Hebrew Union College President Praises Jewish Life In Russia

The following letter was written by Rabbi David Ellenson, President of Hebrew Union College, upon his return from a mission to the former Soviet Union:

"My wife Jackie and I have just completed a nine-day mission to the Former Soviet Union organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and led by Lynn Schusterman. We spent our first five days in the Ural capital of Ekaterinburg – a city of two million that had been closed to the West during the seventy years of Soviet rule – and then spent one day in Moscow and three in St. Petersburg. In each city, we saw nascent forms of Jewish religious, cultural, and aesthetic expressions and institutions. After more than seventy years of active Soviet repression of Jewish religion and culture, Jews in each city – with the help of the JDC and other organizations – are making extraordinary efforts to provide social services for an indigent elderly Jewish population as well as striving valiantly to create meaningful expressions of Jewish religion, culture, and identity for young and old alike..."

To read the full letter, please click here.