About the Book
In Here We Are All Jews—175 Russian-Jewish Journeys Rabbi Jonathan Porath recounts his lifetime of experiences with Soviet and post-Soviet Jews spanning over fifty years. From 1965 through 2019, he visited Russia and the FSU on 175 occasions, and met thousands of Jews, as the leader of Jewish student missions, and a senior staff member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Russian Department. It is a story of Jewish pride and Jewish courage. The struggles and resilience of the Jews of the FSU serve as a beacon of inspiration, especially in today’s turbulent times.
Praise for Here We Are All Jews
"A moving message of Jewish connection and an important perspective on a chapter in Jewish history worthy of being told."
Natan Sharansky
former Prisoner of Zion
"Filled with unforgettable vignettes, the volume serves both as a primary historical source on the Soviet Jewry movement and as a monument to a proud Brandeis alumnus who helped transform the Jewish world."
Professor Jonathan D. Sarna
Brandeis University
"Offers one of the most vivid accounts I know of the modern exodus. This book belongs on the very short list of essential books on Soviet Jewry."
Yossie Klein Halevi, senior fellow, Shalom Hartman Institute; author, Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
"An extraordinary and enlightening salute to the magical power of Jewish memory, identity, chutzpah and hope."
Professor Gil Troy
"Bursting with story after story. Here We Are All Jews is one heck of a read."
Glenn Richter, National Coordinator Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry 1964-1991
"An inspiring and compelling memoir, which can be seen as a most moving and almost miraculous response to Elie Wiesel’s agonizing Jews of Silence."
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
"Let me tell you about a young, dynamic rabbi and his splendid work on behalf of Jewish young people in America and Soviet Russia. If you would like a student to know more about the history and struggle of the heroic Jews in Russia, give him Rabbi Porath’s book Jews in Russia: The Last Four Centuries."
Elie Wiesel, praise for Jonathan Porath’s previous work (Der Algemeiner Journal, December 6, 1974)