No Longer a Crime: Russia’s National Lenin Library Opens Hebrew Reading Room

Affixing a mezuzah in Russia’s National Lenin Library may have been unthinkable a short while ago, but after several years of development and planning, representatives of the JDC, the Russian Jewish Congress, Moscow State University and The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, stood in rapt attention as Rabbi Jacqueline Ellinson and Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) President Boris Satanovsky said the blessing and nailed the mezuzah onto the doorpost of the newly inaugurated Hebrew Reading Room.

The new research facility is under the aegis of the Asia-Africa Department of Moscow State University. "Until now," declares Professor Arkady Kovelman, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization at Moscow State University, "anyone doing scholarly Jewish research in Moscow had to leave Moscow to do it."

"This major development in Jewish studies in Russia is occurring literally across the street from the Kremlin," marveled Lynn Schusterman, a JDC Board member who led the American delegation. "When I first traveled here in the 1980’s, just having these books in your possession was a crime. Today, they are being made freely available in Russia's most prestigious literary institution. I think everyone here recognizes the progress and magnitude of this event."

Kovelman and other University faculty listened to greetings from the Director of the Lenin Library, RJC President Satanovsky, and JDC’s Lynn Schusterman. Dr. Carol Saivetz, another JDC Board member, then presented three books to the library for their collection. These were I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Golman and "the Joint" by Tom Shachtman, Our Legacy by Michael Beizer and Red Shtetl by Chuck Hoffman (z"l).

All participants were then presented with copies of the incunabula catalogue, published with the JDC support.