Russian Deputy Communications Minister Nahum Marder donated a Torah scroll to the central synagogue in Moscow’s Marina Roscha neighborhood last week, dedicating the holy item in memory of his parents, who were long-term members of the synagogue and its previously destroyed building.

A giant celebration paraded the new scroll through the capital’s streets last week and Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, who oversees the activities of hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries throughout the former Soviet Union, offered words of blessing to Marder. He remarked at the miracles that had benefitted Moscow’s Jewish community, which survived the tribulations of life behind the Iron Curtain and is in the midst of an unprecedented expansion.

After the scroll’s installation at the synagogue, celebrants joined together for a festive meal at the Marina Roscha Jewish Community Center.