Avrohom Eliyohu Plotkin

Avrohom Eliyohu Plotkin served as the rabbi of Ostashkov, a provincial town midway between Moscow and Leningrad, after the Russian Revolution, at a time when the Jewish Sections (Evsektsiia) of the Communist Party—supported by other agents of the Soviet state—were forcibly closing all the institutions that made Jewish religious life possible. In 1927, Rayatz was arrested in Leningrad and sentenced to death. An international pressure campaign secured a commutation and safe passage to Latvia. “Kaddish Denied” is a semi-autobiographical tale that unfolds in the aftermath of Rayatz’s arrest and departure. 

Apr 11, 2024