Russian bukvhar from 1970s

Russian Bukvar for beginners – How I almost didn’t learn Russian

Immigrant Experience, Soviet Life /

I wrote a bit last time about one of my ‘immigrant identity crisis’ vignettes that I shared at the Limmud retreat. But it started with an assignment, to bring an artifact, or object, from home about our Russian-Jewish heritage. When you and your childhood home are separated by over 3,000km, digging up an acceptable artifact – Was it interesting enough? Too trite? Russian enough? Too […]

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makeup, cosmetics, glass-3081015.jpg

The Russian make-up brigade

Personal Essay /

Early in January, I spent a weekend at a planning retreat for Limmud FSU Canada (it’s the first ever Limmud FSU in Canada, and yes, expect to hear more from me about it soon). We were all asked to bring an artifact that spoke to our Russian selves, and as part of the identity-digging activity that accompanied the artifacts, I ended up writing a series

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Maxim Shrayer memoir - Leaving Russia Interview

Leaving Russia: An interview with Maxim Shrayer on his new memoir

Interviews /

[Editor’s Note – Want to read this in Russian? Click here to read a translation of my Q+A on Booknik.ru] Memoirs about Soviet-Jewish life during the immigration period of the 1970s and 1980s have not yet saturated the memoir genre, so I’m excited to tell you about a new book that’s just come out this month. Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story is the second memoir by writer

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home canning, compote, vegetables-4653058.jpg

Russian Kompot: I’m probably doing it wrong (with recipe)

Food, Recipes /

I finally made the kompot. What’s kompot? Russian kompot is essentially a homemade fruit juice. It’s been around for centuries and is popular in Russia and the former East Bloc. I only recently learned that what I always thought was kompot was actually compote, which is also made with cooked fruit, but has less liquid and is eaten, rather than drunk. Compote is French, and

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Operatsiya Y Soviet movie - Operation Y with Shurik

Operatsiya Y: A Soviet movie flashback. With kompot!

Books & Movies, Soviet Life /

Park yourself at a dinner table of Russians, and inevitably, as the eating part winds down and the drinks are doing their thing, someone says “And the kompot?” Everyone laughs uproariously (except you, the Canadian-raised outlier) and the kompot rarely, rarely ever appears. It’s a line from an old Soviet movie. And, since it’s also a line from every Russian dinner ever, it’s funny whether

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Kristallnacht on Twitter post - interior of burnt synagogue in Berlin

Kristallnacht on Twitter seems hopelessly naive

Tech Meets History & Totalitarianism /

This weekend was the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht – the Night of the Broken Glass, when thousands of Jewish homes and businesses were ransacked and destroyed across Germany. Ninety-one Jews died that night. That was the night of November 9/10, 1938. (Awkward anniversary tie-in – on November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall came down.) Media around the anniversary spooled up in all the expected ways,

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An Instagram worthy of royalty and madmen (with video!)

Tech Meets History & Totalitarianism /

Following up on last week’s post, some related notes on the dictators of the interwebs. Because once you’re done Photoshopping those propaglamour shots, where else do you turn but to Instagram? Slate posted a round-up video of Assad & his cohort are getting up to on Instagram a few months ago. Yes, dictators on Instagram is a thing. You can fill up your phone with a

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