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.”
Now housing a nursery, computer room, library, youth hall and a large kitchen and cafeteria to accommodate the many tourists looking for kosher food, the 2,000-square-meter building also provides a home to the local offices of the Jewish Agency.
A March 24 dedication ceremony presided over by Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar drew to a close a four-year effort to restore the synagogue to its former glory. Lazar affixed a mezuzah to the building’s main entrance.
“With G-d’s help, we managed to recover that which was so painstakingly created by our ancestors and that which was once destroyed by fire,” he said. “I thank everyone who helped us in this important endeavor. The restoration of the Irkutsk Synagogue is absolute proof that Jews here feel comfortable and feel respect for their religion.”
