Judaism after the USSR: Old and New, Religious and National

English

Religious Identity of Immigrants from ex-USSR in Israel

From Evrei to Iudei: Turning or Returning to Faith?

Michael Laitman and His Group “Bnei Baruch”

Kabbalah in the Twenty-First Century: Departure from Judaism?

A Portrait on the Wall and Sprat on the Bread: Moscow Jews between the Two "Sects"

Tender Psalms: The Ethnic and the Religious in the Culture of Russian Judaizers

Rituals in Flux: Courtship and Marriage among Bukharan Jews

This article analyzes practices surrounding courtship and marriage among Bukharan Jews. It is based on historical research as well as ethnographic research carried out in the 1990s in Uzbekistan, and among immigrants (and the children of immigrants) in Israel and the United States. Rather than providing a description of wedding practices in catalogue form, the article show the ways in which such practices vary depending on historical and geographical context.

Communities of Mourning: Mountain Jewish Laments in Azerbaijan and on the Internet

This article explores two sites of Mountain Jewish mourning - Krasnaia Sloboda, the more traditional location of Mountain Jewish customs — and the Mountain Jewish Online Center. Investigating how lamentations expressed in both spaces create Mountain Jewish community, I argue that the development of alternative places of lamentation ultimately challenges gender expectations of emotionality and grief work, as well as the texts of mourning themselves.

Folk Judaism: Variations of Religious Practices among the Jews of Ukraine and Moldova (Findings of 2004–2011)

The article draws on the analysis of interviews with the Jews of Ukraine and Moldova, who had lived the frst part of their lives fol‑ lowing traditional Jewish ways, while the other part fell on the peri‑ od of strong anti‑religious pressure in the Soviet Union. As a result, several variations of what we can call “folk Judaism” emerged. One form is a forced refusal to follow the laws of Judaism and elaboration of various ways for breaking taboos.

No. 3 (33) 2015