History of the Jews in Russia
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Israel | 1,037,000 (all ex-Soviet, 1999) |
| United States | 350,000 (all ex-Soviet, 2004) |
| Germany | 178,500 (all ex-Soviet, 2011) |
| Russia | > 83,896 (self-identifying, 2021) |
| Australia | 10,000–11,000 (all ex-Soviet, 2018) |
| Languages | |
| Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism, Jewish atheism | |
| Part of a series on |
| Jews and Judaism |
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The history of the Jews in Russia goes back to the beginnings of the Russian state. At one time, the Russian Empire hosted the largest population of Jews in the world. Within these territories, the primarily Ashkenazi Jewish communities of many different areas flourished and developed many of modern Judaism's most distinctive theological and cultural traditions, and they also faced periods of antisemitic discriminatory policies and persecution, including violent pogroms.
Many analysts have documented a "renaissance" in the Jewish community inside Russia since the beginning of the 21st century; however, the Russian Jewish population has experienced precipitous decline since the dissolution of the USSR which continues to this day, although it is still among the largest in Europe.