Ulyanovsk Jews Launch Weekday Public Prayer Group

A group of elderly Jews in Ulyanovsk, Russia, launched a new twice-weekly prayer group.

Called “Club Torah!” the group of men gathers on Mondays and Thursdays, midweek days when the Torah is read publicly, to don the prayer boxes known as tefillin and worship together.

“Some communities a large enough to have a minyan every day,” says Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yosef Marozov, the local chief rabbi who leads the services. “Not Ulyanovsk, yet. This is precisely why what this group has decided is so important.”

The prayer group was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Planet of Kindness fund run by Giorgi and Morab Yelashvili and Roman Suramelashvili.

Members of the “Club Torah!” prayer group in Ulyanovsk, Russia, ready a Torah scroll for their twice-weekly morning services.

The group of men gathers on Mondays and Thursdays, midweek days when the Torah is read publicly, to don the prayer boxes known as tefillin and worship together.

The prayer group was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Planet of Kindness fund run by Giorgi and Morab Yelashvili and Roman Suramelashvili.

The services even draw the participation of younger community members.

“Some communities a large enough to have a minyan every day,” says Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yosef Marozov, the local chief rabbi who leads the services. “Not Ulyanovsk, yet. This is precisely why what this group has decided is so important.”