The excitement and diversity at the first Limmud Jewish educational conference in the former Soviet Union prompted some longtime observers to wonder if this signaled the beginning of the end of Jewish factionalism and infighting in Russia.
When Israel’s Chief Rabbinate decided this year not to give blanket authorization to a time-worn loophole permitting Jewish farmers to circumvent sabbatical-year shmita laws, it set the stage for a showdown between religious Zionists and the fervently Ort
