History of the Jewish Community of St.-Petersburg

Historical information and the prehistory of the community Foundation of the community and its growth in XIX century Rabbis Ginzburg family Charity Education Mass media Scientific and cultural societies Professions old and new The unique relics of Jewish culture in the city collections. XX century Jews and the new power  The repressed community Years of ordeal If I forget Thee, Jerusalem Struggle for Alya and national revival After the break-up of the USSR

Historical information and the prehistory of the community    The Russian Empire, the capital of which St-Petersburg officially became in 1712, inherited from Moscow Russia the prohibition for Jews to enter the country. Nevertheless Peter I’s associates of Jewish origin appear in the city even in the very first days of existence of the new capital. Antoine Devier, a descendant of Portuguese christened Jews, invited by Peter I from Holland, was the first General Polizeimeister (chief of St. Petersburg police). Another christened Jew, Vice-Chancellor of the Russian Empire Peter P. Shafirov, was a top person in Russia’s foreign policy. We could also mention a number of other high-ranked officials. But of course their history does not have direct connection to the history of the city’s Jewish community formation. The Community really appeared when Russia as a result of its foreign policy turned into, so to say, “a Jewish place”.    This happened due to active reign of Catherine II (1762 - 1796). In that period the territory of Russia was significantly enlarged, and as the result of annexation of Crimea (1783), Lithuania, Poland and Volyn (1793-1795) together with new territories Russia acquired also a new type of population – the Jews. So by the end of XVIII century a significant number of East-European Ashkenazi Jews as well as Karaims and mountain Jews had become residents of the Russian Empire.     After annexation by Russia of the new territories the Jews were assigned the right to reside in the same places. However, they were forbidden to enter the “inner gubernias (regions)”. There existed the so-called Pale of Settlement. But the new subjects started to come to the capital on business. To manage Russian Jews a special commission was organized. It involved deputies from Jewish associations, who had “settled for good” in the new capital. Thus by the 1780-ies a small but constant Jewish community appears in St.-Petersburg. It was made up of Jewish deputies, headed by merchants from Byelorussia Abram Peretz and Nota Notkin. Their family members and servants came together with them. Gatherings of this small community took place in the house where Peretz was residing, that is on the corner of Nevsky avenue and Bolshaya Morskaya Street.         At the end of ХVIII century St.-Petersburg became the place of temporary residence of the founder of the new trend in Judaism – Chabad. Shneur-Zalman Borukhovich (the Alter Rebe) was accused of high treason by his religious opponents and brought to Peter-and-Paul Fortress. The Rebe managed to prove his innocence and soon he was released. 2 years later he was sued for the second time and called to St.-Petersburg. Finally his innocence was pronounced in 1801.

Foundation of the community and its growth in XIX century    In 1802 a plot was purchased for Jewish cemetery (in the Lutheran part of Volkov cemetery) and the first community book, pinchas, was started. Since this moment it is possible to consider that a Jewish community appeared in St.-Petersburg «de-facto».    Since 1828 Jews were being conscripted to the Russian army. Thus Jewish soldiers also appeared in St.- Petersburg. The law allowed their wives and children to live close to them – that is how small soldiers’ communities were formed. At first Jewish prayer meetings were held in the quarters, but later upon the authorities’ request Jewish soldiers had to rent special premises outside the quarters to organize meeting-houses.     In the mid-1850-ies retired Jewish soldiers and their families were allowed to reside in St.-Petersburg. They were craftsmen, peddlers, some of them got employment in the city police and fire brigades.     Since that time thanks to intercession of the great Jewish financier Evzel Ginzburg and in the spirit of liberal policy of Alexander II (reigned in 1855-1881) the right to reside in the capital was received by Jewish merchants of the I guild, Jewish craftsmen and eventually all Jews with higher education. The Jewish population of the capital was growing rapidly. In 1869, according to official data, 6654 Jews resided in St.-Petersburg, that is, 1% of the total population of the capital. The number of meeting-houses grew as well and not only soldiers’, but also merchants’ and craftsmen’s. In the same year Alexander II approved the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers permitting Jews to build the Grand Choral Synagogue instead of meeting-houses.

Rabbis    As early as in the middle of 1850-ies St.-Petersburg Jews got the right to invite rabbis from other places for their spiritual needs. The new community of the capital needed new rabbis speaking Russian and having European education. Since 1864 all St.-Petersburg official rabbis had doctorate degrees by different European Universities: Abram Isaiah Neiman, Abram Drabkin, Moisey Aizenshtadt. It is rather typical that after R. Neiman the leaders of the community rejected the candidature of his assistant Yitzhak Bleizer for the position of the rabbi because his Russian was poor. Having left for Vilno r. Bliezer became one of the founders of religious and ethic teaching of Musar.     In 1908 David Tovia Katzelenbogen was invited to hold the post of spiritual rabbi. In spite of not having a university diploma, he enjoyed high authority as an expert in Halacha.

Ginzburg family    It is quite natural that during your visit to St. Petersburg you are most likely to be fed up with the names of people connected with the culture and history of our city and our country, but nevertheless I would attract your attention to the name of the Ginzburgs. Three generations of this family played a really remarkable role both in foundation and development of the Jewish community of St.-Petersburg and in the life of Jews in the Russian Empire in general.    Evzel Ginzburg (1812 – 1878) not only founded in St.-Petersburg a banking-house which was for many decades one of the greatest banks in Russia, but also became one of the founders of St.-Petersburg Jewish community. He interceded for Jews with the authorities; he was a great philanthropist and advocate of Jewish enlightenment. In particular in 1863 he founded “The society for propagation of enlightenment among Jews in Russia». His son Horace (1833 – 1909) continued his father’s deeds. For 40 years he headed the community, was a great philanthropist, tried to make the government alleviate the hardships of Jewish life. David H. Ginzburg (1857 – 1910) inherited his father’s role both in the community leadership and in philanthropy. David Ginzburg was an outstanding figure in oriental studies, and he also founded a number of Jewish educational establishments. In 1874 Horace Ginzburg received baronial rank from the Duke of Hessen-Darmstadt, which passed to his descendants. The authority of the Ginzburgs was founded not only on their connections and wealth, but also on their high level of education and strong morality. Thanks to the Ginzburgs St.-Petersburg Jewish community retained enlightenment together with faithfulness to the tradition and rejection of the extremes of reformism.    In 1877 «The temporary regulations of St.-Petersburg Jewish community» were approved. These rules were valid up to 1917 and served as a sample for all Jewish community outside the Pale of Settlement. Since that time St.-Petersburg Jewish community started to form as a community of new type. Together with the traditional forms of Jewish community life (synagogue, charity institutions, Jewish schools) it developed Jewish periodicals, new system of Jewish education, Jewish scientific and cultural societies. St.-Petersburg Jews actively integrated into economic and cultural life of the city and the country. The main aim for the leaders of the capital community was to obtain equal rights for Jews.    These were the main directions of the community activities.

Charity    Charity in the metropolitan community followed the centuries-sanctified Jewish traditions and acquired new forms. The list of the donors for different charitable needs included hundreds of names. There were quite a lot of needs: purchase of matzos for the poor, provision of dowry for poor brides, distribution of money among the poor before the holidays. The community ran an orphanage and an alms-house. Since 1879 in the charity kosher canteen one could have a discounted dinner and on Fridays Jewish soldiers had free dinners.     The main Jewish charity organizations were already mentioned “The society for propagation of enlightenment among Jews in Russia” (OPE), “The society of crafts and agriculture among Russian Jews” (ORT), “The society for protection of the health o Jewish population” (OZE), “The society for support of poor Jews of St.- Petersburg” (OPBEP). The latter provided pensions for the elderly, gave extraordinary grants for the poor, helped Jewish prisoners and provided help for non-resident Jews in case they had no money to return home. It was headed by Baron Horace Ginzburg. Being the chairman of the executive committee of St.-Petersburg Jewish community, he was a member of boards of 8 Jewish and 13 all-Russian charitable societies.

Education   The merit of St.-Petersburg community was the creation of the system of new Jewish education, which became the property of the whole Russian Jewry.     The Russian government regarded Jewish secular education as a means for their conversion. The leaders of St.-Petersburg and Russian Jewry searched to create such a system of Jewish education, which would retain Jewish religion and culture but would provide the Jewish youth with all the achievements of contemporary science. In 1863 upon the initiative of Evzel Ginzburg “The society for propagation of enlightenment among Jews in Russia” was created. A very important part of the Society’s activities was creation of curricula and textbooks for the new Jewish school, which combined teaching traditional Jewish and general subjects. In 1896 at the All-Russian art and industrial exhibition in Nizhniy Novgorod OPE was awarded a diploma for the presented samples of curricula, textbooks and visual teaching aids for Jewish schools.     In 1880 “The society of crafts and farming among Russian Jews” (ORT) was founded in St.-Petersburg; its aim was to create the system of professional training for Jews and the aid to Jewish craftsmen. ORT gave the students of 3 schools and 46 classes the most actual professions (electrician, draftsman, driver, projectionist). In fact, an ORT certificate guaranteed employment. In 1914 ORT began raising funds all over the world to help Jewish refugees and to provide professional education for Jews. Later it changed into an international organization. Nowadays the ORT system covers many countries in the world.      In 1907 upon David Ginzburg’s initiative in St.-Petersburg the Jewish university was founded (its official name was High Courses in Oriental Studies). It was the first humanitarian university, which combined the traditional Jewish approach in Semitic studies and Judaics with the newest achievements in the world science.     From 1910 to 1917 a specialized teacher’s magazine “The bulletin of Jewish enlightenment» was published in St.-Petersburg. Thus St.-Petersburg became the methodological center for Jewish education.

Mass media    The influence of St.-Petersburg Jewish community on the spiritual life of the Russian Jewry was realized through periodicals. In 1886 a daily newspaper in Hebrew “Ha-Melitz” (“Protector”) began to be published in the capital. Almost at the same moment the magazine “Mitzpah” (“Watchtower”) came into existence. Their publisher was A.O. Tzederbaum, a prominent figure in Jewish enlightenment. He also published a Yiddish newspaper “Yidishes Volksblatt” («Jewish Popular Newspaper”) and founded several Jewish editions in Russian (“Russian Jew”, “Sunrise”, etc.)      The heyday of Jewish press in Russian was connected with the name of A.Ye. Landau. Since 1871 he published in St.-Petersburg 10 issues of the historical and literary collection «Jewish Library», which was very popular among educated Jews all over Russia. In 1881 – 1899 Landau published a monthly Russian-language magazine “Voskhod” (“Sunrise”). This magazine was the most prominent (and after 1884 – the only) Russian-language Jewish periodical in Russia. From 1882 to 1897 there was a weekly supplement to this magazine, “Nedelnaya khronika Voskhoda” (Sunrise Weekly Chronicle”)     In 1908 – 1913 the publishing house “Brokgauz i Efron” together with the Society for Jewish Scientific Publications published a 16-volume Russian-language «Jewish Encyclopedia». This edition has not lost its scientific value up to this day.

Scientific and cultural societies     St.-Petersburg was the greatest Russian center for the activities of Jewish scientific and popularizing societies. As early as in 1891 Historical and Ethnographical department was formed at the “The Society for Propagation of Enlightenment among Jews in Russia” (SEJ). And in 1908 the Jewish Historical and Ethnographical society was established, on the base of which the permanent Jewish ethnographical expedition began its work. In 1904 in the Grand Choral Synagogue an exhibition was launched, which was later reorganized into an archive and a museum located in the building of the Jewish almshouse. In 1914 temporary exhibitions started there; in 1916 the exhibition became permanent.     In 1908 the Society of Jewish Folk Music was created. It studied Jewish spiritual and folk music and played an important role in the development of Jewish professional music. The branches of the society opened in Moscow, Kiev, and Kharkov. The Society organized  concerts in St.-Petersburg and tours around Russia, Germany, Austro-Hungary. It also published collections of works by Jewish composers. Among the leaders of the society were I.S. Tomars, L.I. Saminsky, M.S. Riversman, M.F. Gnesin, A.M. Zhitomirsky.     Besides there were also Jewish History and Literary Society, Jewish Society on Art Promotion, Jewish Theatrical Society and other Jewish scientific and cultural societies.

Professions old and new     St.-Petersburg Jews integrated quite actively into economical and cultural life of the capital, successfully mastering occupations quite new for the traditional Jewry. As early as in 1869 in the list of Jews constantly residing in St. Petersburg onе can find not only bankers and merchants, but also university professors, doctors, journalists, architects. And among Jewish craftsmen there were not only tailors, furriers and shoemakers, but also photographers and mechanics. In the course of time St.-Petersburg Jews obtained the leading position in medicine (almost every fifth doctor and almost half of all the dentists of the capital), legal profession (more than 20% of certified lawyers and about 44% of their assistants), pharmacy (almost two-thirds of drugstore owners), printing arts (more than a third), watchmaking and trade in watches (more than two thirds), photography (every fifth studio owner).     St.-Petersburg Jews owned linen, furriery and hosiery workshops, metalwork, mechanic and cabinetmaking shops.     Many St.-Petersburg Jews played an important role in managing the largest banks and joint-stock companies.     Rather noticeable was the Jewish presence in St.-Petersburg journalism.     All-Russia fame belonged to St.-Petersburg lawyer O. O. Gruzenberg, among whose clients were prominent writers A.M. Gorky, V. Korolenko, K.I. Chukovsky, politicians P.N. Milyukov, L.D. Trotsky, participants of Armenian nationalist movement, etc. In Jewish circles he was most popular due to participation in such «Jewish cases» as the case on Minsk and Kishinyov pograms, as well as the famous Beilis case. Even in distant shtettls Gruzenberg was known as a passionate defender of Jews.     In St.-Petersburg Jews successfully mastered the art of architecture (L.I. Bakhman, M. I. Segal, E.Ya. Levi, Ya. Gevirtz, B.I. Girshovich), sculpture (M. M. Antokolsky, I.Ya. Ginzburg), painting (I.L. Askinaziy, M.L. Maimon and even M.Z. Shagall). In 1912 in St.-Petersburg the society «Betzalel» was founded and in 1915 – Jewish Society on Arts Promotion.

The unique relics of Jewish culture in the city collections.     Speaking about the achievements of Jewish community in the XIX c., we should stress one more fact, which may be most important from the point of view of Jewish culture. In the period of formation and development of the Jewish community, the city of St.-Petersburg turns into the greatest depository of Jewish rarities in the world – and first of all, of Jewish manuscripts. Maybe you will be surprised to learn that emperor Alexander II, who granted permission to build the Grand Choral Synagogue, purchased for his own money some absolutely unique collections of Jewish manuscripts for the Emperor’s public library (now Russian National Library). The following rarities are preserved in St.-Petersburg:     - the earliest dated Jewish manuscript in the world – the manuscript of the books of Latter Prophets with Babylonian punctuation of year 916; the earliest existing manuscript of the Pentateuch of  year 929 and the earliest existing manuscript of the complete Jewish Bible of year 1008. The total number of Jewish manuscripts in St.-Petersburg collections amounts to 21 219.    For the 300th anniversary of our city the community published an album “The selected pearls. The unique moments of Jewish culture in St.-Petersburg». This album may be purchased at the synagogue shop. It is a really beautiful and interesting edition, which can be recommended to everybody who is interested in the history of these collections in St.-Petersburg, as well as Judaics in general. The book is bilingual (English and Russian).

XX century    Since the beginning of the ХХ century St.-Petersburg Jews got more and more involved into all-Russian political life. In the first Russian Parliament, State Duma, Jews were represented mostly by the deputies from the Pale of Settlement gubernias (regions). But the stage of their political activities was St.-Petersburg. The majority of Jewish deputies adhered to the Party of People’s Liberty (The Kadets).     The overthrow of the tsar’s government and the decree on abolishing all ethnic and religious limitations (first of all – the Pale of Settlement) was greeted joyfully by Petrograd (the name of St. Petersburg in 1914-1924) Jewry. It is interesting, that the decree dated by March 20th 1917 fell just on the eve of Passover and naturally was perceived as a symbol of emancipation from slavery. In spring and fall of 1917 various congresses of different Jewish organizations and political parties took place in Petrograd. The competition between the main Jewish parties (liberals, socialists and Zionists) sharpened. But all the plans and hopes were doomed to failure by the October upheaval.

Jews and the new power     The majority of Russian Jewry did not support the October upheaval. Jews-Bolsheviks belonged to the most denationalized part of Jewry. Having attained the highest posts in All-Russian Communist Party (of Bolsheviks) and the Soviet Power bodies, they furiously oppressed all the manifestations of Jewish religious or ethnic life. For example, in 1918 only 19 of 70 Jewish public organizations were re-registered by the authorities (OPE, ORT, etc.), by 1922 all Zionist organizations became illegal. Leningrad Jewish religious community (LERO) was registered on January 26, 1925. A special meeting was held in the Grand Choral synagogue and an appeal towards the Jews of the city to enter the religious community was issued.     Before the revolution there already was a Chassidic community in St.-Petersburg. In 1920-ies the number of Lubavicher Chassidim increased due to migration. The majority of the meeting houses, registered in the city in the end of the 1920 – beginning of the 1930-ies were Chassidic. In 1924-1927 the head of Lubavicher Chassidim - the 6th Lubavich Rebe Ioseph Yitzhak Shneerson – lived in Leningrad. For a short period of time Leningrad turned into the all-world center of Chabad. Bolsheviks tried to get the support of such an authoritative Jewish religious leader, but in vain. Then they turned first to baiting in press and then to repressions. In June 1927 the Rebe was arrested. He was put into the inner prison of LenOGPU and accused of anti-Soviet subversion. After a short investigation the verdict was brought in – execution. But the intercession of the world society and the Political Red Cross (headed by the former wife of M. Gorky Ekaterina Peshkova) helped to commute execution first for imprisonment, then for 3-years’ exile to Kostroma; then the term of exile was shortened and eventually the Rebe was released and in several months got the possibility to leave the USSR. So we can say that St.-Petersburg was the place of 2 miracles with the leaders of Chassidism – the Alter Rebe was fully discharged and released from Peter-and-Paul Fortress (a very rare case in Russian political history) and the 6th Rebe escaped, with the help of God, a Bolshevik bullet.

The repressed community    As early as in 1923 rabbi M. Aizenshtadt emigrated from the USSR. Rabbi T.D. Katzenelenbogen, who remained in Leningrad, in spite of very old age, fulfilled his duties up to his death in 1930. In 1934 the leaders of the community invited a prominent Chassidic rabbi Mendel Gluskin to Leningrad. After his death in December 1936 the Leningrad community remained without a rabbi. The end of 1930-ies saw new oppressions of the religion. In January 1930, «meeting the working population’s will”, the Leningrad Soviet decreed to close the Synagogue. However, being afraid of international protests, they opened it in less than in half a year. But by 1939 all the other meeting houses were closed. From the policy of governmentalisation of ethnic public structures the authorities proceeded to the policy of their liquidation. By 1930 the majority of Jewish cultural, popularizing and public organizations ceased to exist. The last Jewish organization, which existed up to 1938, was the Society of Land Surveying of Jewish workers. In 1938 the last Jewish ethnic school №11 was closed and its principal, prominent teacher and musician Z.A. Kisselhof was arrested. Thanks to the connections of his pupils he was released, but soon died of the consequences of tortures he had undergone during the investigation. All periodicals in Hebrew were banned. Among those who perished were a Hebrew poet H. Lensky, prominent Hebraists I. Ravreve and S. Tzinberg, repressed were members of the Hebrew group A. Zarkhin, R. Levin, B. Raize and others.

Years of ordeal     The Great Patriotic War began. Leningrad Jews together with other city dwellers suffered all the hardships of the siege. In the first winter of the siege daily praying congregations were held in the basement of the right wing of the Grand Choral synagogue. A narrow path led to the basement and on the side of it there were stacks of dead corpses. Then they were brought to Preobrazhenskoye cemetery. Every day elderly Jews coming to pray told about the death of a member of the congregation. Traditional families continued to keep Shabbat, but instead of challah and wine there was a piece of grey bread from the ration.      On the first days of the war thousands of Jews were summoned to the Army or went to the front as members of civilian levies. A great number of Jews served as sappers, signalmen, military doctors and front journalists. They were specialists whose civil professions were needed at the front. At the same time, many Jews fought in the infantry, artillery, reconnaissance, naval landing parties. Among the command of the Leningrad front there were 24 Jewish generals and 6 admirals. In September 1941 the Nazis occupied Pushkin. More than 800 Jews of the town were shot in the Palace Park. The place of their death has not been determined exactly, but nowadays in Pushkin there is a monument “The Formula of Mourning” raised thanks to the efforts of St.-Petersburg Jews.

If I forget Thee, Jerusalem    In 1950-60-ies there came a certain abatement of the policy of governmental anti-Semitism. But Jewish religious life was still under the control of the authorities. Thus, all the contacts of the believers with foreign tourists, who visited the synagogue, were supervised by the KGB. Nevertheless the Jewish life in the city went on. The Rabbi of Leningrad synagogue at that time was Abram Lubanov. Being a Chassid, he showed loyalty to all the believers and enjoyed the respect by all the Leningrad Jews. The Khazan of the synagogue at those years was Gedalie Pechersky. Together with several associates he organized an underground system of help to lonely Jewish elders. The Shoichet, r. Razran, organized an underground cheder in his home, where he taught Tanach to 3-4 boys. On the days of Jewish holidays the Lermontovsky prospect near the synagogue was blocked by police cars. Young Jews, who attended the synagogue, were expelled from komsomol and universities and persecuted by all possible means. It seemed that the authorities managed to press Jewish religious life back to the periphery, having made it an attribute of the gradually dying out elders. But the Jewish youth who had grown in isolation from the national traditions, didn’t want to reconcile with the limitations and strived to return to their roots. From the middle of 1960-ies young Jews began to gather in the synagogue on holidays; on weekdays they met at somebody’s flats or out of town. Underground ulpans for studying Hebrew and Jewish history were organized, the records of radio broadcasts of “The Voice of Israel” were spread and since 1966 youth Zionist organization appeared. In the summer of 1970 members of the Zionist organization were arrested in the attempt to hi-jack a small passenger jet from Rzhevka airport. They wanted to fly to Sweden, give there a press-conference and tell the world about the situation with Soviet Jews. Arrests took place not only in Leningrad, but all over the country. The participants of the “jet case” were sentenced for long terms of imprisonment. But the “jet case” stirred up Jewish national self-consciousness.

Struggle for Alya and national revival     After «the jet case» immigration to Israel became possible for a short while. But soon almost all who wished to emigrate were refused. By 1980-ies in Leningrad a circle of “refuzniks” was formed, which included several hundreds of Jews forced to stay in the USSR. It was they who found a way to revive the national self-consciousness. They started the process of spiritual Alya. “Refuzniks” organized seminars, studied Hebrew, taught children in underground Sunday schools, staged home performances on Purim and Chanukah. They involved their families and friends in these activities. During 7-8 years the number of Jews who participated in national revival grew dozens of times. Illegal work in ulpans and seminars seriously changed many of refuzniks and their folks: some of them became professional researchers and teachers of Hebrew, Jewish history, literature and art, Jewish religious philosophy.    The place to look for associates was the Synagogue. After r. Lubanov’s death the position of the rabbi in Leningrad synagogue was vacant for 7 years. In 1980 Efim Levitis, the graduate of Yeshiva “Kol’Yakov” was assigned to Leningrad synagogue. He was the Chief Rabbi of Leningrad synagogue up to the middle of 1990-ies. By the middle of 1980-ies there were 2 flat seminars in Judaism (one with prevailing academic approach and the second – a Chassidic one). Other Jewish seminars were dedicated to the study of Hebrew (so-called “dibburim”), Jewish history, ethnography and local lore. The participants of the seminars made reports and published their works in «Leningrad Jewish Almanac» (LEA). LEA is one more object of pride of the Leningrad “refuzniks”. For 7 years it was regularly typewritten in 80-90 copies and distributed not only in Leningrad, but all over the country. This almanac was the only Jewish illegal periodical which the KGB failed to do away with.     In 1975 several Jewish artists formed the group «Aleph». Its title (the first letter of the Jewish alphabet) symbolized the start of a difficult road towards Jewish national art and conversion of artists of Jewish origin into Jewish artists. Besides children Jewish Sunday schools “refuzniks” created a pre-school walking group and ulpans for adults. Ulpan teachers united to form a pedagogical seminar, where the methodology of teaching Hebrew was discussed. Once again our city became the center of Jewish educational specialists.     In 1982 – 1983 Jewish activists began to hold meeting in the memory of Holocaust victims at the Jewish cemetery, near the grave of Lurie-Gelb family. In 1987 the memory meeting was held in the yard of the Farewell House and involved 200 people. Since that time such meetings have been held annually. In March 1987 Jewish activists held a picket at the building of the Regional Committee of CPSU. Since that moment “refuzniks” started to receive permission to immigrate.

After the break-up of the USSR     With the start of perestroika, break-up of the USSR and the advent of the new state, the Russian Federation, in 1991, religious and cultural life of Jewish religious community of the city started returning to normal.     On Jewish holidays again many Jews come to the synagogue, a good number of congregation members attend prayers daily. There are classes and lectures on Judaism at the community, Jews again study Torah and tradition. Children again attend Jewish kindergartens and schools.    The community has a mikvah, a kosher shop, where you can buy souvenirs and books on Judaism, you can also visit a kosher restaurant “Le’chaim”.     For more detailed information please visit the corresponding sections of the website