Cookies and Camaraderie

Jonathan Levine

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By Caroline Preston

Elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union are sometimes known as "double victims," terrorized by the Nazis and persecuted under Communism. But nearly two decades after the Soviet regime's fall, many have reclaimed their faith and are rebuilding their lives around Jewish traditions.

A New York charity is helping them do so. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee spends $120-million each year, or roughly 40 percent of its budget, to assist impoverished Jews in Russia, Ukraine,