Russian community of Jews was considered once the largest one in the world, but Jewish people were going through multiple challenges and have been deprived of their legal rights for a long time. However, they have always made a great contribution to the development of Russian science, literature, culture, and politics, which has left rich heritage and historical evidence.
During the expansion of the territories of the Russian Empire, which took place in the 18th-19th centuries, the country included the regions of the Dnieper, the Baltic states, and the vicinity of the Vistula River, where European Jews lived, as well as the lands of the Caucasus and Central Asia, inhabited by Eastern Jews. In all places of settlement, Jews were a small part of the population of the region, which in many ways influenced the character of the regional landscape.
The process of Jews entering and taking root in Russian culture dragged on for many decades due to insurmountable legal restrictions. In fact, it began with the era of the "great reforms" of Alexander II, during which these restrictions for a part of the Jewish population were weakened.
