The rejuvenated Jewish community of Uzhgorod, Ukraine, which was practically emptied of its Jews by Nazi forces in 1944, is marking the 65th anniversary of that terrible spring with a grand opening of a facility dedicated to providing ritual circumcisions for any Jewish male that wants one.
According to locals, the new fourth floor of the city’s Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish Center, which also includes an event hall and new classrooms, is a fitting tribute to the community that was almost destroyed and today breathes anew with Jewish life.
“We are using it already,” said Meir Simcha Brenner, a 37-year-old resident of Uzhgorod.
The centerpiece of the project, which was made possible by a donation from the Rohr Family Foundation, is its clinic, which has hosted three circumcisions since construction was finished just before Passover. In the next two weeks, a ritual circumciser from the Brit Yosef Yitzchak organization is expected to perform several more.
Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Menachem Taichman, the city’s chief rabbi, pointed out that in the past few years, 50 ritual circumcisions have taken place in Uzhgorod. Most were performed on infants, but older boys and young men are increasingly choosing to undergo the procedure, which was denied them by Soviet authorities after World War II. The oldest person to have a circumcision in Uzhgorod in recent memory was 72 years old.
The facility’s dedication on June 1, two days before the 65th anniversary of the last Nazi train departing Uzhgorod for Auschwitz, will coincide with ceremonies commemorating the Holocaust. A large crowd of locals and foreign visitors, including Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, is expected for the events.
For his part, Taichman said the Chabad House’s expansion is not only a response to what happened more than six decades ago; it’s proof of the community’s resolve against modern-day anti-Semitism and violence. In 2007, he noted, an arsonist destroyed much of the center. Surveying the damage days after that incident, the rabbi had pledged to rebuild.
“This is our answer to those who wish to destroy us,” he said on Monday.
Brenner said that community members are impressed with the new event hall, which was named Chayei Sarah in memory of Mrs. Charlotte Rohr.
“Many things are going on there, from birthday parties and Shabbat functions to classes,” he said.
Brenner said that the new project has a special personal significance. His great-grandfather perished during World War II while being transported to a labor camp, and his grandfather successfully escaped Nazi forces and returned to Uzhgorod.
Of the memorial ceremony next month, which will include the unveiling of a memorial at a mass grave of 200 Jews that Taichman discovered in April, Brenner said that he was “very happy that we can honor the memory of all those people.”
He added: “I’m sorry that we don’t have all their names.”
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