First Jewish Youth Expedition across central Asia

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Students from the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School of Almaty, Kazakhstan have just completed the first expedition of the project “Jews in Central Asia”. The group took a trip to Chiili, a rural settlement in the distant Kazakh Steppe to which the Rebbe’s Father, Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Schneerson was exiled by Soviet authorities.

This was the first organized expedition to this town, known for its white soil (from the excess salt) and strong turbulent wind. The Deputy Mayor of Chiili promised to help locate the house where Rabbi Levi lived and the old cemetery where exiles – including Rabbi Levi’s cousin Levi Schneerson of Chernigov – were buried.

“Providing Jewish experience is among the critical tasks of contemporary Jewish education, especially for assimilated youth in the Former Soviet Union,” commented Rabbi Shevach Zlatopolsky, the Director of the Ohr Avner Chabad Jewish Educational Complex and the head of this project. “Becoming familiar with Jewish historical places, with other Jewish communities and schools, and Chabad Lubavitch emissaries serving in other regions is a very important part of such an experience.”

Traveling along the historic Silk Road, the teenagers visited numerous Jewish communities led by Chabad Lubavitch emissaries. Highlights included a presentation by Chief Rabbi of Kyrgyzstan Arie Reichman, a Shabbat gathering in Tashkent led by Chief Rabbi of Uzbekistan Dovid Gurevich, and a warm welcome by Rabbi Yitzchok Yakobson of Samarkand. Students also visited Turkestan, where Persian Jews have lived for a hundreds of years, and Chimkent, where they made friends at the Jewish Youth Center and gave an impressive presentation about this expedition and their school.

This expedition was sponsored by Malka (Kulyash) Altynbayeva, a key supporter of the Jewish Community of Almaty, winner of the ‘Jewish Woman – 2005’ award and founder of the ‘Yevreysky Dom Chabad Foundation’.