It is likely that REK and MERO will break ground in September 2000 for the planned Jewish community center across the street from the Choral Synagogue. Groundbreaking was delayed until September in the hope that the new President of Russia, who will be elected in June 2000, will participate in the ceremonies.

Rabbi Goldschmidt believes that the future of European Jewry lies in the large cities. It is likely, he said, that viable Jewish communities will remain only in Paris, Antwerp, Berlin, Geneva, London, Moscow, and, possibly, Kyiv. European Jews will be considered in relation to the cities in which they live, rather than in terms of the countries in which they live. He is newly optimistic about the ability of Reform Judaism to endure; now, he observed, the Reform movement cares about Jewish survival, whereas their previous priority seemed to focus on combating antisemitism.

20. Rabbi Berel Lazar is the chief representative of Chabad in Russia. The writer met with him at the Marina Roscha synagogue, a structure that sustained serious damage in a bomb blast in 1998. The synagogue was repaired shortly after the attack, but the perpetrators have not been found. Few believe that the case ever will be solved.

Rabbi Lazar began the meeting by taking the writer to task for alleged distortion of facts in a report about her 1998 visit to Moscow. He disagreed with the writer’s contention that he, rather than Rabbi Goldschmidt, had been the major source of tension between Chabad and activities and groups associated with Rabbi Goldschmidt. He reiterated his opposition to participating in organizations [such as KEROOR] or projects in which the Reform movement also participated. Everyone has the right to hold his own views, he said. In his opinion, “It is ruining the Jewish community to bring in Reform here [in Russia].” Reform Judaism, he said, is “watered-down Judaism.”67

Rabbi Lazar estimates the Jewish population of Moscow at 500,000 individuals or 130,000 Jewish families. So far, Moscow Chabad lists 21,000 families on its Moscow Jewish data base. Chabad sends news about Jewish holidays, full-color Jewish calendars, menorahs, birthday cards, and yahrzeit messages to these families. Local Jews realize that Chabad cares about them, said Rabbi Lazar, and many call Chabad when they need material or spiritual assistance. Chabad representatives soon will begin a program of visiting each of the 21,000 families in their own apartments in an effort to assess individual and community needs. Three hundred young adults are being trained to conduct these interviews. They will bring presents to each family.

Twenty-five hundred people attended Rosh Hashana services in the semi-finished seven-story Chabad Jewish community center adjacent to the synagogue.68 It is likely that construction of this center, which has been delayed due to fundraising problems following the 1998 collapse of the Russian ruble, will be completed in the spring of 2000.

In addition to the Marina Roscha synagogue and community center, Chabad operates a number of other institutions in Moscow. These include: two additional synagogues, two preschools, a day school, a heder, a yeshiva, a women’s college, a technical college for young men, and a camp with heated buildings that can be used throughout the year. Rabbi Lazar said that 750 youngsters, most of whom are enrolled in no other Jewish programs, attended one of the summer camp sessions. Chabad hopes to start a weekly program for these children during the school year. The summer camp also operated a special 10-day session for youngsters from Moscow school #1311, also known as the Lipman Jewish day school.69 The camp is used during the school year for shabbatonim, most of which are designated for specific groups, such as adolescents, families, or elderly people.

Moscow Chabad also sponsors a student club, a young adult educational center (offering classes in several subjects, including English and computer technology), an amateur theater group, a family club, and activities for single adults. Anti-missionary work will be intensified soon with the addition to the Chabad staff of a specialist in this area.

Rabbi Lazar said that Moscow Chabad would like to purchase a well-equipped three-building sanitarium located near their camp. It would convert the complex into an assisted living and nursing care center for Jewish elderly. Ideally, he continued, children and young people at the camp would interact with older Jews at the center.