“A History of Jews In Russia” is a ten-week class at 10:30 AM on Zoom beginning on May 10. The class will begin with begin with the partitions of Poland and the creation of the Pale of Settlement. We will move through the beginning of modernity, the Bolshevik Revolution, World War II and the Holocaust, the Cold War, and the fall of Communism. We will explore enduring themes that have come to define Russian Jewry. Presenter Aaron Howard is a staff writer with the Jewish Herald-Voice. He has presented a number of courses at the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning at the ERJCC.

Register below for the link to the Zoom class - it will be the same link for all 10 weeks.

Don't worry if you can't make all 10 classes, join us as often as you can!

Topic for each session:

5/10:  Life In the Tsarist Empire-how the partitions of Poland brought 1.2 million Jews under Russian rule; creation of the Pale of Settlement, how conditions in Russia at the end of the 18th century would create enduring themes in Russian Jewish life.  Handouts | Recording

5/17:  Jewish Life in Russia-what the Russian Jewish world looked like socially, culturally and economically before modernization; the Hassidic-rabbinical cleavages. Handouts | Recording

5/24:  To Reform the Jews-how the statist empire attempted to change the Jews into "useful citizens” during the period 1750-1881. Handouts | Recording 

5/31:  The Beginning of Modernity (1881)-Turning point in Russian Jewish history; beginning of modernity, emigration, emergence of new secular ideologies such as nationalism and revolution. Handouts | Recording

6/7:  World War I and its Aftermath-includes the Bolshevik Revolution and the civil wars fought for control in Eastern Europe. Handouts | Recording

6/14:  Communist Mobilization of Russian Jews-includes the creation and destruction of the Evsektsiia and the Biro-Bidzhan project. Handouts | Recording

6/21:  World War II. Handouts | Recording

6/28:  The Cold War and Stalin’s Anti-Jewish Paranoia-includes the Slansky trial and the Doctor’s Plot. Handouts | Recording

7/5:  Leaving Mother Russia-developments from 1967-1980. Handouts | Recording

7/12:  Since the Ed of Communism. Handouts | Recording