School Year Opens Across Russia to the Sound of the Shofar
Monday morning saw tens of thousands of boys and girls flocking to all the Jewish educational institutions that were advertised throughout Russia. The students were received by the rabbis and shluchim, alongside the dedicated administrators and principals, who invested great effort during the summer months, working together to prepare the buildings of the institutions, renovating and expanding the place to accommodate students in comfortable conditions and an appropriate atmosphere.
The opening of the current school year was marked by the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar Shlita, by participating in the official ceremony held first thing in the morning in the event hall of the “Mir Intellect” Day School in the Marina Roshcha neighborhood of downtown Moscow.
He began his remarks with the blowing of the shofar, after which he explained to the many students the significance of the month of Elul and how each and every one of them can approach and draw closer to Hashem because the ‘King is in the field’ in the month of mercy and forgiveness, and that in this month special powers are given from heaven to all who truly desire and want to learn and grow in their Yiddishkeit.
“Exactly 35 years ago today, we arrived here with our family, on the holy mission of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. We did not know then what would happen here, what kind of education our children would receive, whether they would even allow us to open a Jewish school here. In those years, all of this was still forbidden in the then Soviet Union. And now the great miracle happened. Here in Moscow, and later throughout the entire country, we are here with full support of the government, which sees in a positive light the development of the Jewish community in general and the provision of Jewish education in particular,” the Chief Rabbi concluded his remarks, excited by the hundreds of educational institutions that exist today throughout Russia.
At the “Or Avner” education offices in Moscow, they concluded with great satisfaction the successful start of the school year in all cities in Russia, and from live updates received throughout the day, everyone felt the magnitude of the Hashgacha Pratis that accompanies the branched education network throughout the country.
In all educational frameworks, tens of thousands of students are enrolled, at all levels and types of Jewish educational institutions, adapted to every age and grade. Over the years, its graduates have scattered throughout the world and established hundreds of thousands of Jewish homes, after absorbing years of Yiddishkeit in these educational frameworks.
Alongside Torah studies, the yeshivahs recorded a significant increase this year, both in terms of the number of students, as well as the educational staff, which was increased and expanded, in order to provide personal attention to all students who are working on their Talmud studies in the yeshivah complexes scattered throughout Moscow.
