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Jewish Luck Blog

Leslie Levine Adler, PhD visited Russia in the summer of 1976 as part of her undergraduate Russian Studies program. She returned in 1977 to pursue her friendships from the previous summer. After teaching ESL at university, she became a psychologist.
Leslie

Leslie

  http://morejewishluck.com

Leslie Levine Adler, PhD visited Russia in the summer of 1976 as part of her undergraduate Russian Studies program. She returned in 1977 to pursue her friendships from the previous summer. After teaching ESL at university, she became a psychologist.

Leslie

The Jewish Post and Opinion

Leslie
Sunday, 04 May 2014
On the Road
140504norfolk"What a painstaking labor of love to weave an unforgettable account of a penetrating model friendship that has survived the critical test of time.  This took place in the most harrowing context of the Soviet Jews heroic struggle for freedom to leave their native land."  Read Rabbi Zoberman's Review of Jewish Luck in the national editon of The Jewish Post and Opinion.
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book club jewish book Jewish Luck reviews for book clubs Russian Jewish women
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Leslie

The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in the Shtetl by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern

Leslie
Sunday, 04 May 2014
Highlighted Books
goldenageshtetlGood News about the Old World. Petrovsky-Shtern, Yohanan. The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in the Shtetl. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014.* Where is your family from? If you’re an Ashkenazi Jew with relatives who immigrated before the first world war, chances are they were born in a shtetl with memories of poverty and fear. As a young girl, Vera tried to figure out the connection between herself and “those people” from Sholom Aleichem’s stories. Reading The Golden Age Shtetl solved the puzzle for me of the roots of women like Vera and Alisa, my vibrant capitalist friends who seemed to embody centuries of business know-how --- skills that were anathema to the Russian Orthodox church. To unlock this thriving time in the shtetl, one must turn back the pages of history before 1881 ,the first pogrom, long before Sholom Aleichem’s Tevye was forced by the...
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shtetl National Jewish Book Award Jewish Luck jewish history eastern european jewry
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Leslie

Driven Crazy by Putin or Driven by Crazy Putin

Leslie
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
  In our book, Jewish Luck, Vera describes a morose chauffeur, Ivan, whose spirits cannot be lifted by any favor, big or small.  After giving Ivan money for his children’s education, finding him an apartment, and increasing his wages, this benevolent boss asks what more he can do for Ivan.  “I want to be driven,” Ivan answers. Vera used this story to illustrate the lack of initiative in Russian culture- Russians want the perks without the responsibility.  The story may reveal something deeper and more disturbing in the Russian psyche.  On a lovely Saturday afternoon in West Rogers Park visiting my second and fourth cousin, Joanie[1] and her wonderful family after a few decades of not being in touch, a guest rapped on the door.  In strolled Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern[2] with great energy and pomp and took his place at the Shabbat table.  Both of us were passionate about the books laid...
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Putin Petrovsky-Shtern Putin popularity Russia
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Leslie

What does the Passover Seder have to do with Neurobiology?*

Leslie
Sunday, 06 April 2014
Jewish Luck Blog
  Passover is a time when Jews gather together at a seder and read from the Haggada the narrative of our journey with the instruction that we should feel as if we personally were freed from Egypt.  This ritual serves to integrate our past to our present and one generation to another.  As I prepared for this week’s consultation on EMDR (a trauma therapy), I discovered a chapter entitled “Narrative” in Dan Siegel’s Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology that opened my eyes that the seder is an ideal ritual to heal trauma and further integrate a group.  Siegel was writing about trauma in general, not our enslavement in Egypt nor Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), but the connections are clear. By narrating our story and subjecting it to further interpretation, we change the nature of our memories on a neurochemical level from bits of sensory data to a fuller, more integrated story.  In...
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Passover seder Neurobiology Memory and Passover Jewish memory Jewish memoir
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Leslie

How Russia Really Works, by Alena Ledeneva

Leslie
Tuesday, 01 April 2014
Highlighted Books
bookalenaAlena Ledeneva is an intrepid Russian-born professor now teaching in Great Britain, who conducted in-depth interviews with 50 respondents between 1997 and 2003 to understand the “rulebook” of the post-Soviet Russian economy as it is actually played out. How Russia Really Works is a fascinating account of the problems of modernization from a failed centralized “planned economy” in which no one, except the power elite, was invested, to a market economy for many who would find the terms “business ethics” or “business law” oxymoronic. However, the problems predated the Soviet state. Ledeneva cites Sergei Witte, the progressive prime minister who served at the end of the nineteenth century, “’I am not in the least afraid of foreign capital, since I consider it is in the interests of our country…What I am afraid of is just the opposite, that our way of doing things has such specific characteristics, so different from the...
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Busiiness in Russia Soviet economics Soviet business
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Recent Blogs

Meryll
Meryll
09 April 2021
Jewish on the Down Low
I snapped up the invitation to speak at a zoom meeting for the Jewish Affinity Group from Columbus School for Girls. Self-quarantining for almost a year has made me hungry to talk about Jewish Luck. It's certainly clear from the news that Vera and Alla's perceptions about the "New" Russia are just as relevant now as they were when Vera first encountered Putin in Leningrad.More than the intellectua...
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Leslie
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07 February 2021
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What I learned from American Kompromat by Craig Unger (2021) Dutton: NYC has prompted me to write a blog. Trigger Warning: This book contains potentially distressing content that could trigger trauma that we have experienced regarding the previous US President. I whisper this mantra to myself: "We're safe now. He's gone. We're safe now." The purpose of this exercise is to reduce my blood pre...
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Leslie
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Alexey Navalny: Intrepid SuperHero of Russia
"Faster than a speeding bullet." .Organized anti-government rallies in 109 cities across Russia from jail for January 23 and January 30, 2021. Watch each weekend. "More powerful than a locomotive."  Able to make a miraculous recovery from Novichok poisoning on Aug. 20, 2020 after remaining in a coma for nearly a month. His is the only known case of survival of that strain of Novichok. "...
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Invite Us To Speak

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We were featured speakers at Hadassah Brandeis Institute and Levy Summer Series. Our speaking engagements include JCCs, synagogues, libraries, book groups, retirement communities, schools, and organizations (e.g. ORT, Hadassah, and Women's League). References are available. 

Invite Us To Speak
 

Talk Review

"I was very fortunate to be able to hear Meryll and Leslie speak at a Hadassah event in Israel. Each of the ~50 participants really enjoyed the event because Meryll and Leslie were so engaging. While they had a natural rapport with the audience, you could also tell they had prepared well so they could connect with our particular group's interests. I learned a lot from listening to them, and I found their sisterly interaction unique and fun. If you want an enlightening and uplifting experience, attend one of their book talks."
Lisa Shimoni, Modiin Israel

Book Review

"Truly, you have written a story that makes accessible the reality of existence in Russia, through the eyes of individuals who lived through the various regimes and dictates.  It is fascinating and very well told.  As I read Vera and Alla's story, I learned more Russian history than I had known from a textbook.  That's a big deal, women!  You tell the tale with vivid detail and hook us on the two women and their stories, then weave in the history to illuminate their journeys. It is such a necessary book.  I am thrilled that the two of you collaborated, as I can see the uniqueness of your personalities come through in the stories, and that, too, makes the book a gem."
Margaret Leibfried, Danielson Group consultant

Buy the Book

Online:

Click here to order your copy of Jewish Luck: A True Story of Friendship, Deception, and Risky Business on Amazon.com.

The Kindle version is available here

In Stores:
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Make a donation to Sholom Home and enjoy Jewish Luck at the same time. Jewish Luck is now available at the Sholom Home West gift store. Meryll and Leslie will donate 50% of the proceeds back to Sholom Home. Enjoy!

Tasting Torah

Nourish mind, body, and soul with Meryll's Tasting Torah, which will bring oneg (joy) and limmud (learning) to your Shabbat, broaden your culinary horizons, and draw your Shabbat guests closer together.

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Highlighted Books

Meryll
Meryll
02 July 2017
July Book of the Month:  Bloodlines by Neville Frankel
July Book of the Month: Bloodlines by Neville Frankel
Leslie and I began writing Jewish Luck with an underlying question in our minds—what would life have...
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