See end of story for a complete package of refugee stories in this issue. Aleksandra Krotova perched on the edge of a courtroom bench in Seattle in 2002. She nudged her older sister, Anastasia. Both girls were chomping on gum. Meanwhile, their mother, Lioudmila, stood next to a lawyer, begging the judge to let the family stay in the U.S. She opened up about her personal history, spilling out her most painful memories: fear, anger, desperation. It was all part of being a Jew in eastern Russia, where those who follow Yahweh aren't considered Russian at all. Pop. Krotova's chewing gum burst. "The judge yelled at us," Krotova remembers. "She said, ‘Are you cows chewing grass?' " For Krotova, it was another in a long series of humiliations. Her childhood in Russia and later in the U.S. was fraught with instability. Her father, who is not Jewish, brought the