A delegation of 50 rabbis and Russian Jewish community leaders spent four days on a solidarity mission to Israel in the midst of an onslaught of terror attacks, focusing on underlining and engaging with their personal connection to Judaism and the Jewish people’s millennia-old connections to the Holy Land.
Led by the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, the trip included influential business leaders and trustees of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJC).
Participants visited the four cities holy to Judaism: Jerusalem, Safed, Hebron and Tiberias, spending an afternoon at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, where they prayed for the safety of Israel. In addition, the delegation toured Jewish communities in the Gush Etzion area—neighborhoods that were destroyed during the War of Independence in 1948 and restored in the aftermath of Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War.
They held a morning minyan atop Masada—a Jewish symbol of resistance and courage—and prayed at Rachel’s tomb near Bethlehem. On Sunday, the group prayed at the Western Wall (Kotel) in Jerusalem and toured the adjacent subterranean tunnels.
Also on Sunday, the group met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem. The mission’s goal, explained Lazar, was to expand Russian business cooperation with Israel and continue to build bridges between their respective communities, offer support to Israel during the current wave of Palestinian terror attacks and spiritually connect with the Holy Land.
“The purpose of our trip is to express the deep empathy of Diaspora Jews towards the tragic events taking place recently in Israel,” Lazar told Netanyahu. “To demonstrate that the ideology of terrorism cannot win, we decided to visit the places where the recent attacks took place. A strong Diaspora is a strong Israel, and the Jewish people can only confront the threat of terrorism together.”
Netanyahu expressed his appreciation to the delegation, declaring that Israel would win the war against terror.
“I want to thank the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar for the tremendous work he does to strengthen Jewish identity among Diaspora Jews and the inextricable link with our national traditions,” said the prime minister.
“The current wave of terror did not come from a desire to create a Palestinian state, [and] not because of the borders and not because of the Jewish settlements. The terrorists do not recognize the Jewish state and do not want to see us in this land,” Netanyahu told the delegation. “We will definitely win this war.”
He also noted the contribution of Jewish lay leaders in strengthening Jewish identity and practice around the world.
“Lev Leviev, your contribution to Jewish education—and your support of strengthening the bonds between Jewish communities and Israel—is invaluable,” Netanyahu said, addressing Leviev, who serves as president of the FJC. “I also want to thank Mikhail Mirilashvili, who has joined this effort, and all those present.”
A longtime supporter of Chabad-Lubavitch activities throughout the former Soviet Union, Leviev told the group that the delegation was setting an example in coming to Israel during a particularly difficult time and lending moral support.
“For Jews, this is the safest place in the world,” he said.
Israel is home to more than 900,000 Russian-speaking Jews, most of whom arrived in the mass emigration following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990-91. The recent crisis in Ukraine, however, has seen a significant spike in Jewish emigration from the former Soviet bloc, with at least 7,000 Ukrainian Jews arriving in Israel since the war and subsequent economic collapse began there early last year.
At a reception held Sunday evening, philanthropist Mirilashvili told the guests: “We all need to work together to destroy the infrastructure of terror, and most importantly, its hateful ideology. But nothing can intimidate the Jewish people and deprive us of our determination to build our future here in the Holy Land.”
Start a Discussion