The FSU will be shining brightly this Chanukah
Deep in the dark and cold winter of the FSU, the lights of Chanukah will begin to shine on Sunday evening, December 2. The frigid temperatures will not deter the members of many Jewish communities, young and old, to leave their homes and stand proudly in the main squares of the large cities and the […]
Darkeinu’s 5779 Olympics Contest Kicks Off Bigger and Better
FJC’s Darkeinu Jewish studies curriculum kicked off its popular “Olympics” Jewish heritage contest last month in 69 educational institutions across seven FSU countries. This year the contest is also open to pre-schoolers, for whom a special “Olympics Darkeinu Kids” was launched for the first time. Overall 2060 students participated in the first round, with 1436 moving […]
Jewish Life Thaws in Remote Arkhangelsk
One hundred years after the Communist Revolution, Arkhangelsk builds Jewish community By Lubavitch.com Government archives show that Arkhangelsk, some 750 miles north of Moscow and more than three degrees higher than Anchorage, Alaska, was once home to two synagogues. Last month, the city’s small Jewish community inaugurated a new synagogue and community center. Arkhangelsks’ original […]
Jews of former Cossack fort Irkutsk mark 200 years of prosperity and persecution
‘IRKUTSK BACK THEN WAS TRULY IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE’ Founded by a band of liberated Jewish Cantonist soldiers in 1818, this small Siberian community has donated to communal causes worldwide — and been threatened with expulsion By ROSSELLA TERCATIN | The Times of Israel IRKUTSK, Russia — Today, this frigid city of just over half […]
Dnipro: Grand Reopening of Boys’ Orphanage in Historic Synagogue
Amidst much fanfare, The Jewish community of Dnipro gathered together to celebrate the reopening of its lifesaving boys’ Children’s home and Orphanage. The orphanage is located inside the historic synagogue building of the famous Kabbalist Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson OBM. In 1939 the synagogue was confiscated from the Jewish community and turned into apartments and […]
Historic Synagogue Rises Once Again, Eighty Years After Destruction
Synagogue opens on eightieth anniversary of its destruction by Ashira Weiss – Kaliningrad, Russia | Lubavitch.com NOVEMBER 8, 2018 Destroyed by the Nazis, one of Europe’s most impressive Jewish monuments, the New Synagogue of Konigsberg, has now been restored to its former glory. Government officials, diplomats from Germany and Israel and members of the Federation of Jewish […]
Russia’s chief rabbi notes favorable inter-religious situation in Russia
KALININGRAD, November 8. /TASS/. Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar has described the interethnic and interreligious situation in the country as favorable, stressing that Jews in Russia fell comfortable and confident. He was speaking at the opening ceremony at a synagogue in Russia’s western exclave of Kaliningrad. “No one builds a synagogue, if one is […]
Russia’s westernmost synagogue rebuilt 80 years after Kristallnacht destruction
Extracts from article and photos by Cnaan Liphshiz | JTA KALININGRAD, Russia (JTA) — Walking to school and back, Michael Wieck twice a day would pass by one of Europe’s largest and most spectacular Jewish places of worship: Koenigsberg’s New Synagogue. The mammoth shul was built in 1896 in the Aesopian style in the bustling port city […]
History in Birobidzhan: First Mikvah in Jewish Autonomous
After 15 years of anticipation, finally, the concrete was cast for the first Mikvah ever in the Jewish Autonomous Region of Russia On Wednesday, 31 October, the concrete was cast for the first mikvah ever to be built in the Jewish Autonomous Region of Russia – a region appropriated to Jews by Stalin. The Mikvah […]
Moscow Opens a ‘Lending Depot’
The new ‘Ohel Chesed’ and Esther’s Cafe in Moscow might be the world’s most interesting “Gemach” – lending organization. A number of moving events took place at the Shaarey Tzedek Chesed Center located in the heart of the Marina Roscha neighborhood of Moscow. Under the auspices of Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, the Center serves […]