As many as 40,000 of the country’s estimated population of 165,000 to 200,000 Jews may have fled to Israel since President Putin launched the invasion in February. The Justice Department wants to shut down the Jewish Agency’s Russian branch for allegedly sending confidential data about Russian citizens abroad. On Friday, a court in Moscow rejected the agency’s request for a two-month mediation process, while granting a one-month postponement of the trial. Moscow’s exiled chief rabbi, Pinchas Goldschmidt, believes the real reasons for the attempted closure are twofold: criticism from Yair Lapid, the Israeli
