History of the Jews in Russia and the Soviet Union


The vast territories of the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest Jewish population in the world. Within these territories the Jewish community flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, while also facing periods of intense antisemitic discriminatory policies and persecutions. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many Soviet Jews took advantage of liberalized emigration policies, with over half their population leaving, most for Israel. Despite this, the Jews in Russia and the nations of the former Soviet Union constitute one of the larger Jewish populations in Europe.