Construction Underway for Mivka in Smolensk

Celebration was in the air this week in Smolensk, Russia, the capital city in the Smolensk Region where the town of Lubavitch is located.

Rabbi Avrohom Michoel Halperin, the rabbi of the French Hill neighborhood in Yerushalayim and a member of the Lubavitch Rabbinical court of Israel, arrived in Smolensk together with R’ Yedidia Hasin, the director of the building department of the “Ohr Avner foundation” chaired by Mr. Levi Leviev.

The Rabbis came at the behest of Rabbi Levi Mondshine, the Shliach and chief rabbi of the Smolensk region. Rabbi Halperin is known to be a world renowned expert on mikvaos and graciously agreed to come supervise the pouring of the mikva pools. In addition to the honor that Rabbi Halperin felt in taking part in building the mikva which will serve the visitors to Lubavitch where the Ohel of the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe Maharash is located, Rabbi Halperin also noted that for him personally, he reached an extraordinary milestone with this mikva being the 100th mikva construction in which he was involved.

The building of the mikva is possible thanks to the generosity of the Ben- Eli family of Moscow and a grant from the mikva fund of the Rabbinical Center of Europe.

The mikva building is being constructed on the campus of the Chabad Jewish Community of Smolensk where simeltaneously Rabbi Mondshine is building a new Synagogue and Jewish community center.