By COLlive reporter
Rabbi Eli Riss, who led the Jewish community in his native region of Birobidzhan for 8 years, recently took up the position of head of the Otradnoye Campus of the Jewish University in Moscow.
“An important part of my life was spent in Birobidzhan,” said the 30-year-old Riss who studied in Israel, Moscow and New York. “It was hard for me to leave this city and its community. We have achieved a lot…”
Birobidzhan, the Jewish Autonomous Region in Russia’s Far East bordering China, has one of the fastest-growing communities in Russia, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia said. Riss oversaw the building there of the first Jewish Youth Center, a mikvah, and a kosher restaurant.
Taking his place is Rabbi Efraim Kolpak, a 23-year-old rabbi from Kharkiv who has been appointed the new rabbi of Birobidzhan which the Soviet authorities established in a remote corner of Siberia in the 1920s. The Yiddish language still enjoys official status and graces government buildings, outdoor signs and some street names, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The rabbi and his wife Ida Kolpak (nee Snetkov) arrived there on Monday along with their son Menachem Mendel. They will be leading the community and provide for their Jewish and religious needs in time for the Jewish New Year.
They were appointed under the Head Shliach and Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and the Head Shliach of Russian Far East, Rabbi Yakov Snetkov.
The Kolpaks will be leading the community in the small town which is very far away from any large Jewish community. Moscow, a center of Judaism with a large and flourishing Jewish community, is an 8-hour flight plus a 3-hour drive away.
Even with these challenges, the Kolpaks are excited about their new position.
“We are looking forward to bringing the light of Yiddishkeit to the people of Birobidzhan, a place which is kind of ‘Jewish’ but not necessarily filled with Judaism,” Mrs. Kolpak told COLlive.com.
VIDEO: Jewish life in Birobidzhan
What an incredible Shlichus! Doing what the Rebbe wants no matter what it takes!
We need more Chassidim like this!