Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/GettyPresident Vladimir Putin was the rarest of things: a Russian strongman who was proud to boast of his positive relationship with the Jewish community after centuries of pogroms and antisemitism which blighted both imperial Russia and the Soviet Union.Putin was, in 2005, the first Russian leader to visit Israel, where he staged an emotional reunion with a former high school teacher. He elevated his Jewish childhood friends Arkady and Boris