music
A kitschy form of musical entertainment known as Estrada is finding its niche among Russian Jews, who are attracted by its combination of glitz and Jewishness. Read more »
Remote Russian city to get new JCC
A Russian businessman has offered a new space for the JCC in his small city, but is there a Jewish community to fill it? Read more »
Politics, booze at Israeli ‘election’ in Russia
Yisrael Beiteinu, a pro-Russian party, won a mock election of Israeli Russians in Moscow. Read more »
Helping Jewish soldiers in Russia
Rabbi Aaron Gurevich is doing something out of the ordinary for a Russian Jew: He's helping to reintroduce a religious presence into the Russian military. Read more »
Memories of a Soviet Jewish refugee camp
A man who immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union when he was a boy returns to the camp in Italy that housed his family when they were in transit. Read more »
Young Russian DJ samples Torah, too
A 15-year-old Russian Jewish DJ is trying to balance his immersion in techno music and the club scene with his Jewish identity and Torah studies. Read more »
New shul for Estonian community
The construction of a new synagogue in the capital is being hailed as evidence of the cultural and religious rebirth of Estonian Jewry. But some wonder whether there are enough involved Jews to make the project worthwhile. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
