Last week in Minsk, the city hosted a conference of rabbis of Belarus. The conference included Rabbi David Mondshine, the Director of the Ohr Avner Foundation, who travelled from Moscow especially for the gathering. Among the attendees were Rabbi Shneur Deutch of Minsk, Chief Rabbi of Brest Chaim Rabinovich, Chief Rabbi of Grodno Yitzchak Kofman and Chief Rabbi of Mogilev Menachem Mendel Alperowitz.
For rabbis serving in this former Soviet republic, the conference represented an excellent opportunity to discuss many issues that arise in their daily work, as well as to share their experiences and brainstorm with one another.
Representatives from the local authorities, as well as the Israeli Ambassador to Belarus, Mr. Eddie Shapira, also attended the conference. The guests toured the building of the future Jewish Community Center of Minsk, which is currently under construction and is expected to be completed in the near future. Participants in the meeting underlined the significant contribution to the development of Jewish communal life in Belarus that has been and continues to be made by the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic Countries, the Ohr Avner Foundation and personally by prominent philanthropist Lev Leviev.
The above-mentioned Jewish communities, in addition to those of Bobruisk, Orsha, Baranovichi, Borisov, Gomel, Gorki, Kobryn, Mozyr, Osipovichi, Kalinkovichi, Pinsk, Polotzk, Slutsk, Vitebsk, Stolin, and Rechitza are members of the Association of Jewish Communities of Belarus. By association, they are also affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and Baltic Countries.