Russian Cadet’s Bar Mitzvah Signals More to Come for Army Youth

(FJC.ru) A Russian Army cadet’s Bar Mitzvah this week kicked off a slew of youth programming for Jewish recruits. Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Aron Gurevitch, rabbi of the Russian Army, conducted the Bar Mitzvah of Oleg Tkacha at the military synagogue in the Mytischi section of Moscow.

The Federation of Jewish Communities’ Military Branch, which Gurevitch directs, is expanding its work with those youth who have chosen to pursue a career in the military, including students at military colleges and cadets. The project’s current focus is on the Moscow Region. Gurevitch plans to give lectures on Jewish lifestyle and national traditions at the Military University.

During Tkacha’s Bar Mitzvah, two young cadets were called to the Torah and put on tefillin for the first time in their lives.