Veremiah

Veremiah (Russian: Время, “Time”) was an Israeli daily newspaper published in Russian from 1991 to 2004. Established during the great immigration from the former Soviet Union, it became an important source of news, interpretation and cultural discussion for Russian-speaking immigrants building new lives in Israel.

A newspaper born with a new wave of immigration

At the beginning of the 1990s, Israel had only one major Russian-language newspaper, Nasha Strana, which was associated with the Israeli Labor Party. The weekly Novosti Nedeli began appearing in 1989, and the short-lived private daily Sputnik was founded in 1990. Against this background, press baron Robert Maxwell recognized the growing public and commercial importance of the new immigrant community and moved to establish a new Russian-language daily.

Among those reported to have advised Maxwell were Vladimir Gluzman, director-general of the umbrella organization for immigrants from the Soviet Union; former Prisoner of Zion Natan Sharansky; and Foreign Ministry official Avraham Ben-Yaakov, who became the newspaper’s first coordinating editor. Their involvement connected the project to both the immigrant community and Israel’s wider public institutions.

Launching the paper at Maariv

The first issue of Veremiah appeared on March 29, 1991, following several experimental editions distributed with Maariv as a service to Russian-speaking readers during the Gulf War. Because Maxwell controlled both Maariv and Veremiah, the new paper’s offices were located in the Maariv building. Some of its articles and reports were translated or adapted from material published in Maariv.

Maariv editor Dov Yudkowsky trained the staff, many of whom had literary rather than journalistic backgrounds. Maxwell paid Veremiah journalists salaries comparable to those of Israeli journalists writing in Hebrew, a notable departure from the lower pay commonly offered at immigrant newspapers. The policy recognized both the professional standing of the staff and the importance of the readership they served.

Within a few months, circulation reached approximately 30,000 copies. Although much of the paper’s basic news infrastructure relied on Maariv, its distinctive strength lay in its respected commentators and columnists. They developed an independent voice that articulated the perspective of Russian-speaking immigrants and examined the challenges of joining Israeli society.

A distinctive voice for Russian-speaking Israelis

Prominent writers and editors associated with Veremiah included Edward Kuznetsov, Roman Bronfman, Marina Solodkin, Natasha Mozgovaya, Zeev Ben-Aryeh, Viktor Toppler and Alexander Etterman. The paper also published or featured intellectuals and public figures such as David Markish, Jeremiah Brunner and Maya Kaganskaya.

The combination of journalists, writers and public thinkers gave Veremiah a role beyond the delivery of translated news. It offered Russian-speaking readers a place to discuss immigration, identity, politics, culture and the relationship between their Soviet past and their lives in Israel. In doing so, the paper helped a rapidly growing population become a visible community with its own public and cultural voice.

The split and the paper’s continuation

After Robert Maxwell’s death in November 1991, Veremiah, like Maariv, came under the control of Ofer Nimrodi. Relations between Nimrodi and the newspaper’s senior staff soon deteriorated, in part over his demand to reduce salaries.

In August 1992, many of Veremiah’s leading journalists, including editor-in-chief Eliezer Danilovitz, moved to the Yedioth Ahronoth group and established the competing newspaper Vesti. The new paper used a graphic design and typeface similar to those of Veremiah, and its name underscored the competitive relationship between the two publications. Nimrodi continued publishing Veremiah with the remaining staff and journalists recruited from Novosti Nedeli. In 1993, he sold control of the paper to Eli Azur.

Whatever the later changes in ownership and staffing, Veremiah had already marked an important transformation in Israeli media. Russian was no longer merely the private language of recent immigrants; it had become a major language of public communication through which a large Jewish immigrant community participated in the country’s political, social and cultural life.

Why Veremiah belongs in Moreshet

Veremiah merits inclusion in Moreshet because it records one of the most consequential demographic, social and cultural transformations in modern Israel: the integration of the large immigration from the former Soviet Union. The newspaper brought news and interpretation to readers in their own language, gave Russian-speaking writers and commentators a public platform, and helped a newly arrived community define its place in Israeli society.

Its significance extends beyond the business history of a newspaper or its rivalry with competing publications. Veremiah represents the evolution of immigrant journalism into an influential community press, and shows how language, media and culture can help newcomers participate fully in public life while maintaining their memories and cultural world. For that reason, its story adds an important dimension to Moreshet.com and to the archive’s understanding of the relationship between Soviet Jewry, immigration to Israel and the changing Israeli society of the 1990s.