A few months ago in Jerusalem, at a dinner with an Israeli rabbi who had strong connections to the Hasidic community in Russia—the only branch of Judaism recognized by the Kremlin—I asked if Russia’s lawsuit against the Jewish Agency, a nonprofit that promotes immigration to Israel, and the increasingly anti-Semitic rhetoric by Russian officials and state media (Volodymyr Zelensky is now officially introduced as “a terrorist and a shame to the Jewish people” on Russian TV) meant that the situation for Russian Jews was becoming perilous.
The rabbi replied that a sign of the coming persecution of Jews in Russia would be if Jewish religious leaders started publicly praising Putin and voicing approval for his war in Ukraine. It would mean that they’re sacrificing their beliefs to ensure the safety of the Jewish community in Russia. This praise, he said, would be one of the last lines of defense against what is widely seen as a de facto fascist regime.
