• Names: Yitzhok-Leibush Peretz in St. Petersburg

The classic Yiddish writer Yitzhok-Leibush Peretz (1851–1915) visited St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, twice—in 1907 and 1911. His public speaking before St. Petersburg audiences took place in overcrowded concert halls, were reported on by the press, and widely covered in the memoirs of contemporaries. These visits reflected all the controversies of a very intense period of Jewish cultural life in Russia after the 1905 Revolution. This article, dedicated to the 160th anniversary of Peretz’ birth, analyzes the events and trends of 100 years ago through the prism of these visits.

• Memoirs: Jews and Others, or, Ten Years at a Jewish Newspaper

The magazine continues to publish excerpts from a new book of memoirs by Jewish journalist and public figure Nikolay Propirny. The fragments describe the formation of Jewish community institutions in the USSR during the early years of Perestroika, including Russian-Jewish newspapers of various political orientations and thematic scopes. The author’s recollections about the Jewish life in Moscow at the beginning of the 1990s are full of humor and irony, and sometimes bitter sarcasm.

• Jewish Calendar of Significant Dates: March–April 2011

• Bibliography: 15 New Books