Kesher Talk

Jews in odd places: Russia: To be fair, it wasn't always an odd place to find Jews, but since the refuseniks were allowed to escape as the Soviet Union collapsed, the population has been on a sharp decline.

Some Orthodox Jews in Russia hope to change that. The Federation of the Orthodox Jews of Russia, formed at a three-day congress held recently at a Moscow synagogue, hopes that increasing Jewish knowledge and lifestyle among Russia’s Jews will help them entice Israeli Orthodox rabbis, hit by the economic crisis at home, to come to Russia. Without the Rabbis, it is hard to build the communities that will keep Jews from leaving the country.

The organization adds to the already fractious mix of Jewish organizations in Russia today. Reform Jews “and the Chabad are making great strides” in Russia, Pinchas Goldschmidt, Moscow’s chief rabbi and one of the group’s leaders, told JTA, but the Orthodox movement “is left behind.”

Of the few dozen rabbis living and working in Russia today, approximately three-quarters are believed to be representatives of the worldwide Chabad Lubavitch organization, which operates through the umbrella Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

While most of the Reform congregations have learned to live without permanent rabbinical guidance — there are only two ordained Reform rabbis in the Russian Federation — the movement’s Russian arm, the Union of Religious Organizations of Modern Judaism in Russia, is credited with creating a viable network serving Reform Jews in some 30 Russian cities.

posted by William @ 6/23/2003 02:49:52 PM