The story of Russian and Soviet Jewry is a troubled and a tragic one.  It was, and remains, a story of suffering and achievement, of longing and fulfillment of hope and disappointment.  Terrible incidents haunt its path.  Deeds of sublime heroism, and acts of vile barbarism, serve both as its hallmark and as its curse.  The daily life of several million people, often in conditions of dire poverty or of intense dread, is its repeated theme.  Yet throughout, the Jews of Russia preserved their humanitarian instincts, their love of learning, and their vision of a better world.  In this small volume I seek to outline that story, showing some of its main episodes, and introducing a few of its personalities, both of the past, and of the present day.