
Yiddish glory: Jewish refugees in Central Asia
The Documentary Podcast
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Yom Kippur Without Fascists
Yakov Merzon was a teacher and Santa Sorsese was a rabbi from Krivoyerog in Ukraine. He was arrested by Stalin's government sometime in 1932, sent to Siberia and then moved to jail to Kazakhstan. By 1945, he was released from the jail because of his poor health. He supported himself by begging on the streets of Almaty against somewhere here where we're standing. As he was begging, there were all these kids running around. So I imagine they were socializing somewhere here in the other river. The kids were teasing the beggar. And at some point he was fed up and started yelling at the kids, except he yelled at them in Hebrew.
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