Mikhail Mitsel. Politics and Paranoia: The Communist Party of Ukraine against “International Zionism” (1953–1986)

The book examines a “vegetarian” period of Ukraine’s Soviet history when the regime had already stopped practising mass repressions, and yet the ideological pillars of late Stalinism, though slightly modified, remained the same. One element of propaganda was the so-called “fight against international Zionism.” The content of Party, state, and secret police documents impresses the reader with its ideological rhetoric and latent antisemitism as well as a combination of distorted reality and lies. Based on the archival collections of the Communist Party, the book shows that the methods of “anti-Zionist” propaganda were too distant from reality and could not influence the minds of those who did not find their place in the tight grip of the Soviet society.
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Tehillim. The Book of Psalms with Commentary by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (in 2 volumes)

Tehillim (David’s Psalms) is one of the first books of the First Testament, which is an essential part of religious service in Jewish and Christian traditions. The book consists of 150 psalms with the commentary on daily life occurrences, feelings, and emotions familiar to everyone regardless of religious belief. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was born in Hamburg in 1808. He was the first to combine the Jewish tradition with the ideas of secularism and became one of the most profound commentators of the Biblical texts in the world. His writings are addressed not only to the Biblical scientists but also to those who question the basis of faith or even who has lost it. The edition contains the texts of psalms and detailed commentary by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch as well as reference materials such as an index of names from the Tanakh and the Bible, a glossary, and a bibliography. (more…)