National Russian Shabbaton Draws 1,000 Participants
With the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, the Jews of Soviet Russia found themselves in a dire situation. Religious life had been stifled for decades, and with rampant food and supply shortages, both their spiritual and material selves were in danger. It was then that a small group of Chabad activists stranded behind the Iron Curtain in Samarkand—today, Uzbekistan—decided that they had to do something to assist their fellow Jews. A few men banded together, and the Chamah organization was born.
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