Last week, the Ohr Avner Chabad Educational Center in Baku hosted a visit by the Israeli Minister of Welfare and Social Services Moshe Kahlon. The Minister was accompanied by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Michael Lavon-Lotem.
Chief Rabbi of Azerbaijan Shneur Segal, who is also a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary serving in the region, gave the guests a tour of the community institutions and spoke about the development of the community and its achievements. The Minister was particularly impressed with the spectacular new building for the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School, which was built with the support of Lev Leviev, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS.
The building is 3,500 square meters. At present, there are 250 children enrolled at the school, which is part of the Ohr Avner Chabad network, the largest Jewish educational network in the CIS.
Minister Kahlon thanked the Jewish community of Baku and expressed his appreciation of the entire Chabad-Lubavitch movement. He said that it through the Jewish community and Chabad-Lubavitch that Jews, who have been cut off from their roots, can become part of the Jewish community and return to their Jewish roots.