There hundreds of Jewish periodicals (sometimes not even real periodicals) in the former post-Soviet space. Almost every Jewish organizations dreams of having its own, even a small one, printed publication. Most of them are departmental newsletters or modest papers with the circulation of factory newspapers. Along with that, one cannot help noticing a small but impressive body of magazines, many of which are radically different in their contents and printing quality from the general “budget-funded” background of the Jewish printed mass media.

Even with the very limited general list, Jewish magazines can be divided into four categories (obviously such classification will not be totally correct and the categories will overlay each other, at least formally):

1. Illustrated public and literature-publicist magazines;
2. So-called “thick” artistic-and-publicist magazines and literature almanacs;
3. Specialized or trade journals;

4. Departmental ones.

In the first category, the doubtless patriarch is certainly the «Lechaim» (published under the patronage of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia; editor-in-chief – Borukh Gorin), which started at the end of 1991 as a small, 12-page journal with practically the only difference from newspapers being its thicker cover. By the middle of the 1990s, “Lechaim” had already been a stylish full-color publication with excellent polygraph and the highest circulation among the Jewish mass media. The main phenomenon of the “Lechaim” however is not so much its high publishing professionalism, but in its successful attempt at going outside the frames of a departmental, even more so – religious – publication. It boasts a wide spectrum of columns and topics and authors’ reputations, acquired, by the way, in prestigious non-Jewish publications, which one won’t find even in most major magazines that do not put themselves into any strict cultural or religious frameworks. Literary critics V. Kardin and Benedict Sarnov, famous historian and author of many books Gennady Kostyrchenko, well-known poetesses Tatiana Bek, who started her poetic career in the “Yunost” and “Noviy Mir” journals and who recently died – all of these are “exclusive” rather than «second-hand» reprints from the Internet that many Jewish mass media got so unreasonably involved in. It should come with no surprise then that many absolutely secular Jews quickly leaf through the “religious” pages, moving on to the “optional courses”. But the meaning of this “quick leafing through”, with the consideration of

“Lechaim”’s large circulation cannot be overestimated – this is an effective way to reach out to the group of people who try to stay away from the synagogue.

Another typical example of the Jewish illustrated magazine is the Odessa-based «Migdal Times» (published by the community «Migdal» center, editor-in-chief – Inna Naidis). The following slogan can be found under its logo: «A Jewish Magazine for All». Each issue focuses on a certain topic, and these topics are wonderfully variable. They include not just the fully expected discussion of anti-Semitism of Jewish charity, but also fashion, architecture, inventions. These central topics are sometimes shown in unexpected ways – through a biographical essay, arts, or a piece of literature. And all of this (much, if not all), please note, shows specific relation to Odessa – the authors give credit to the rich Jewish past of their native city. This non-ideologized edition is a rare bird among the Jewish public and political mass media.

Apart from other publications is the monthly “Alef” magazine, which was created in 1981 (in those times certainly outside the USSR). It was founded by the International Jewish Cultural and Enlightening Organization «H.A.M.A.», with Larisa Tokar as its editor-in-chief. The magazine describes itself as an “international Jewish journal”. The topics it touches upon leaves an impression of a kaleidoscope, which should sound as a compliment, for most of the time, the thing the Jewish press lacks is variety. Geopolitics, Israeli digest, interviews with stars, secrets of the special services, discussions of religious questions, cinema, theater, humor – all of these are parts of the modern “Alef”, which is unobtrusive and very interesting. Its share of formal speech is much lower than in “Lechaim”, but the magazine itself is thinner and occupies a much smaller share of the Jewish “market” of the printed products. Since the publication is prepared by a mixed American-Russian-Israeli editorial board, we decided to mention it in our review.

The so-called “thick” journals occupy a very interesting although a relatively narrow niche in the Jewish mass media. The most literally weighty among the “thick” journals is the Kiev-based artistic-and-publicist almanac “Yegupets” (founder – Jewish Studies Institute; editors – Geliy Aronov and Miron Petrovsky), which has been published for the past ten years and which has 400–500 pages in every issue. The phenomenon of the “Yegupets” can be explained mostly by the following up on the tradition of the Soviet “thick” journals, so dearly loved by the Jewish intellectuals. The prestige and, if you can say so, the weight of one’s publication in such a journal is traditionally higher, with the selection level much stricter, than in its “thin” brothers. In addition, such a literary genre as novel simply does not imply another format.

Among the authors of “Yegupets” there are names that speak for themselves: Fridrikh Gorenstein, Grigory Kanovich, unfortunately in the past, Sergey Averintsev and Shimon Markish, brilliant poets, publicists, historians, and literary critics. Every issue of the magazine traditionally opens with materials “Outside the Columns”; in the last, 14th issue, these materials were devoted to the stormy political events in Ukraine. A significant part of the materials are high-quality Ukrainian-language publicism and Ukrainian translations, in particular, of Borches, Korcak, Rilke, and Byalik.

In spite of the fact that unlike “Yehupets”, the Belarussian “Mishpochah” magazine (founder – the Union of Belarussian Jewish Public Organizations and Communities, editor-in-chief – Arkady Shulman) describes itself as “historical-publicist”, its topics are very similar, although the Belarussian publication is not structured by columns. Meanwhile, “Mishpochah”, which is issued twice a year, can be called an encyclopedia of the Jewish life in Belarus, and this is its main characteristic. Perhaps, in conceding to the “Yegupest” in the level of its publications, “Mishpochah” justifies its name – it is a home-like, family publication. Here, you can find far from graphorrheal stories of some hard lives of relatives and friends along with many old photos, family legends, etc. At the same time, the magazine publishes the prose of such venerable writers as Anatoliy Alexin, Igor Guberman, Grigory Kanovich, and Lev Razgon. One cannot help noticing the wonderful and original illustrations of the “Mishpochah” – in the style of a family album which is not a frequent thing among the classical “thick” journals.

The literary-artistic almanac “Sources” is printed in Kharkov under the aegis of the People’s University of Jewish Culture (editor-in-chief – Yakov Krantsfeld). “Sources” is an interesting example of transformation that happened a few years ago to this initially a scientific-enlightening newsletter that consisted only of reports of Jewish leaders, reminiscences, and quite professional archival research. The journal changed its format and dividing according to subject headings. A lot of place was devoted to prose, drama, poems, and essays. The accent on the Jewish history and ethnography of the Kharkov region was preserved, as well as the past and the present of the Jewish communities of Eastern Ukraine. Thus, the last issue of the almanac was devoted to Kharkov’s relations with Israel (this city is significant to the Zionist movement for from here began the first BILUi aliyah). A detailed Jewish map of the city with the description of every community objects and fragments from the chronicles of the First Aliyah were published in “Razsvet” and “Voskhod”; that, and the history of the latest emigration, reminiscences of former residents of Kharkov no doubt

create a special aura of the special issue of the “Sources”.

Another figure of the serious Jewish press is the public-publicist journal “Roots”, which was founded in 1994 by the Sarataov regional organization “Tshuvah” (editor-in-chief Semen Avgustevich). The magazine consists of 200 pages. From the above-mentioned publications it differs, first of all, with its intensive interest in communal problems and prospects of the Jewish communal building in the countries of the former USSR. The editorial board of this quarterly publication managed to provide a very decent level of covering various aspects of Jewish studies – from Biblical research to the Yiddish literature to the newest Israeli history. And this should come as no surprise, for the “Roots” draw competent scientists to write for them, such as President of the Vaad of Russia, Secreatry General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, Mikhail Chlenov, pro-rector of the International Solomon University Leonid Matsikh, chief of the Hebrew chair of the Hebrew University in Moscow

Alexander Kryukov, and many others.

A very interesting in concept and contents is the Russian-Jewish historical-literary and bibliographical almanac “Parallels” (published by the House of Jewish Book with the support of the “Joint” Committee, editor-in-chief – Konstantin Burmistrov). It can be described as the most successful scientific publication in this category. It is often obvious from the style of the article headings, for instance, “To the Methapoetics of Jewish Jokes in Russia”, or “On One “Conflict Story” in Slavic Book-Learning and Folklore”. Many of its publications are fragments of valuable scientific research, chapters or paraphrases of dissertations. Practically every article, with the exception maybe of the reminiscences, provides reference materials and detailed bibliography. The editorial board of the almanac quite justly claims the discussing nature and the originality of their materials the main characteristics of the “Parallels”. Even in the discussion of topics popular for the Jewish press – anti-Semitism, Jewish participation in the Second World War, the authors avoid banal approaches and superficial generalizations. For example, Dr. Vadim Rossman projects the concept of the “Jewish plot”, popular in Europe in the 19th century, to the myth of the “yellow” (Chinese) danger for the European civilization – the myth that was widely spread in those times as well.

On the basis of unique archival documents and personal correspondence of Semen An-sky, chief of the Judaic fund of the National Library of Ukraine, Irina Sergeyeva, restores episodes of his ethnographic expeditions. And the discussion of the book of Yury Militarev’s book “Myth Incarnate” led to some sharp, intellectually honest debates, far from traditional praises of the author.

The variety of Jewish specialized publications (considering the general number of positions) brings joy and surprise. The Dnepropetrovsk community, for example, issues a brightly illustrated children’s magazine “Yeladim” (founder – the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish religious community and the East-European department of “Tsivos Hashem”, editor – Anya Fridshon). Materials on serious religious topics, articles on Jewish traditions and holidays, and Chassidic stories are beautifully adapted for children’s understanding. It also contains lively comics and American-style puzzles (“Yeladim” uses materials from the American “Moshiah Times” journal). This is both the plus and the minus of the publication, for the stories of Rachel who is late for her plane to be in Miami in time for the Passover or of baseball players Isaac and Jacob are not very close to every kid in Vinnitsa or Kherson.

In Lugansk, the “Chayah Mushka” has been publishing the “World of Jewish Woman” journal for several years now (founder – the “Beit Menachem Or Avner Chabad Lubavich” synagogue, editor – Hannah Gopin). While remaining within the framework of the Orthodox Judaism, its authors cover not only the problems of family life, brining up children, healthy lifestyle, kashrut and cuisine, but some aspects, which are not very traditional for a religious edition, such as fashions, advice of cosmetologists, etc. The journal also has a page for children, a “question-answer” column, and counsels for future mothers. Sometimes one gets an impression that one is reading a solid modern women’s magazine, only with poorer polygraph decorations, and this impression is the best compliment to the Jewish sectorial publication.

The closest to it in the same subgroup is the magazine of the Institute of the Study of Judaism in CIS «Fathers and Children» (editor – David Palant), which describes itself as a “magazine for family reading”. Its issues are devoted to one topic each – “Holy Land”, “Jews and Arts”, “Jewish Family”, etc., but every issue traditionally consists of two parts: “To Fathers” and “To Children”. Such an approach, together with the thorough selection of authors (one can find Mark Chagall in the “children’s” section sometimes and this is interesting!) really makes it possible to create a family magazine. The only minus is the design – it may seem boring to such an audience, although in comparison with issues published 5 or 6 years go, there is a significant progress in this area.

The “Community Life” magazine is of totally different nature (published with the support of the “Joint” Committee, editor – Victoria Averbukh). It describes itself as a “Russian magazine for professional workers of Jewish communal organizations”. It should really be referred to the category of scientific-methodological publications, while its professional orientation and structure has defined a strict and laconic design. A special section is devoted to legal issues – the “Legal Base” column contains the laws of the Russian Federation “On Charitable Activities”, “On Communal Associations”, advice on taxes, etc. The “Experience” column is designed to accumulate practical experience from the communities of different cities. The “Jewish World” column is aimed chiefly at the teachers of Jewish Studies and community activists who work with the Jewish education. The “Publicism” section presents the thoughts of famous author Boris Vasilyev, an interview with Ksistof Zanuszi, and fragments from the book of Charles Hoffman.

Among the specialized editions, I would single out the Jewish book review “People of the Book in the World of Books” (published by the Jewish Community Center of St. Petersburg, editor – Alexander Frenkel). With the modest volume of 20 pages, this journal is rich in information, coverage of topics and contents. It can be used as reference material in the work of Jewish libraries and as an example of good literary criticism of works on the Jewish or “near-Jewish” topics. Materials in the “Names”, “Polemics”, “Annotations”, and “New Books” sections create a 3D picture of what is going on in the world of Jewish (by topic) book publishing.

Moving on to the last category of our review, I should note that practically all Jewish magazines that are published in the post-Soviet space can be related to the departmental category. The question is only in the proportion of their «ideological» materials that reflect the position or activities of their founding organizations to articles of a general nature. Therefore, let me repeat myself, the category of departmental editions is very relative. One of such editions is the quarterly “Rodnik” publication, issued by the Movement of Progressive Judaism in Russia (founder – Association of Religious Organizations of Modern Judaism in Russia, editor – Vyacheslav Bolotnikov), whose direction has been outlined as the “Jewish magazine for those who think in Russian”. Apart from publications on the history and development of progressive Judaism, biographies of outstanding figures of the Movement, and chronicles of the community life events, a lot of space is given to the commentaries of weekly Torah chapters, problems of the Jewish education and training. There are some new materials on the Jewish philosophy, history, and demography, a children’s corner was recently opened there. “Rodnik” fully justifies its status of an all-Russian edition for it is leading a constant dialogue and exchange of experience between representatives of progressive Judaism from various parts of the country and even other countries of the former Soviet Union.

The maximum coverage of community problems can be found in the informational-analytical quarterly publication of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress “Jews of Euro-Asia” (editor – Viacheslav Likhachev). Credit should be given this publication for its analytical nature and representation for it makes the reader think about the tendencies and approaches rather than simply receive more or less known facts. When the point at issue is information, it is usually based upon the results of monitoring and sociological research rather than just the opinions of the leaders of a Jewish structures. Another key word in the characteristic of the “Jews of Eurasia” is its spectrum. The spectrum of opinions, sometimes debatable and contradicting one another but always well-reasoned and explained. This magazine is certainly bending towards the professional audience, sacrificing in the process the popularization and some vividness in the presentation of materials.

A high-quality example of a local departmental publication is the Kiev-based magazine “From Heart to Heart” that is published under the aegis of the local religious Chabad Lubavich community and the Brodsky synagogue (editor – Yelena Kerzhner). This boldly designed and illustrated monthly periodical certainly contains news from communities, reports from some mandatory events and numerous fragments from the speeches and books of the Lubavich Rabbi, and commentaries on the weekly Torah portions. But with all of this, a number of pages is devoted to the Jewish training of children, the history of the Jewish Ukraine, modern Israel, cuisine, and humor. And such important events as the “orange” revolution in Ukraine or the tsunami in the southern-east of Asia (through the eyes of an eyewitness who attends this synagogue) do not escape the attention of the authors of “From Heart To Heart”. Its quite an acceptable, “easy” regional version of the Moscow-based “Lechaim”, which is not included into this category only for the limited circle of its good authors and the problems they raise.

Another example of a departmental edition is the monthly “Most” (“Bridge”) magazine (coordinate for advertisement and editor – Tatyana Litvinova). It is published by the Jewish “Sohnut” Agency in Ukraine and Moldova. Its original materials have been reduced to business information on programs and events of “Sohnut” and advertisement while the rest is reprinted from different other publications (both Israeli and post-Soviet). Its publications are grouped into several sections: “How It Used To Be…”, “Us”, “Education”, “Hot Line”, “Arts”, and others. Thoroughly selected realities from the Israeli life come along with historical materials on the Jewry of the USSR, Holocaust, and outstanding figures of the Jewish history and culture. Not one serious problem of social, political, economic or cultural nature that potential repatriates might face can be found in the “Most”. It makes a very surrealistic sight, considering the situation in Israel and the informational capabilities of the future olim that have radically changed in the past 15 years.

The only representative of the Baltic countries in this review is the Lithuanian magazine (or rather a full-color bulletin) “Khadashot” (publisher – Jewish community of Lithuania, editor – Yulia Kozlova). The publication is bilingual – every text in Lithuanian is translated into Russian. Its materials look more like brief reports of events that are significant from the authors’ point of view – an educational conference in Vilnius, a children’s camp, Hanukkah celebration, the opening of a community center in Panevezhis, the anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, etc. Its more or less analytical publications – on the problem of restitutions of Jewish property and the definition of the term “Litvak” only open and close the informational bulletin.

At the end of this somewhat eclectic review, I would like to note that the dynamics of emergence of new Jewish magazines is significantly lower than the speed of emerging of new papers and bulletins. Of the relatively new editions I can only name the “Community Life”. And the problem, in my opinion, is not just in the different (compared with papers) scale of finances. The publication of a more or less periodical magazine gives a better view of all the problems of the Jewish press – its engagement and lack of professionalism. Therefore, what can be justified in a modest paper, can only be taken as dramatic inconsistency between the realities and the claims of a poor magazine. One cannot help noticing the great topical shift which is typical not just of magazines but also of papers. The PR of real or imaginary achievements of the founder-sponsor-publisher, historical tours to the patriarchal past, essays on outstanding Jews with the listing of their services to the humankind, religious traditions presented in correspondence with the views of that same founder, Israel (very cautiously and in correspondence with the same views of the same founder), the history of the Holocaust and fight against anti-Semitism – these are oftentimes the boundaries (or at least the guidelines) of the contents of many Jewish mass media. They put any burning inner-communal or “general-galut” and Israeli problems outside these boundaries, making them taboo or ungrateful subjects.

There is no need for publishers to stand up against this situation for the Jewish press is usually distributed free of charge and thus there is no problem of competition or survival involved. And the paper/bulletin/magazine (choose what applies to you) itself is oftentimes practically the only substantial expression of the existence of a Jewish structure. Since at least partial payback or even the level of the publication is not always of any interest to its publishers, the fates of papers and magazines never depends on their readers. One however cannot expect the press, being a community-depended institution, to act contrary to the rules of this institution. And our community structures, as we all know, are of purely consumer nature, while “one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth”, so the level of expectations from our Jewish publications is not too high. Although, and it should be mentioned too, to Jewish magazines (especially the “thick” ones) this relates in a lesser degree. The problem is in the “second-hand” nature of many materials, which is caused, first of all, by the banal lack of professional authors who would be willing to write for local publications and be published next to a report on another meeting of a family club; secondly, by the need to pay such authors; thirdly, by the availability of the electronic mass media. All of this certainly promotes a huge number of copies. But again, magazines in this regard meet the general standards more than Jewish papers. Fortunately, the very attitude to magazines (almost reverent, if you want) calls if not for a change in the approach, then at least for its significant correction. This correction however almost never touches upon the ideological purity of many publications that write on the burning problems in such a way as if there are no other views on the Jewish life or any other way to live this Jewish life. But this is a much larger topic, related not only to the ideological, professional, and intellectual self-sufficiency of the founding organization, but also with the maturity of the Jewish community itself or the body of structures that we, without much reason, are used to call the “Jewish community”.