Sasha Senderovich 🌻
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returnstosender.bsky.social
Sasha Senderovich 🌻
@returnstosender.bsky.social
7.2K followers 6.3K following 710 posts
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘑𝘦𝘸 𝘞𝘢𝘴 𝘔𝘢𝘥𝘦 (Harvard, 2022) https://bit.ly/SovietJewBook | 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘵 (Stanford, 2026) https://www.sup.org/books/jewish-studies/shadow-holocaust | he/him | Opinions my own | My website: sashasenderovich.weebly.com
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returnstosender.bsky.social
Reminds me of an old Jewish joke wherein a man with ten children & wife all living in a tiny room comes to the rabbi for advice. Rabbi advises him to get a goat, keep it indoors. Things get worse with the goat. The man returns to ask rabbi for help, rabbi advises to remove the goat. Things improve.
A tweet praising Trump for canceling tariffs on beef and coffee that he had himself imposed to help lower prices.
November 17, 2025 at 1:38 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Anybody else had on their bingo card Batya Ungar-Sargon as helping MAGA classify 15-year-olds as not children to claim that pedophilia isn’t really pedophilia? I’m not surprised. Congrats to the 92nd St Y for including her on a panel the other week!
November 14, 2025 at 8:19 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Even the Seattle Times, the editorial board of which did all they could to prevent a progressive’s success, had to acknowledge that we do, indeed, have a new progressives mayor in this town as of just now. @seattletimes-rss.bsky.social @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Blurbs for “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union” edited & translated by Harriet Murav and me. Pub date: Feb 10, 2026; preorder wherever books are sold online/brick & mortar stores (will ship in late December). More info: bit.ly/HolocaustShadowSUP2026
"'Who today is not a witness?' asks one of the characters in this endlessly compelling collection. What Sasha Senderovich and Harriet Murav give us here is the painstaking, thoughtful and necessary work of rediscovery." —Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa "This beautifully translated and expertly edited collection opens a window into an era seemingly lost to Holocaust Studies. Truly one of the most significant and original additions to Holocaust literature in the last forty years." —James E. Young, University of Massachusetts Amherst "At last, English-language readers have a comprehensive collection of Soviet Holocaust fiction. Senderovich and Murav have put together a collection of source texts that will give access to an understudied area of East European literature." —Amelia Glaser, University of California, San Diego
November 11, 2025 at 11:45 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
In the meantime, today’s ballot drop here in Seattle’s mayoral race — progressive challenger @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social finally pulls into the lead, by 91 votes. 🤞
November 11, 2025 at 12:12 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
I’m back from @littranslate.bsky.social conference and look what came in the mail! Translations from Yiddish and Russian stories by 7 different writers! Pub date: Feb 10, 2026, but if you pre-order (wherever books are sold), the book will be in your hands in late December @stanfordpress.bsky.social
Image of “In the Shadow of the Holocaust: Short Fiction by Jewish Writers from the Soviet Union” edited and translated by Sasha Senderovich and Harriet Murav
November 10, 2025 at 3:28 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
This detail from the new @jewishcurrents.bsky.social article on the shenanigans at UCLA makes me think that all of these “centers” and “initiatives” to “combat antisemitism” that are quickly setting up shop on many campuses may be operating, knowingly or unwittingly as … extortion schemes. 1/2
The University of California settled the Frankel lawsuit in July. In addition to making Judge Scarsi’s injunction “permanent” for 15 years or more, the deal required UC to contribute $320,000 to UCLA’s new Initiative to Combat Antisemitism—charged with implementing the task force recommendations—and $2.3 million to a list of Jewish and Zionist organizations including the ADL. UC also agreed to pay $3.6 million to the lawyers who brought the case and $50,000 apiece to Frankel and the three other plaintiffs. (In response, Shabbos Kestenbaum tweeted a now-deleted message of congratulations “to my friend Yitzy and the other plaintiffs at UCLA for this historic win,” adding, “I encourage ALL Americans: hold your universities accountable! DM me if I can be of help.”)
November 8, 2025 at 8:05 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
And a thousand rabbis — most of them “mainstream”—who wrote that anti-Mamdani letter last week agree. For shame.
November 4, 2025 at 8:26 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Fuck right-wing Jews and their pact with dyed-in-the-wool antisemites because the two parties here shared the hatred of the left and “love for Israel.” That sordid embrace appears to have ended exactly as lefty Jews have always said it would. @benlorber8.bsky.social thehill.com/opinion/whit...
November 1, 2025 at 5:27 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
“The Oxford Handbook of the Russian Novel" is out! Alex Moshkin & I have a chapter “First as Comedy, Then as Nationalism: The Immigrant Post-Soviet Novel between America and Israel.” It was already in press when one subject of our chapter said that all Gazans should be dissolved in hydrochloric acid
This chapter examines the post-Soviet immigrant novel, focusing on multilingual narratives by émigré Jewish authors. It looks beyond immigrant novels’ conventional dichotomy of assimilation and alienation to their performances of Russianness in new political contexts at the turn of the twenty-first century. These works are preoccupied with mapping out webs of interconnectedness between the Soviet/post-Soviet experience and its two largest diasporic centers: the United States and Israel. First, the chapter suggests that the novels of Dina Rubina and Gary Shteyngart are marked by an ironic cosmopolitanism that estranges the mythology of Israel and the United States, respectively, as the immigrants’ idealized new homelands. Subsequently, the chapter analyzes the prose of Alex Tarn and David Bezmozgis as these writers’ concerns shift from immigration itself to the realm of reactionary ethno-nationalist politics.
October 26, 2025 at 8:56 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Tablet explicitly referred to as a right-wing publication in a major national media outlet — and as one funded by the noxious Tikvah Fund. Of course, Tablet is also a haven to a confessed sexual harasser—color me very unsurprised. www.thenation.com/article/soci... @thenation.com
Headline for “What is Lorin Stein doing at Tablet?” By Andrew Fedorov, published in the Nation. Subhead reads: The former Paris Review editor was ostracized over sexual harassment allegations. Now he’s editing a divisive, right-wing Jewish magazine. What’s going on?
October 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Why Bret Stephens Frightens Jews Like Me.
October 22, 2025 at 8:41 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
I know all the attention is on NYC and Zohran Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social, but our ballots just landed here in Seattle and I had a lot of joy voting for Katie Wilson @wilsonforseattle.bsky.social just now in the mayoral race.
Ballot in Seattle’s mayoral election filled out for Katie Wilson.
October 17, 2025 at 2:23 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Some thoughts on the freeing of Israeli hostages and on survivors of genocide in Gaza. 2/2 End
* If the ceasefire, indeed, holds, there are now several hundred thousand survivors of genocide in Gaza. Since it's estimated that as much as 80-90% of structures are either fully destroyed or damaged, there is little for survivors to return to (the same aid worker interviewed on NPR today talked about how people are in need of cleaning supplies as they try to clean up whatever parts of their homes may be standing, for those who find anything still standing). This had gone on for this long because of Netanyahu's attempt to stay in power, his and his coalition's desire to grind Gaza to dust, and because the majority of the Israeli public — even of those protesting against the war — have been concerned for the hostages while being uninterested in (or, more often, hostile) to the suffering of Palestinians. I fear that with all hostages now returned, there will be massive crackdown on the minority of the Israeli public that will continue to call for justice for genocide survivors because the war will now be deemed "over" and protesters will spoil the jubilant mood.
October 14, 2025 at 1:19 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Some thoughts on the freeing of Israeli hostages and on survivors of genocide in Gaza. 1/2
* It is amazing that all living Israeli hostages have been released -- just catching up on various images of family reunifications, it's wonderful after two years of horror; * It is amazing that there is a ceasefire; and yet I am -- like so many people are -- worried that it will be violated by Israel, like previous ceasefires (most recently in March) after this first phase; * I had a busy morning with the kiddo and got an update on the news only around 9 am Seattle time, listening to the radio in the car. They were interviewing someone from an aid organization beginning to be able to finally distribute food and other aid in Gaza. The person noted that about 55,000 children in Gaza are experiencing extreme malnutrition right now -- which is to say, he noted, facing death -- and that solving this won't be fixed by simply giving them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (I'm quoting what I heard, PB&J wouldn’t have been my example, this man speaking with some sort of accent was clearly trying to “translate” what he was saying for the American listener) because their organs are malfunctioning and have begun to fail after months of starvation. And the first association that came to my mind was Elie Wiesel's "Night" when he writes about how he gorged on food right after liberation from the camps and the death marches, and then falling very ill because the bodies of survivors could not digest the food. I am not making this up, this is what I literally thought about -- maybe it wasn't even Wiesel, maybe I'm conflating several different Holocaust memoirs (scenes of getting ill after eating immediately after liberation are common in that literature) and I've read a bunch -- while hearing the news on the radio today.
October 14, 2025 at 1:19 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Eli Valley on Bari Weiss’s appointment to lead the CBS newsroom. Looks about right. @elivalley.bsky.social @jewishcurrents.bsky.social jewishcurrents.org/bari-weiss-c...
https://jewishcurrents.org/bari-weiss-cbs-news-1964
October 8, 2025 at 5:27 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Re-watched "Battleship Potemkin" for tomorrow's class. The Odesa staircase sequence in these United States in 2025: it’s about the use of the military to suppress a peaceful urban protest, isn’t it?
Frame from Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin” with Russian troops shooting at civilians in Odesa.
October 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
returnstosender.bsky.social
John Robert’s SCOTUS is a vile institution — today it green-lighted racial profiling. Here’s a story from Putin’s Moscow that is now a-okay in the U.S.A. (I mean, racial profiling has always been practiced in this country, but today’s shadow docket “ruling” is really out there).
On my first visit (2001) back to Russia after we had immigrated, I was absolutely racially profiled by police in Moscow and Petersburg. Multiple times, including in large crowd when entering/exiting the subway. I had more hair on my head then, which I guess accentuated my non-Slavic appearance. I didn't ask them why they were stopping me, but I assume that, given the politics in Russia at that time, I looked to them like someone from the Caucasus. I absolutely carried my passport with me at all times -- I think most, if not all, people did all the time though once I was inside a police car before they got to ask me for my papers, and so my paying them a bribe was involved. I don't expect to be racially profiled on the streets of an American city given America's racist paradigms, but this is the sort of thing that the U.S. Supreme Court gave an unfettered green light to today targeting people on the basis of appearance or language they speak in public.
September 9, 2025 at 2:27 AM
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Our president the apparent rapist to whom SCOTUS keeps handing dictatorial powers. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/u...
A key congressional committee on Monday obtained a note and sexually suggestive drawing apparently signed by President Trump and included in a book for the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003 — a drawing that Mr. Trump has insisted is fake. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee said they had viewed the drawing — a figure of a naked woman with “Donald” written below her waist — and posted a photo of it on their official social media account. The drawing, in thick black ink, outlines text that quotes an imagined conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Epstein, with what appears to be Mr. Trump’s distinctive signature below the woman’s waist. “The Oversight Committee has secured the infamous ‘Birthday Book’ that contains a note from President Trump that he has said does not exist,” Representative Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said in a statement. “It’s time for the president to tell us the truth about what he knew and release all the Epstein files.” Lawyers for Mr. Epstein’s estate provided a copy of the book, among other materials, in response to a subpoena that the Oversight Committee’s Republican chairman, Representative James R. Comer of Kentucky, issued last month, according to an aide. Details of the drawing and poem were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal in July. The president has vehemently denied writing the letter or drawing the figure, and has sued the Journal for defamation. At the time, Mr. Trump wrote on social media, “The supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE.”
September 8, 2025 at 8:02 PM
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Canary Mission, StopAntisemitism, Betar, etc.: are you listening? I have some classic wealthy-Jew-as-manipulator kind of antisemitism to report coming straight from the top.
August 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Corey Robin’s analogy between people who continue to support Israel’s actions in Gaza at this point is to hardcore Stalinists (including on the American Jewish left of the time!) outside the USSR that persisted beyond when the scale of Stalin's crimes was known www.facebook.com/share/p/16Fc... 1/2
Corey Robin on Facebook: We often compare Israel to settler colonial states. Increasingly the comparisons have been made to fascist movements and states, even Nazi Germany. I'd like to suggest a different comparison, which may help make better sense not of Israel itself but of its supporters, particularly the ones I know best, here in the United States. I'd compare those supporters to the true believers on the left, who supported the Soviet Union between the 1930s and 1950s, often even afterward. The rest is much too long for alt text: link to the FB post with the full text here https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16Fc2Vx3Xe/?mibextid=wwXIfr
August 25, 2025 at 10:22 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Sharing on behalf of University of Oregon colleagues — where several humanities departments and programs are threatened with cuts. A guide to action items folks can take for maximum pressure on the university’s administration. strengthenuo.org/take-action/
United Academics of the University of Oregon The more folks make noise about damaging cuts, the more likely it is that UO leaders and legislators will take seriously the potential damage to the university’s core educational and research missions. Linked below are resources for three immediate priority actions you can take to help defend public education and the academic mission of the UO
August 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
I’m not sure whether sharks have schlongs that can be fellated so I don’t know how anatomically correct this is, but this is a pretty great analogy for current American foreign policy. (Not sure about the source of the cartoon — apologies.)
Cartoon depicting Russia as a shark with fellatio on its performed by a fish representing America — as the Russian share heads for several fish representing Ukraine and other European countries.
August 23, 2025 at 6:37 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
Folks at the faculty union at U of Oregon requested these actions (see image and alt text) to fight back against the proposed massive cuts to humanities programs. Here is also a comprehensive note from the faculty union on these + other actions to take: newsletter.uauoregon.org/fighting-bac... 2/3
HOW YOU CAN HELP FIGHT CUTS UO Leaders to Call/Email: President Karl Scholz: (541) 346-3036 or pres@uoregon.edu Provost Chris Long: (541) 346-3081 or provost@uoregon.edu Dean Chris Poulsen (541) 346-3902 or poulsenc@uoregon.edu If you are a student, tell leaders how these cuts harm your educational experience. If you are a donor/alumnus, tell leaders how these cuts negatively impact your view of the administration’s stewardship of donated funds. If you are a parent, tell leaders how these cuts undermine the value of the tuition you pay for your student’s education at the UO. If you are staff/faculty, demand leaders find alternatives to layoffs to meet budget goals.
August 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM
returnstosender.bsky.social
A huge attack on several humanities units (Arabic, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German/Scandinavian, Russian) and tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!) Closure of units + faculty layoffs threatened. See next post in thread for actions to take. 1/3
I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it. It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion, Classics, and German & Scandinavian (three separate units); in addition to Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; Judaic Studies; Arabic Studies; and Holocaust Studies (all parts of a previously-consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is that personnel expenses outpace revenues -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities. The faculty union at UO won a new contract not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, I've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point.
August 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM