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NEWS
CER Welcomes Appointment Of New Chief Rabbi In Lithuania
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
The CER welcomes the appointment of Rabbi Chaim Burshtein as
the new rabbi for Lithuania. In a letter addressed to Rabbi
Burshtein, the Secretary General of the CER Mr. A Dunner, and
the Director General Rabbi M Rose, expressed the hope that
Rabbi Burshtein will lead the community of Lithuania towards
greater observance and higher standards, and especially
concentrate on the field of Jewish education. The CER assured
Rabbi Burshtein they will lend him all the possible support
to enable him to succeed in his new post.
Rabbi Burshtein was chosen unanimously by the heads of the
communities of Vilnius, Kaunas, Ponovezh, Telz, Klaipeda and
Shaulai. The Jewish community of Lithuania today consists of
approximately 6,000 Jews, the majority of them in Vilnius.
The President of the Lithuanian community is Mr. Shimon
Alperovitch, who has for many years been the leader of the
Jewish community and has concerned himself with both its
spiritual as well as its physical needs. Mr. Alperovitch
worked hard in order to get Rabbi Burshtein appointed as
Chief Rabbi of Lithuania, which choice he feels will greatly
strengthen many of the activities that are already taking
place there. The Jewish community also enjoys the support of
the JDC whose representative for the Latvian countries, Mr.
Andres Spokoiny, fully supports this new appointment.
Rabbi Burshtein is a graduate of the Shevut Ami Yeshiva in
Jerusalem and until now, has served as rabbi in St.
Petersburg, Russia, as well as the rabbi of the Russian
community in Beersheva, Israel. He recently headed a seminar
in Germany organized by the Lauder Foundation which
concentrated on teaching the skills of spiritual leadership
within the Jewish community.
Rabbi Burshtein will be taking up his position in Lithuania
immediately after Pesach, but will be visiting Vilnius in the
next few weeks in order to organize local preparations for
the coming festival. He declared that his program will be to
establish a beis midrash for the Jews of Lithuania to
include weekly shiurim in every Lithuanian
community.
He also intends to establish a kosher kitchen in Vilnius as
well as to assist in the teaching of religious subjects in
the local Jewish school which has 250 pupils. His other
activities will include visits to prisons, caring for the
graves of sainted rabbis buried in Lithuania, of which there
are quite a few.
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