Euroasian Jewish News

Rabbi Adolph Shaevich and Professor Michael Chlenov Honored in Moscow

On the evening of October 6, the Moscow Choral Synagogue hosted a celebration dedicated to the 30th anniversary of service for the Head Rabbi of Russia, Deputy Chairman of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress Rabbi Council (EAJC) Adolph Shaevich, and the 70th anniversary of EAJC Secretary General, Vaad Russia President, Professor Michael Chlenov.

The celebration was timed to the Extraordinary Congress of the Russian Jewish Congress. Among the many guests who had gathered to congratulate the heroes of the day were EAJC Vice Presidents Alexander Bronstein and Emmanuel Greenshpun, Head Rabbi of Moscow, EAJC Rabbi Council Secretary General Pinchas Goldshmidt, EAJC Executive Vice-President Yuri Raskin, and EAJC Director's Council member Victor Gaft.

On behalf of the EAJC President Alexander Mashekvich, Adolph Shaevich was given a congratulatory address and a gift – a symbolic olive staff. The EAJC leadership's salutation read as following: "We cordially congratulate you on a remarkable date – with the 30th anniversary of your service as a Rabbi. These years were not easy. Admittedly, there were never easy years in Jewish history. However, you became a Rabbi at a time when many Jews could not already – or yet – remember what this very word means. Against all odds, you preserved and supported the sputtering flame of faith. At your station of responsibility, you have lived through a time of changes, interesting times, which the Almighty is often asked to spare us altogether, and in which it is difficult to merely live, and service is much more demanding. You greeted all of the political, social, and community troubles of the Soviet times and post-Soviet with your trademark calm bravery.

You continue your complicated service today, when the main problems for Jewish life are created not by the government authorities, but by the authority of power. And you, upheld by your faith, face the challenges of time and respond to them.

In these thirty years, the country, community, and synagogue in which you have served have all changed. The only one that has not changed is the living symbol of this synagogue and this community – you, dear Adolph Shaevich. Wise, always friendly, open to all who require advice and support – for us you have always been and remain an exemplary Rabbi, flesh and blood of Russian Jewry.