$9,900 in 90 days

The liberation of Soviet Jewry is arguably one of the three most momentous events to happen to the Jewish people in the last century. In contrast to the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, the are few resources available to Jewish institutions to teach this story to the next generation.

We propose to design an online educational resource focusing on the Soviet Jewry Struggle that can be used by Jewish educators and communal leaders, and will be appropriate for use in a wide range of settings such as schools, youth groups and summer camps.


The website will include:

• An historical overview for educators with a summary of the period.
• A comprehensive selection of age-appropriate activities for students – plays, art projects, classroom activities, discussion topics, research projects, project-based learning units, social action project ideas.
• An annotated “library” of recommended movies and books.
• An open forum for collaboration between educators.

Currently, there is no resource aimed at educators that explores the Refuseniks experience. The website will be shared with more than 500 Jewish day schools and synagogue schools across the English-speaking world. Ultimately, will reach tens of thousands of students who will learn more about the period and its importance to our nation’s history.

Donate now to share the story of hundreds of thousands of Soviet Jews and inspire Jewish children and teens across the world.

The Lookstein Center is a registered 501(3)c in the United States and Israel.

Meet the Team

Chana German, Director, Lookstein Virtual Jewish Academy

Chana German has been working with Jewish day schools and educators for more than fifteen years, leading educational technology projects, including curriculum development and online professional development. Her graduate work is in educational technology and instructional design at Boston University and the University of Massachusetts and she was a current Joshua Venture Group Fellow. Chana founded Lookstein Virtual Jewish Academy in 2014, an award-winning online school of Jewish Studies. Lookstein Virtual Jewish Academy has taught more than 1500 Jewish teenagers from Jewish and public schools. You can learn more about it here.

Anat Zalmanson-Kuznetsov, Project Consultant

Anat is the daughter of two former Prisoners Of Zion. Born and raised in Israel, Anat studied film-making in Israel and England before embarking on a film career, where she had success in both popular media and promotional productions. Anat’s most recent documentary, Operation Wedding, highlights one of the most heroic events in contemporary Jewish history: an attempt by a courageous group of Soviet Jews to flee the Soviet Union for Israel. A deeply emotional and personal account of the group’s leaders, Anat’s parents sacrifice.

Although the documentary is complete, Anat feels the need to make sure that the next generation is familiar with the struggle of Soviet Jewry. She recently produced a film of archival materials for historians on the struggle, began pushing out materials about Soviet Jewry through social media, and is currently developing a script for a feature film based on her father’s book “Prison Diaries” and her documentary.

Project Donors

Frank Brodsky

Gary Charlestein

Wendy Eisen

Glenn Richter

Adele and Joel Sandberg

Morey Schapira

Sandra Spinner

Barbara Stern

Union of Councils for Jews in the former Soviet Union (UCSJ)

And a special thank you to Enid Wurtman for helping us get the word out about our project!