How the Myth of the Israel-Palestinian Conflict’s Supreme Importance Distorted 70 Years of American Middle East Policy
What if there is no solution?
October 3, 2019
A Stolen Synagogue Seat and the Fate of a Russian-Jewish Family
A memoirist sheds light on the shtetl’s social conflicts.
Born in 1893 in a small, backwater Russian shtetl, Doba-Mera Medvedeva began writing her memoirs—filled with rich and detailed descriptions of Jewish life—while living in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Her grandson, the Israeli historian Michael Beizer, later published these Russian-language memoirs, which have recently been translated into English by Alice Nakhimovsky. The passage below describes the arrival in the shtetl of Medvedeva’s uncle Alter, who would use his relative wealth to exploit her family. Crucial to this passage is the mizraḥ, or eastern wall of a synagogue, where the most desirable seats in the sanctuary could be purchased; sitting near the eastern wall was the ultimate sign of status:
Subscribe to Continue Reading
Get the best Jewish ideas and conversations. Subscribe to Tikvah Ideas All Access for $12/month
Login or SubscribeOctober 3, 2019
If Jews Don’t Speak Up for Themselves, No One Will Speak Up for Them
A Rosh Hashanah sermon on anti-Semitism.
How Secret Hebrew Lessons Turned a Soviet Jew into a Leader of the Refusenik Movement
With the help of an “Esperanto” club.
The Arab World Can’t Blame All of Its Problems on the West
Edward Said and honor killings.
A Stolen Synagogue Seat and the Fate of a Russian-Jewish Family
A memoirist sheds light on the shtetl’s social conflicts.