JL;DR SUMMARY "The Birobidzhan Affair: A Yiddish Writer in Siberia" explores the tragic story of Israel Emiot, a Yiddish poet who believed in the Soviet project to create a Jewish state only to be betrayed by Stalin twice, leading to his imprisonment in Siberia. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.