By Diana Muir Appelbaum On the night of August 12, 1952, a group of Yiddish writers was executed on Joseph Stalin’s orders for the crime of writing while Jewish. The executions, remembered as the Night of the Murdered Poets, were the tragic culmination of the grand romance between Jewish intellectuals and Marxism. Author Nathan Englander now […]
Archive | Jewish Culture
RSS feed for this section
The Diverse Culture of Chernivtsi, Ukraine and its ‘Cinegogue’
In Maria Danilova’s article “Journey Through Time in Ukraine’s Little Paris,” she describes the rich history that is still alive in the city of Chernivtsi, Ukraine today. Before WWII, this city had several dozen synagogues, and about one third of its population was Jewish. Today, Jewish residents make up only about 2 percent of the […]
Elie Wiesel and Natan Sharansky Discuss 1987 March on Washington for Soviet Jewry
At the this year’s General Assembly (GA) of the Jewish Federations of North America, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and Natan Sharansky, former Soviet Refusenik, discussed the historical significance of the Sunday, December 6, 1987 march on Washington for Soviet Jewry. This 1987 march was the largest American Jewish demonstration in history, with over […]
Jewish Cultural Center Opens in Ukraine
On Tuesday, October 16th, a Jewish cultural center was dedicated in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. It has been named the “Menorah Center,” as the large complex consists of seven buildings in the shape of a menorah. The Center includes a Holocaust museum, community center, hotel, kosher restaurant, an Institute for Jewish Culture in Ukraine and art galleries. The […]
Soviet Jewry Panel in Memory of Lil Hoffman
Lil Hoffman was a long time member of the Board of the UCSJ. Her daughter, Sheila Bialik, convened a panel a few years ago as a tribute to her mother’s tremendous work helping Soviet Jews emigrate from the USSR. Below is an excerpt from the video she created from the panel, which was recently broadcasted […]
Jews Meet in Moldova to Celebrate Heritage
Some 400 Jews have gathered in the former Soviet republic of Moldova for a festival to celebrate the Jewish heritage of the former Soviet countries. Artists, scientists and musicians from Israel, the United States and the former Soviet republics will attend the four-day conference, which began Thursday in this country of 4.1 million with a […]
A Few Thoughts from the President – Look For The Union Label
From the Desk of the (UCSJ) President- I thought of the old ILGWU fight song while recently meeting with the directors of the US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL division) in Washington DC to discuss how to counter the new Russian Extremism law which has targeted religions that don’t conform […]
UCSJ Preserves Jewish Heritage
“‘Lviv is known in the world not because of hotels but because of its common cultural heritage,’ said Meylakh Sheykhet, who heads Lviv’s Jewish community. Sheykhet is part of a group that filed several lawsuits to stop construction of the hotel.” http://www.kyivpost.com/news/guide/general/detail/96873/#ixzz1lLgL8x2P “Meylakh Sheykhet, Ukraine’s representative in the Union of Councils for Jews in the […]