By COLlive reporter
A street name unveiling took place this past Friday in the Riga, the capital of Latvia, in memory of the Baltic country’s late Chief Rabbi.
Natana Barkana iela was dedicated to Rabbi Nathan Barkan, who led the local Jewish community from 1989 until his passing in 2003.
The ceremony was attended by former Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis, Mayor of Riga Janis Birks, Vice Mayor Ainars Slesers and Arkady Suharenko, chairman of the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities.
They were joined by Rabbi Barkan’s son Rabbi Mendel Barkan together with his wife and children who were very moved by the government’s gesture.
“I think this is the first street in the former Soviet Union that is named after a rabbi and Chossid of the Rebbe,” Rabbi Mendel Barkan noted.
The late Barkan was an outstanding person in the history of Latvia, born in the small town of Livani and surviving the Holocaust amid advancing his Jewish knowledge.
In 1969 he emigrated to Israel, and in 1989 returned to Latvia as a Shliach of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Along with being a religious leader, he also a wise advisor for both Jewish and non-Jewish people of Latvia and was a member of the advisory board of University of Latvia Center for Judaic Studies.
Growing up I always heard about the incredible story of how my grandparents Rabbi Meir Itkin and his wife, took in to their house in Samarkand, a bochur who was sick with a very dangerous and contagious disease, and nursed him back to health with incredible Mesiras Nefesh. This bochur was Rabbi Notke Barkan who raised a family and became The chief Rabbi and shliach in Riga and had an incredible impact on the lives of so many other Yidden. Wow that now a street is being named after him! The act of Ahavas Yisroel carried on for so many… Read more »
the picture in the middle looks like Rabbi Engel from California
My Father knew him and introduced me to him he was a gentle man
A phenomenal, wise and wonderful person. Rabbi Barkan truly deserves this honor.
wow shluchim finally being recognized as mainstream benefactors!
I had the pleasure of Rabbi Barkan hosting my sister and myself when we were in Riga some years ago doing a concert for the Jewish women there.
His work for the community was beyond the call of duty. A true shliach of the Rebbe. Yehei zichroy boruch.