Rabbi, Fire in the Hole

By COLlive reporter

This Shliach knows how to fire…

Rabbi Mendel Pewzner, Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in S. Petersburg, Russia, was invited to light up a cannon in a commemorative gesture honoring a milestone in the city.

The Grand Choral Synagogue, one of the most beautiful synagogues in the world, is celebrating 120 years since its establishment in the historical part of Russia’s former imperial capital.

A long running renovation project was just completed on the large synagogue which stayed open during the Nazi siege of the city (then called Leningrad) between 1941 and 1944. U.S. President George W. Bush visited there.

As Rabbi Pewzner fired the cannon, a person present noted that they were standing on the location where the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad, was imprisoned for supporting the poor in Israel.