Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Russia
Summing up the past year, without any doubt for us, for the Jewish community it was a good, successful, fruitful year.
We are particularly noticing the growth in all areas and we are optimistic about the future, therefore we are welcoming the holidays with optimism, joy and hope that in the future we will be able to do even more.
This year we opened new centers in different regions, in different cities.
Recently we have opened a huge center in Novosibirsk.
It took us a long time to get the work done, we've been waiting for this event for a long time, it took seven years to build the center, there were many difficulties in our way, but, thank God, the construction was accomplished, the center was opened and it was a big joy for the city, especially for the Jews who live in Siberia.
There was a huge public reaction. And, what is most important for us, the center is very actively developing, we see how many people go there all the time.
And our main task today is not only opening synagogues, but also community centers.
For us it is not only a place of prayer, it is a place which strengthens the Jewish community, unites everyone, unites the sponsors and those who are in need.
All the peoples living today in Russia like such centers, they learn more about the Jews, they can come inside, talk and learn more.
Such openness is very important to us.
The uniqueness of Novosibirsk, in my opinion, lies in the fact that it was the first synagogue and community center which opened there in the last 100 years.
Unfortunately, for a long time the Jews did not have an opportunity to in fact communicate, and what we see today - the great interest, participation of people in the construction, the happy fact that the center was built mainly by local sponsors, thanks to them is a really good sign indicating that the Jewish community has been established there.
We have big plans, this year with the help of God we are planning to open new centers in new cities.
I will simply mention them: Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Tyumen, Vladivostok, Birobidzhan, Kaluga, Bryansk, Abakan, Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk, Sochi and Novozybkov - in all these cities we are planning with God's help to open new synagogues, new centers, new community centers in 2014.
This is the proof that the community here is indeed very actively engaged in the development and construction of such centers.
Recently, we also celebrated the 120th anniversary of the St. Petersburg synagogue.
This building has recently been completely renovated.
Today it looks very decent, one of the most beautiful synagogues in Europe.
All of it, perhaps, proves that today the Jews strive for community life, religious life and that people go to synagogues with pleasure.
Unfortunately, there are also sad incidents. The most unhappy one is the incident that occurred in the Caucasus, in Derbent involving our Rabbi Ovadiya Isaakov.
Probably all of you know that he was shot and miraculously survived. We managed to bring him to Israel, he was operated there and, thank God, now he has already come back.
He was here for Chanukah, visited the city of Derbent.
Despite the fact that this story ended for us, thank God, let's say, not in such a terrible way, we understand that, unfortunately, is not a unique case for the Caucasus and that many deplorable incidents occurred, many Muftis were killed.
For us, every human life is important, and when it is the leader of a religious community even more so, because we understand that he became a victim simply because he was engaged in this activity, because he was not ready to put up with the terrorists and cooperate with them.
It is very sad that, unfortunately, such incidents happen every month, this year there were several of them.
We appeal to the authorities, do everything possible to resolve this issue so that religious leaders could feel themselves confident, so that safety was ensured and that they could work and do the right thing.