As part of the Interfaith Family Forum recently held in Birobidzhan, initiated by the local government of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia’s Far East, the Jewish community, led by the city’s rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Efraim Kolpak, was selected to deliver several important lectures on family values from a Jewish perspective.

The first part of the forum, focused on tolerance and peacemaking, was dedicated to a meeting between leaders of various religious groups operating in the region. Rabbi Kolpak and community representatives spoke at this gathering.

Subsequently, public lectures were held covering a wide range of topics. As mentioned, a series of leading rabbis and lecturers, including Rabbi Tzvi Pinski from St. Petersburg and Rabbi Yaakov Snetkov from Khabarovsk, presented the approach to healthy and fulfilling family life through a Jewish lens.

Additional lectures were specially prepared for the city’s Jewish community and youth, addressing the unique Jewish perspective on partnership, family, tolerance, Jewish heritage, personal development, and empowerment.

“The lecture included a live demonstration of a ‘Chuppah’ the Jewish wedding ceremony,” Rabbi Kolpak shares. “It was moving to see how Jewish family values are expressed right from the initial marriage ceremony, which takes place in holiness and purity, emerging from deep feelings of connection and partnership.”