Deep in the Russian Night

For hundreds of years, Russian Jewry suffered continual persecution and oppression. Under the Czarist regime, the Jews were confined to the Pale of Settlement, subjected to brutal decrees and sporadic violence, impoverished and degraded. Yet amid all the adversity, Torah and Judaism flourished on the harsh Russian soul. Yeshivos and Chassidic centers sprung up wherever Jews lived, and for the most part, the Jews remained strong and steadfast in their faith. But with the Communist takeover of Russia after the Revolution of 1917, a deadly atheistic spirit swept over the vast Russian steppe. That, for the first time, truly threatened to bring about the spiritual destruction of Russian Jewry. Deep in the Russian Night is the story of Aaron Chazan, an indomitable Jewish man who refused to surrender his faith in spite of the ruthless persecution of the new regime. The narrative begins with the author's family and community under attack from General Petlura and his Cossack hordes during the