Chabad.org

Boris Efimov, left, who just turned 107, chats with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar.

MOSCOW, Russia — Caricaturist Boris Efimov celebrated his 107th birthday this week at the Beit Menachem Chabad-Lubavitch Marinah Roshtza synagogue in Moscow. Efimov, who etched political caricatures until the early 1980s, received Soviet State Prizes twice and was People's Painter of the USSR in 1967.

Oldest Living Jew Celebrates 107 in Moscow

Chabad.org

Boris Efimov, left, who just turned 107, chats with Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar.

MOSCOW, Russia — Caricaturist Boris Efimov celebrated his 107th birthday this week at the Beit Menachem Chabad-Lubavitch Marinah Roshtza synagogue in Moscow. Efimov, who etched political caricatures until the early 1980s, received Soviet State Prizes twice and was People’s Painter of the USSR in 1967.

Born Boris Fridland, his father wanted him to have a Jewish education. That never came to fruition, though, said Efimov, who through Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in Moscow has started to learn about his Jewish roots.

“It took a 100 for that to come true recently when I started to learn about Judaism and even put on tefillin,” he related in Yiddish, a holdover from his pre-Revolution childhood.

Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Russia, personally congratulated the elder and wished him, as is done in optimistic Jewish tradition, to live to the age of 120. Many other community leaders, friends and families also joined in the celebration.

Efimov is believed to be the oldest living Jew in the world.

From Chabad.org

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