Members of Irkutsk, Russia’s central Jewish community spent the first Shabbat since the reopening of their 130-year-old synagogue in a state of disbelief. According to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Aharon Wagner, the Siberian city’s chief rabbi, the community has come a long way since a 2004 fire destroyed almost all of the historic shul.
“The community didn’t believe that the synagogue would be rebuilt,” said Wagner. “It was like a dream.”
Siberian City Celebrates Restoration of Central Synagogue
Members of Irkutsk, Russia’s central Jewish community spent the first Shabbat since the reopening of their 130-year-old synagogue in a state of disbelief. According to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Aharon Wagner, the Siberian city’s chief rabbi, the community has come a long way since a 2004 fire destroyed almost all of the historic shul.
“The community didn’t believe that the synagogue would be rebuilt,” said Wagner. “It was like a dream.”