The first meeting of the Society this year was held on September 6 in 102 Weaver. Cathy Wanner led a lively discussion of a book chapter by Larissa Remennick and Anna Prashizky entitlted “Russian Israelis and Religion: what has changed after twenty years in Israel?”

Alan Benjamin, Brad Bouley, Jonathan Brockopp, Nina Safran and Rebekah Zwanzig engaged in a broad discussion of the Russian Jewish diaspora, delving into questions of modernity, identity and the specific history of being Jewish in the Soviet Union (and Russia) in the 20th century.

What particularly struck me was the development of strong socio-religious practices by Russian Jews that have often (but I think wrongly) been characterized as secular. These practices were developed as a result of the restrictions placed on public expression of religion by the Soviet regime, but now these practices themselves are seen as illegitimate representations of Judaism in Israel. Ironically, the states of both Israel and Russia are highly controlling of public religious expressions, putting Russian Israelis in a difficult situation.