In 1924, an expedition led by Jewish publisher Alexander Kogan to the British Mandate of Palestine aimed to document the region’s nature, daily life, and historical landmarks. For the participants, including prominent Russian Jewish artist Leonid Pasternak (father of Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak), this journey was a pivotal moment for reflecting on their national identity. For Pasternak and his generation of Russian-speaking Jewish intellectuals, this exploration of identity was particularly relevant. The dilemmas and self-perceptions from that era, at the dawn of the “Russian” or “Russian-speaking” Jewish sub-ethnos, remain not only relevant but also understandable to many members of today’s Jewish “creative class” in major cities of the former USSR.

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