By Baila Olidort for Lubavitch.com

Even by Western standards, Moscow’s Jewish infrastructure is impressive. In the Marina Roscha part of the city, a complex of buildings houses the community's comprehensive social and educational institutions catering to Moscow’s Jewish population.

The erosion of Jewish life during communism makes Jewish population numbers hard to evaluate, but by the country's Chief Rabbi's estimates, there are approximately half a million Jews in this city of 10 million.

Chief Rabbi of Russia on Russian Jewish Relations

By Baila Olidort for Lubavitch.com

Even by Western standards, Moscow’s Jewish infrastructure is impressive. In the Marina Roscha part of the city, a complex of buildings houses the community’s comprehensive social and educational institutions catering to Moscow’s Jewish population.

The erosion of Jewish life during communism makes Jewish population numbers hard to evaluate, but by the country’s Chief Rabbi’s estimates, there are approximately half a million Jews in this city of 10 million.

On average, 1000 Jewish people a day visit the Shaarei Tzedek Chesed Center. A magnificent architectural space with state-of-the-art facilities, seniors come here for free medical and dental care, hot meals, recreational activities and educational opportunities.

The adjacent Chabad Ohr Avner school building is designed for maximum natural light with walls of windows. Inside, children from pre-school through high school enjoy a lively academic setting where Jewish history is taught alongside Russian history, and students participate in a rich offering of extra-curriculars including swimming, drama and choir.

Nearby, about 1600 people a day–parents and children, teenagers, singles and seniors–come through the doors of the JCC. Known as the Marina Roscha synagogue from Communist times, the seven-story building, renovated and expanded in 2000, is a vibrant hub of Jewish life. Its facilities are in constant, simultaneous use, including the sanctuary, a gym, ampitheater, social halls, classrooms, a computer/internet café and offices.

There are 160,000 Jewish members at this JCC, and membership is free. Food is plentiful, with kosher meat and dairy restaurants, and an endless schedule of social events.

On this particular Shabbos, hundreds of Jewish men and women fill the majestic sanctuary. Scores of little children romp on the bima as a bar-mitzvah boy is called up to the Torah–a surrealistic spectacle for the elderly ladies who look out incredulously from the balcony and throw candies at children.

The transformation is reflected in 425 communities in the Former Soviet Union. From Estonia to Tadjikistan, and in Russia, 160 cities from Khabarovsk in the far east to Leningrad in northwest, Chabad-Lubavitch representatives are hard at work building a new Jewish reality.

At the helm is 44 year old Rabbi Berel Lazar. A Chabad emissary, father of 12, Lazar arrived in 1990, during the days of perestroika and glasnost. With his American wife Chanie and a baby in tow, Rabbi Lazar, an Italian native who spoke no Russian, embarked on what would prove to be a historic mission with a bold agenda.

Following recent events in which Chabad rabbis were expelled from Russia, I interviewed Rabbi Lazar for Lubavitch.com.

Article continued at Lubavitch.com