Photos: Levi Nazarov
The annual parade saluting Veterans in Moscow this year commemorated 71 years since Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany.
On a special podium in the Red Square, they sat side by side, two revolutionaries: The Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar, and the former president of the USSR, Mr. Michael Gorbachev.
One dismantled the Soviet Union 25 years ago and caused one of the most historical revolutions in our generation. The other caused a different kind of revolution, tirelessly restoring Russia’s Jewry to its former glory in the Shlichus of the Rebbe.
The two leaders conversed during the event. A source with Rabbi Lazar’s office wouldn’t disclose what they spoke about.
Continuing a yearly tradition, a group of Jewish veterans from the Shaarei Tzedek Chesed Center gathered along with young Mesivta students around the Memorial statue in the Red Square.
At the Kremlin’s walls, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the CIS, Rabbi Alexander Boroda joined them. He said a prayer, and the veterans, representing all of Russian Jewry, placed flowers on the memorial, as is the custom.
