Ronald Reagan

TJS S5E22 Soviet Jewry – the end game

Here is the third and culminating episode in a story that we have been following since season four. The Eighties saw a welding together of American Cold War policies and the struggle for Soviet Jewry in a dramatic fashion. Super power summits, glasnost, the release of Natan Sharansky and the Freedom Sunday march all came…

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TJS S5E21 American Jewry circa 1984

As we circle in toward the end of season five, it is time to check back in with American Jewry. The 1980s were a time of economic and social security for the Jews of the US, and the overall growth of their religious communities was boosted by a surprise source – the kollel. It was…

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TJS S5E16 – Lebanon War part I

Before we can discuss the outbreak of war between Israel and the PLO in Lebanon, we must lay out the political context. As Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian liberation army were massing troops along the border, and the city of Kiryat Shmona was facing bombardment, Prime Minister Menachem Begin visited US President Ronald Reagan in…

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