By COLlive reporter
Directors of the 24 Chabad centers that operate in Moscow gathered this week in a stark contrast to the events leading to the Chassidic holiday that will be marked on Thursday.
The 19th of Kislev commemorates the release of the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi from his imprisonment in the Peter-Paul fortress in Petersburg on charges that his teachings threatened the imperial authority of the Czar.
Today, Chabad rabbis operate freely around the Russian capital city teaching Torah and encouraging local Jews of all ages to practice their faith openly and proudly.
The event was held this past Motzoei Shabbos at the Marina Roscha Jewish Community Center, the nerve center of Jewish life throughout the country.
Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar opened the evening with welcoming participants and outlining the goals for furthering Chabad’s outreach work. He specified the collaborative work, in addition to opening new centers, as a top priority.
Other speakers were Rabbi Yitzchak Kogan of the Bronnaya Synagogue, Rabbi Alexander Barada of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, Rabbi Schneur Halperin of the Lubavitch Youth Organization in Moscow and Rabbi Shea Deitsch.
I’m on my way back from Eretz Yisroel, and as we flew over Russia I was marveling at the idea that the Alter Rebbe was released almost directly below my airplane on this day… Now I’m sitting in the Moscow airport waiting for my connection back to the States, thinking how appropriate it is that I’ll be davening Shacharis here, on Yud-Tes Kislev–and then I read this!! Chasdei Hashem Ki Lo Samnu!!
S. Saxon