One of the key elements of the post-Soviet Jewish revival has been the emergence over the past 30 years of a large-scale infrastructure for Jewish periodicals and book publishing in Russian and other languages of the post-Soviet states.   These include newspapers and magazines, some of which possess an influence that extends far beyond their respective countries and the former Soviet Union as a whole. Additionally, partially supported by regional authorities, there are periodicals in regions where Jews are recognized as a titular nationality. Another significant phenomenon is the influence of contemporary Russian-Jewish literary periodicals, published in Israel, on the post-Soviet space. Equally impressive is the volume of Russian-Jewish book publishing, with the vast majority of major publishing projects being executed directly within the post-Soviet space due to relatively low production costs and active collaboration with Russian-speaking Israeli specialists.

Over the past three decades, Jewish periodicals and book publishing have developed in the former Soviet Union without any restrictions from the authorities. This applies not only to the regular publication and distribution of Jewish materials, but also to critical aspects such as the choice of language (the vast majority are in Russian, the native language of the bulk of the Jewish population in the former Soviet Union) and content, as well as cooperation with Israeli authors and publishers. In certain cases, detailed below, Jewish periodicals and book publishing on Jewish themes are funded by state resources.

Jewish Periodicals in the Countries of the Former Soviet Union

While the total number of Jewish periodicals in the post-Soviet states is quite large, they generally serve highly localized or strictly religious-communal purposes. However, several publications have attained a significance that extends beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union. The most notable Jewish periodicals currently published in the post-Soviet space include the following:

There are five major Jewish periodicals in the contemporary post-Soviet space. The first is the journal "Narod Knigi v Mire Knig" (People of the Book in the World of Books)[1], published in St. Petersburg since 1995 with a frequency of six issues per year (edited by Alexander Frenkel). The journal aims to review all new books on Jewish subjects published in Russian (and occasionally Ukrainian) worldwide, thereby exerting a major influence on the transnational Russian-Jewish community, including those residing in Israel. This Russian-language publication is characterized by a distinct Yiddishist cultural and ideological orientation, reflected in its focus on the Yiddish-language cultural heritage of East European Jewry. Consequently, its regular contributors include St. Petersburg scholars fluent in Yiddish and known for their literary translations into Russian, such as Professor Valery Dymshits, Alexander Frenkel, and Igor Bulatovsky. Other prominent experts have also published in its pages, including US-based literary scholar and critic Professor Mikhail Krutikov, US-based writer and literary scholar Dr. Gennady Estraikh, France-based Yiddish instructor and translator Dr. Valentina Fedchenko, Israel-based literary scholar and writer Professor Ber Kotlerman, and Germany-based linguist and Yiddish lexicographer Dr. Dmitry Tishchenko.

Another significant publication is the Moscow-based monthly magazine "L'Chaim"[2] (edited by Boruch Gorin), published since 1991. It is currently the most widely distributed organ of the Russian (and broader post-Soviet) Jewish press, with a circulation of 30,000 copies reported in 2016. This magazine benefits from substantial financial support from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, led by Rabbi Berel Lazar, which explains the prominent coverage of subjects directly related to Judaism in general and Lubavitch Hasidism in particular. Nevertheless, the magazine also widely features secular Jewish literature, culture, and history, which occupy the majority of its pages. This includes literary works translated from Yiddish and articles on secular Yiddish cultural figures (facilitated by the fact that "L'Chaim" editor Boruch Gorin is fluent in Yiddish and well-versed in its literature).

Strictly secular in nature is the Kiev-based almanac "Yehupets" (the euphemism for Kiev in the works of Sholem Aleichem), edited by Leonid Finberg since 1993. It traditionally publishes works in both Russian and Ukrainian under one cover, with Russian predominating. The journal has a clear Ukrainian-Jewish ideological orientation and can be viewed as the print organ of the emerging Ukrainian Jewish community as a distinct ethno-civic group. Chief editor Miron Petrovsky remarked on this direction: "My colleagues and I see 'Yehupets' as a Kiev almanac with a certain Jewish accent (in various senses of the word). This accent is expressed in our primary focus on Jewish themes and issues across all our genres. At the same time, we do not wish to turn the magazine into a kind of 'cultural ghetto'"[3]. Concurrently, a defined space is dedicated to the Yiddish cultural heritage of Ukrainian Jews, which forms an integral part of the broader East European Jewish cultural legacy.

A publication similar in spirit, subject matter, and contributors in Belarus is the journal "Mishpoha"[4] (edited by Arkady Shulman). Published semi-annually in Vitebsk since 1995, it formally describes itself as "international," though in practice it serves as an organ of the secular Jewish community of Belarus.

Regarding Jewish newspapers in the post-Soviet space, the weekly "Hadashot"[5] (edited by Mikhail Gold) deserves particular attention. Published in Kiev since 1991, it is the organ of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine. The newspaper is published in Russian, with occasional reprints of articles originally written in Ukrainian. While demonstrating a clear alignment with a Ukrainian-Jewish ethno-civic identity, "Hadashot" maintains a strong pro-Israel stance. Current News from Israel and commentaries by Russian-speaking Israeli authors appear in almost every issue.

A unique category among Jewish periodicals consists of those published in regions of the Russian Federation where Jews are recognized as a titular nationality. These publications are funded by local governments—a phenomenon that is entirely unique for Jewish media in the post-Soviet space. These regions are the Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) and the Republic of Dagestan. In the former, Russian is the sole official state language, but Yiddish is traditionally regarded as the local "national" language and still receives a degree of support from local authorities. Legally, this approach is based on the Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast adopted in 1997, which states that "the oblast shall create conditions for the preservation, study, and development of the languages of the Jewish people and other peoples residing in the territory of the oblast"[6]. In Dagestan, the Mountain Jewish (Juhuri) language has retained its status since Soviet times as one of the official languages of the republic, alongside Russian and 13 other local languages[7].

Accordingly, the weekly newspaper "Birobidzhaner Shtern"[8] (edited by Elena Sarashevskaya), which was previously published five times a week, is now published in Birobidzhan with funding from the local government. From 1930 to 1991, the newspaper was published exclusively in Yiddish. Today, the majority of the content is in Russian (including numerous translations from Yiddish), but one to three pages in each issue continue to be published in Yiddish. Consequently, "Birobidzhaner Shtern" remains the last print secular newspaper publishing in Yiddish, not only in the post-Soviet space, but globally.

Mention should also be made of the annual "scientific and literary" almanac "Birobidzhan"[9], where most articles are in Russian, with only occasional pieces in Yiddish, though translations from Yiddish to Russian feature prominently. Furthermore, the publishers mark 2004—the year the first volume of the Russian-language almanac "Birobidzhan" appeared—not as its founding, but as its revival, viewing the publication as a continuation of the Yiddish-only almanac of the same name that was closed in 1949 during the Soviet anti-cosmopolitan campaign. The symbolic role that Yiddish continues to play in the JAO is also highlighted by the fact that a private, independent, and entirely Russian-language weekly founded in Birobidzhan in 1991 is named "Di Vokh"[10] (edited by Elena Merzhievskaya), which means "The Week" in Yiddish. Materials concerning Yiddish culture occasionally appear in its pages as well.

In Derbent, where the majority of Dagestan's remaining Jewish population is concentrated, the weekly "Vatan"[11] (edited by Viktor Mikhailov) has been published since 1990, holding the status of a republic-wide newspaper. From its inception, the newspaper has been bilingual. Currently, more than half of its content is published in Russian, reflecting the gradual linguistic assimilation (primarily the loss of reading literacy in the native language) among Mountain Jews residing in the Russian Federation. Nonetheless, the regular inclusion of content in the Mountain Jewish language makes "Vatan" the only periodical in the world currently published in this language.

The online versions of these publications enjoy equal, if not greater, popularity than their print counterparts. Additionally, several digital-only Russian-language Jewish media outlets are highly popular among Jews in the post-Soviet space. These primarily consist of internet news sites. However, these are typically Israeli-based websites that enable post-Soviet Jews to access timely information about events in Israel.

Regarding the influence of Russian-language Israeli media on Jewish life in the post-Soviet space, it is notable that contemporary Russian-Jewish literary periodicals are primarily published in Israel. Through their online editions, they are accessible to readers outside of Israel, including those in the former Soviet Union. The most prominent of these in the post-Soviet space is the quarterly "Jerusalem Journal"[12] (edited by Igor Byalsky), published since 1999. Many of its contributors reside in post-Soviet states, particularly Russia, including well-known Russian writers of Jewish origin such as Alexander Gorodnitsky, Dmitry Sukharev, and Viktor Korkiya.

Jewish Book Publishing

It can be asserted with confidence that Russian-language Jewish book production in the post-Soviet space is highly significant. Indeed, the majority of the most scholarly and serious publications of this nature are currently produced there, from where they are exported to Russian-language bookstores in Israel and Western countries with substantial Russian-speaking Jewish populations. This is driven by two key factors: lower production costs relative to Israel and the West, and continuous collaboration with Russian-speaking Israeli specialists.

The leading Jewish publishing house in the post-Soviet space is the Moscow-based "Knizhniki"[13], founded in 2007 and directed by Boruch Gorin, who also edits "L'Chaim" magazine. Since its inception, "Knizhniki" has released approximately 500 titles on Jewish themes, including multi-volume editions spanning religious, academic, and children's literature. The total print run of these books has exceeded 1.5 million copies[14]. A key strength of "Knizhniki" is its highly effective distribution and marketing network, which includes its own brick-and-mortar bookstore and the Jewish literature website Booknik.ru. The publisher focuses heavily on translations of Yiddish literature that remained unpublished in Russian during the Soviet era. To this end, a specialized series titled "Wandering Stars"[15] (named after the famous novel by Sholem Aleichem) was established in 2012.

The second most prominent publisher is "Gesharim/Bridges of Culture", established in 1990 by Israeli publisher Mikhail Grinberg. Nominally an Israeli-Russian enterprise, its production activities are now concentrated primarily in Moscow. Over three decades, "Bridges of Culture" has published over 500 titles across various genres on Jewish subjects, with a total circulation of approximately 2 million copies[16]. Although the company does not operate a physical bookstore, it has successfully established online distribution channels for its catalogue.

The Kiev-based publishing house "Dukh i Litera" (Spirit and Letter)[17], founded in 1992 and headed by editor-in-chief Leonid Finberg, cannot be categorized as exclusively Jewish in terms of its overall catalogue. However, it publishes a notable series titled "Judaica," which has issued 30 books to date. Additionally, several books on Jewish themes (particularly concerning Jewish-Ukrainian relations) and translations from Yiddish have been published outside of this specific series. The majority of these works are published in Ukrainian, which effectively limits their distribution to the domestic Ukrainian market. Notably, the publishing house has also produced bilingual editions, such as Taras Shevchenko's "Kobzar," featuring the Ukrainian original alongside David Hofstein's Yiddish translation. "Dukh i Litera" does not operate its own bookstore but maintains an established distribution network through various retail book chains.

Books on Jewish themes are also periodically issued by the "Birobidzhan" Publishing House, whose distribution is virtually limited to the Russian Far East. Many of these publications are directly connected to Yiddish language and culture[18].

Finally, mention must be made of a fundamental publishing project of immense significance to Russian-Jewish culture: "The Complete Works of Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky in 9 Volumes"[19], organized by Israeli scholar Felix Dektor (1930–2020) in Moscow and Minsk. The first six volumes have been successfully published.

[1] Website: http://narodknigi.ru/

[2]  Website: https://lechaim.ru/

[3] "'Yehupets' to the City and the World." Interview of Miron Petrovsky by Mikhail Gold, "L'Chaim", 2008, No. 2,  https://lechaim.ru/ARHIV/190/gold.htm

[4] Website: http://mishpoha.org/

[5] Website: http://www.hadashot.kiev.ua/

[6] Charter of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Article 6, Paragraph 2.

[7] Constitution of the Republic of Dagestan of 2003, Chapter 1, Article 11.

[8]  Website: http://www.gazetaeao.ru/birobidzhaner-shtern/

[9] See the website "Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast": http://nasledie-eao.ru/services/kyltyra/literary-anthologies/almanac-birobidzhan.php

[10] See the website "Gorod na Bire": https://www.gorodnabire.ru/novosti/smi/di-voch

[11]  "Homeland" (Juhuri). Website: http://gazetavatan.ru/

[12]  Website: https://new.antho.net/wp/

[13] Website: https://knizhniki.ru/

[14] See: Semyon Charny, "Judaica Two," Jewish News Agency, February 4, 2016.

[15]  For details on this book series, see: Alexandra Polyan, "Yiddish Literature in 'Knizhniki' Publications," "Birobidzhan" Almanac, 2020, in press.

[16] See: https://www.livelib.ru/publisher/2233-gesharim-mosty-kultury

[17]  Website: https://duh-i-litera.com/

[18] See, for example: Elena Sarashevskaya, Yiddish for Beginners, 2016; People of the Birobidzhan Generation. Works by Samuel Gordon, Hersh Dobin, L. Talmi, A. Leibman, et al. Translated from Yiddish, 2019; Nikolai Borodulin, Yiddish All Year Round. A textbook for first-year students; Boris Sandler, Good Morning! Children's Poems in Yiddish with Russian and English translations.

[19]  Website: http://altalena.site/?fbclid=IwAR11x1wIP48y-QSRcZCZmcnHx3r7QUy2W1512MKT_NC-rRiUmlQLgZ4cZ_8