A well-attended ceremony recently took place in Moscow: the
cornerstone laying of the new Jewish community center. MK
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz, Deputy Minister of Education,
participated in the ceremony as he was invited by the chief
Rabbi of Moscow, Rav Pinchos Goldshmidt and the Russian
Jewish congress. Members of the Russian government,
including the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister
participated as well. During his stay in Russia, Rabbi
Ravitz met with communal leaders and discussed their unique
educational issues.
During the ceremony, the newly renovated dome of the Great
Synagogue on Archipova Street was inaugurated. Rav
Goldshmidt related the story behind the dome: The synagogue,
which was built over 120 years ago, had served as the center
of ruchniyus for Russian Jewry. During those days, a
nephew of Czar Alexander III served as the city's ruler. He
used to get drunk regularly, which affected his behavior. He
once passed by the shul, realized it was a house of
worship and mistakenly did an act of respect apparently
mistaking the building for a non-Jewish house of worship.
When his advisers told him that it was a Jewish synagogue,
he said, "If so, take the dome off the building."
For over one hundred years, the building did not have a
dome. A short time ago, Rav Goldshmidt recounted the story
to government representatives and requested a permit to
return the dome to its place. The permit was granted and the
installation was completed this week. Now the shul
can be seen from afar.
At the same time, a new community center was built
specifically right near the shul. Since many Jews
were cut off from their roots during years of Communist
rule, they unfortunately do not come to shul. The
Jewish community hopes that the new center will attract
these unaffiliated Jews and, through Jewish activities, they
will eventually find their way back to shul and
Yiddishkeit. A wall in the community center that was
built to resemble the Kosel Hama'arovi has aroused
the curiosity of the Russian media and become a topic of
much discussion.
On his own initiative, the governor of Moscow decided to
have the name of the street changed to Jerusalem Street, Rav
Goldshmidt related.
During Rabbi Ravitz's visit, he visited Yeshivas Ohalei
Yaakov, of Agudath Israel of America, headed by HaRav Nosson
Klugman and under the auspices of HaRav Elya Svei. He also
participated in the chanukas habayis of the new
Sephardi shul in St. Petersburg.
In recent years, the observant Sephardi community's ranks
have swelled in the central Russian cities. An active
Sephardi shul is located near the Great Synagogue in
Moscow. Recently, the need has arisen to open this kind of
shul in St. Petersburg as well. "The Sephardi
kehilla never completely severed its ties to its
Jewish roots," Rav Goldshmidt explained. More and more of
them are returning to a life of Torah and mitzvos, which
created the need to open the shul. As mentioned
previously, the mokom tefillah was recently
inaugurated in St. Petersburg. Interestingly, the
shul is now located in the same place that the Jewish
community's mikva taharoh was located until the
Communists rose to power.
The spiritual rejuvenation in the C.I.S. continues.
