Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Berel Lazar, asked authorities to step
up security for the protection of Jewish and other clergy in the Caucasus
region. Speaking at a press conference Monday, Rabbi Lazar said, “We are
grateful for the miraculous recovery of Rabbi Ovadia Isakov who was shot in
Derbent. But that doesn’t mean that we are not concerned.”
Pointing out that several Muslim Muftis were killed in
recent months, he later said, “There are people in that region who are out to
hurt religious leaders, and there has to be a stop to this.”
Rabbi Lazar offered a brief survey of the past year’s
developments in Jewish communal life, and announced bold plans for 2014 to
include the opening of five new synagogues in Moscow, and new facilities/Jewish
centers/synagogues in a dozen cities: Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Vladivostok,
Birobidzhan, Kaluga, Bryansk, Abakan, Kaliningrad, Arkhanagelsk, Sochi, and
Novozybkov.
Following the press conference, Rabbi Lazar spoke with
lubavitch.com, and said that the plans to build are a direct consequence of the
vibrant growth in Jewish life that Russia is seeing. In a dramatic shift from
the past model where funding came from foreign resources, most of these
projects, he said, will be funded by local sponsors.
“This is a huge change, and it tells us that local Jews
appreciate what has been done and want to invest in their own future. They see
stability in the future of Jewish life here.”
Perhaps the improved climate for Jews in Russia overall may
account for these positive changes. According to Rabbi Lazar, anti-Semitism in
Russia is on the decline. At the same time, Russian Jews are embracing Judaism
with notable fervor.
“We are seeing an incredible movement of Jews seriously
engaging in Judaism, and making changes to their lifestyle in a way that we
hadn’t seen before.”
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