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Ann Plotkin

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Dec 19, 2025, 7:17 PM

The Year I Understood Hanukkah

It took me decades to make sense of Hanukkah. Growing up in the former Soviet Union, religion was not part of our existence. It had been stripped away and mostly outlawed. All Jews I knew were secular, although most had...

Oct 15, 2025, 11:16 PM

To be a Jewish mother two years on

Freed hostage Sasha Troufanov, center, embraces his mother Yelena, left, and his girlfriend Sapir Cohen in an Israeli Air Force helicopter on the way from the Gaza border area to Sheba-Tel Hashomer Medical Center near Tel Aviv, February 15, 2025. (IDF)

After October 7, we'll do anything for our kids – we know those young people who were raped, murdered, or kidnapped could have been ours

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About Me

Ann Plotkin is a yoga teacher, software product manager, and parent. She immigrated to the US from Moscow in 1989 and lives in San Francisco.

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