The Conservatism of Russian-Speaking Jews
Simon Maass, a German writer of Soviet Jewish descent, contends that Jews who left the Soviet Union often hold distinctly conservative views—and are steadily shaping politics in their new homes.
In the West, Jews from the former Soviet Union have received comparatively little media attention, despite their significant contributions to science and technology. Only recently have they become more visible in political and cultural debates.
To be sure, a few Soviet-born Jews have been influential as media figures and opinion makers. Natan Sharansky has long been known as an activist for Jewish causes, and Gary Vaynerchuk rose to prominence as a business guru starting around 2010. Nevertheless, owing perhaps to linguistic and cultural barriers, Soviet Jewish immigrants and their descendants have had little readily visible political impact. A decade ago, one could scarcely have named any Soviet-born Jew in the West who had palpably affected political debates on non-Jewish issues. (The obvious exception was Ayn Rand, who died in 1982.)
Over the last few years, things have changed. Podcaster and author Michael Malice gained mass appeal in the late 2010s. Computer scientist Lex Fridman’s podcast has risen to prominence since around 2020, hosting then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in 2024 and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2025. Across the Atlantic, Konstantin Kisin, who is of partial Jewish heritage, has achieved renown as co-host of the podcast Triggernometry, founded in 2018. The pattern extends to Israel as well, where Soviet-born politician Avigdor Lieberman has experienced a resurgence of late. As reported by Ksenia Svetlova, the hawkish Lieberman has been credited with prescient warnings about the threat of Hamas in the wake of October 7, 2023. "'Lieberman was right’ became a trending hashtag on X,” she observes.
Thus, Jews from the Soviet Union have become increasingly influential in Western politics. At the same time, America’s traditionally left-leaning Jewish community has shifted—at least somewhat—to the right. In 2023, Nathan Cofnas contended that, among American Jews under forty, “the most politically influential” were mostly on the right. In the 2024 United States presidential election, according to the Jewish Electorate Institute, “Democrats turned in their weakest performance among Jewish voters since 2012.” Five of that election’s ten biggest donors were Jewish, and three of those five supported the Republican Party. Against the backdrop of this rightward shift, Russian-speaking Jews may provide a model for a more conservative American Jewry.
For these reasons, it is worth examining the political leanings exhibited by this frequently ignored subgroup of Jews.
Timeless reading in a fleeting world.
