Interesting Lecture

Last night at synagogue there was a fascinating speaker. He was such a young guy--he looked maybe 25, if that, but had been the editor of The Jewish Forward, a venerable and influential publication, and held at least one or two other important journalistic posts, but was a riveting speaker. It was plain too from the way he spoke that he was a formidable writer, very intelligent and well read. He has written an enormous tome, When They Come For Us, We'll All Be Gone, which is a history of the Soviet Jewry movement. His insights into how the Israelis covertly sparked this movement and how it grew rather quickly and in an unlikely way into a worldwide phenomenon was amazing. I definitely want to read the book, but I didn't buy a copy there. Too expensive. I will pick up a used copy from a synagogue member or from Amazon. It's too bad I couldn't get a signed copy. I'm sure this guy is going to become famous, if he isn't already.
And it was interesting too that someone at the synagogue I had known for some time, even attended yoga class with, turned out to be refusenik royalty of a sort back in the 70s. She was married to one of the leaders of that movement, though she no longer is. I had no idea.