A youth seminar brought together 100 young Jewish men and women from around Russia’s Volga region to Kazan for a week’s worth of programming focusing on family life, strengthening community leadership, and the modern challenges and opportunities in expressing Jewish pride.

The agenda including lectures by Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbis Dov Ber Beitman of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine; Yitzhak Gorelik, chief rabbi of Tatarstan; and Shimon Bergman, chief rabbi of Nizhny Novgorod.

“Hundreds of thousands of Jews in this country are still not involved in community activities, and your challenge is to convey to them the light that illuminates our path in life through knowledge of the Torah,” Gorelik told the group.

Participants toured Kazan and its vicinity, met with local Jewish leaders, and socialized at the city’s new kosher restaurant, local water park and bowling alley.

The Jewish community of Kazan is a member of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.