A Hanukkah Letter from Moscow

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In this immersive lesson plan, students will learn of the impossible situation thousands of Soviet-era Jews faced: being unable to practice Judaism, and being refused permission to leave their oppressive country. Masha, a young Jewish girl in the USSR, invites us to witness this phenomenon in Jewish history. We learn of the impossible situation Jews endured, and the Refuseniks, those Jews who were refused an exit visa, denying them both the freedom to express their Judaism and the opportunity to move somewhere that would grant them religious freedom. Despite their desperate position, Refusenik Jews endured, and passed down their unbreakable Jewish spirit to children like Masha.