‘The Americans’ - Straighten up and spy write

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on February 20, 2013

Life of an IDF ‘Refusenik’

Published on January 16, 2013

Life in Israeli military prison, it turns out, is a lot like life in the Israeli military.

Soviet gulag survivor’s courage

Published on November 1, 2012

It was standing room only at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, as a crowd packed the Hertz Theatre to hear Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich, the celebrated Russian refusenik and author, stress the importance of standing up for one’s principles.

Defending Identity

By Rob Eshman
Published on July 16, 2008

Natan Sharansky's previous book, "The Case for Democracy," changed the world. It inspired a generation of U.S. policymakers and influenced President George
W. Bush in his decision to go to war against Saddam Hussein. So when Sharansky's second book, "Defending Identity," came out this month, I thought I'd better read it, quick

Refuseniks in the Ranks

By Larry Derfner
Published on February 7, 2002

The "officers' letter" came out on Jan. 25 in Yediot Aharonot, Israel's largest newspaper -- 52 reserve army officers declared that they would not serve in the West Bank or Gaza for moral and political reasons.

Lighten Up

By Rabbi Elazar Muskin
Published on March 8, 2001

With the demise of the former Soviet Union and the fall of communism in the early '90s, the story of Soviet Jewry's battle for survival appears to be ancient history. Yet one of the truly remarkable books of our time is the autobiography of one of the famous refuseniks, Yosef Mendelevitch, who struggled valiantly for his right to be Jewish in Communist Russia. Mendelevitch titled his autobiography "Mevzah Hatunah," which translates from Hebrew as "Operation Wedding."