After two decades of actively reviving the Jewish community in the city of Mogilev, Belarus, and after about five years of construction, the long awaited day finally arrived for the Jews of the big city.
A magnificent Jewish Community Center was inaugurated with great splendor and pomp that will forever leave its mark in the hearts of the city’s many Jews. Over the years they saw before their eyes as the community grew and developed, and its great need for a multi-dimensional building with diverse functions, in order to accommodate all of this.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar Shlita, arrived in Mogilev, and was received with great excitement by representatives of the community and its institutions, led by the city’s Shliach Rabbi Menachem Mendel Alperovitz.
Ever since his arrival in Mogilev, the Chief Rabbi stood by his side in all stages of development, especially since construction began for the large JCC. For this purpose, the distinguished guest recruited philanthropists Mr. Avraham Asher Zhurov from Moscow, who was born in Mogilov, the Rohr family, the 770 Foundation, alongside Rabbi Alperovitz’s friend, philanthropist Mr. Yevgeny Baskin of Mogilov, as well as additional donors from the city and from all over the world.
The grand ceremony began with affixing of the mezuzah at the main entrance of the building. A thrill of excitement ran through the audience, who responded with a roar of “Amen” as the Chief Rabbi said the bracha while affixing the mezuza. He then delivered a stirring speech to all the Jews of Mogilev and the region. In it, he called for them to come frequently to the new building, and to bring more of the younger generation, and to join them in connecting with Mogilev’s rich Jewish heritage, which had glorious days until World War II, in which the nazis murdered tens of thousands of the city’s Jews.
The large complex, located in one of the most central locations in the city – in the heart of the pedestrian zone, on Leninskaya Street with tens of thousands of passerby every day. It includes a spacious synagogue, a fully equipped kosher kitchen, an event hall, activity rooms and classrooms for children and youth.
In affixing mezuzas on additional doorposts, Rabbi Alperovitz honored the chairman of the “Or Avner” Education Foundation, Rabbi David Mondshine, as well as many rabbis and shluchim, who traveled from far and near to rejoice together with their colleague in the holy work of restoring the crown of Russian and Belarusian Jewry. He also honored the governors and their representatives who came to participate in the special occasion, which continued with a magnificent seudas mitzvah. During the seuda, certificates of appreciation and awards were presented to the esteemed donors, to the sounds of singing by the children’s choir as well as members of the Alperovitz family.
Rabbi Alperovitz, showed the guests a photo taken during the Nazi occupation of the city, right in the very same place where the new building stands today.
In the photo, a Nazi soldier is seen supervising a group of Jews marching under their command. Rabbi Alperovitz noted emotionally that this is the most tangible example of the transformation of evil into goodness and the revelation that our world is the garden of God, as explained in the famous Maamar “Basi LeGani,” which was given to us to study 75 years ago on Yud Shvat.
The beautiful event concluded with the writing of the first letters for a magnificent new Torah scroll, which upon completion will be brought in to the synagogue in the newly inaugurated building.
There is no doubt that the activity of the Jewish community in the city of Mogilev received a great boost from this event, both from members of the Jewish community and from government representatives who considered it their duty and honor to come and participate in the event, as well as receive an expression of appreciation for their great help in every stage of the building’s construction.
Photography: Stanislav Rudkovsky
