Let My People Grow : Hillel and the Jewish Renaissance in the Former Soviet Union

When the Soviet Union collapsed, much of its Jewish population emigrated, but those who remained were often disconnected from Judaism. It was into this vacuum that Hillel stepped, gradually building a network of Hillel centers across the Former Soviet Union, serving tens of thousands of Jewish students and creating a Jewish future in the FSU. Rabbi Yossie Goldman led Hillel’s efforts to rebuild Jewish identity among university students in the FSU. In Let My People Grow, Goldman tells the story of Hillel in the FSU from its humble beginnings in Moscow and its first steps and missteps in the chaos that followed the fall of communism through to nourishing an indigenous Jewish leadership that sustains the community to this day. In a journey in time across the breath of the FSU with its myriad languages, cultures and Jewish communities, Goldman tells this amazing story. As Goldman tells us: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

When the Soviet Union collapsed, much of its Jewish population emigrated, but those who remained were often disconnected from Judaism. It was into this vacuum that Hillel stepped, gradually building a network of Hillel centers across the Former Soviet Union, serving tens of thousands of Jewish students and creating a Jewish future in the FSU. Rabbi Yossie Goldman led Hillel’s efforts to rebuild Jewish identity among university students in the FSU. In Let My People Grow, Goldman tells the story of Hillel in the FSU from its humble beginnings in Moscow and its first steps and missteps in the chaos that followed the fall of communism through to nourishing an indigenous Jewish leadership that sustains the community to this day. In a journey in time across the breath of the FSU with its myriad languages, cultures and Jewish communities, Goldman tells this amazing story. As Goldman tells us: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”