Israeli Knesset member visits ‘Or Avner’ Baku
Baku, Azerbaijan – The head of the Israeli parliament’s State Control Committee, Mr. Amnon Cohen, was the special guest of the FJC’s educational campus and Jewish community of Baku. The Knesset member, who was accompanied by the Rabbi and the Head of the community, showed his appreciation of the beautiful complex built by Mr. Lev Leviev – the President of […]
President Peres honors supporters of the FJC
Friends and supporters of the FJC’s activities in Moscow and founders of the Jewish School in Baku, Azerbaijan – Mr. Zerach Eliav and Mr. Gad Nisov – were invited today as special guests of the President of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres, in his headquarters in Jerusalem. After each of the honorable guests had received a […]
Tragedy: floods strike Eastern Russia; relief efforts have begun
Floods hitting Eastern Russia this week, are considered to be the worst environmental disaster in the last 120 years. The waters – expected to remain high for several more days – have already caused more than 100 deaths. The FJC of Russia has begun relief efforts in order to assist and save lives. At least eight million people living […]
An Intimate Look at Life in a Harsh Russian Gulag
BY MAX AVDEEV AND JULIA IOFFE newrepublic.com K-28, a maximum-security Russian penal colony, is located in Yertsevo, in the northern Arkhangelsk region near the Arctic Circle. It was once part of a cluster of camps founded in the late 1930s as part of the Gulag system. Today, it houses over 1,000 prisoners, many of whom were convicted on […]
What Would Stalin Say?
By Rabbi Berel Lazar My relationship with Reb Shmuel Rohr started about twenty years ago, in the early 1990s. He was visiting Russia on a business trip, looking for investment opportunities. Truth to tell, I looked at him kind of quizzically: “Investment? In Russia!?” This was a country that everyone was trying to get out […]
Rostov Mass Murder Remembered
Two Hundred people gathered in the memorial site in Rostov to remember the victims of the largest mass killing of Jews by the Nazis in Russia. August 11-12 marks 71 years since the mass killing of 27,000 people (mostly Jews) by the Nazis at Zmievskaya Balka (Snake Valley), when they gathered all remaining Jewish residents […]
Rostov Community Leads Uplifting Seminar
VIDEO HAS ENGLISH SUBS – CLICK ON CAPTION to get them https://youtu.be/CZ39rbbPLfU This past week 65 students from 10 cities gathered together for a special 6 day youth seminar promoting Jewish traditions and awareness, in an effort to combat assimilation. The seminar’s main topic was Jewish marriage and building a Jewish home, and was […]
Wounded Derbent rabbi discharged from Israeli hospital
Moscow, August 7, Interfax – Derbent Rabbi Ovadya Isakov, who was seriously injured by an unidentified gunman at the end of July, has been discharged from a hospital in the Israeli town of Petah Tikva and will continue his recovery at home, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday. “Rabbi Isakov’s […]
New camp for deaf children opens in Moscow
Special: For the very first time ever, the FJC’s summer camp in Moscow opened a special department for deaf Jewish children, aged 8-14, from across Russia and the Former Soviet Union. The counselors where trained to use the Russian sign language and a special translator helped the deaf children to participate in the regular programs […]
J-teen Shabbaton excites Ulyanovsk
For the first time ever, the FJC’s Jewish Center of Ulyanovsk, Russia, arranged a Shabbaton-Seminar uniquely for the community’s teenagers. The seminar took place in the city of Tolyatti and consisted of fun activities and lectures on Judaism. Rabbi Yossi Morozov who headed the Shabbaton spoke about the importance of living as Jews and the […]