For the fun of it

I decided to search in Russian for news of Stavropol Jewry.

Well, the fight is still going on out there. Yefim still up to his dirty tricks. As mentioned, his girlfriend works for one of Stavropol's local newspapers. Here is an excerpt from an article in there:

You can clearly see that the new experts of local government in international work J. Shepelin and V. Novikov don't know how to cope with a situation. They divide diasporas choosing which ones are "close" to city administration and which ones are now "far" from it. As it is known, such divisions are peculiar to people and the result of mafia-like activity.

Take the scandal of today, September 20. At a government meeting, the local officials didn't call the original city Jewish organisation "Shalom" which established Judaism back in the city. On the contrary, instead they called the newly appeared rabbi, the Chassid Nesterov, who only represents the Stavropol mountain Jews and an other fringe Jewry. Novikov defines now to whom and how to participate in city life.



Note: Novikov is the mayor, I believe.

Source: http://pan.ru/index.php3?tp=2&bid=30908&id=30890

I may be wrong

But I'm pretty sure this guy (Alexander Ridchenko) is the FSB guy who interrogated me the Friday night when I was thrown out of Russia.

I have this photo because he 'visited' my odnoklassniki page (and you can see guests on that website).

Again, I'm not sure if it's him. I only vaguely remember him, but I'm pretty sure it was an officer Ridchenko.

Rosh Hashana in Stavropol

STAVROPOL, Russia – This year, Jews of Stavropol welcomed the new year at the Intourist Hotel. The Chief Rabbi of Stavropol Alexander Nesterov, the Jewish community of Stavropol, and the charitable fund Chesed Bentsion, were the sponsors of the pre-Rosh Hashanah celebration.

Representatives of many communities attended the celebration and extended their best wishes to the Jewish community for the upcoming year. Among them were representatives of the Ossetian, Georgian, Armenian, and Dagestani peoples, the Slavic national-cultural autonomy, the Chief Mufti of Stavropol Region, and Father Vladimir Volkov, a representative of the Stavropol and Vladikavkaz diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Local officials also came out on this occasion, with words shared by V. Novikov, the chairman of the Nationalities Committee of Stavropol, A. Selyukov, who represents Russia’s President on human rights issues in the Stavropol Region, Deputy Governor S.N. Erin, and other regional government representatives.

Rabbi Nesterov gave the opening speech, wishing everyone a happy and sweet New Year. Both the Mufti and Father Vladimir congratulated all Jews on this holiday, noting that such events contribute to the strengthening of friendship between communities, faiths and society in the North Caucasus region.

Rabbi Alexander then blew the shofar, after which guests enjoyed apples with honey, pastries, and other refreshments. The evening featured a concert by students from the Sunday school, who sang Jewish songs of the High Holiday season and danced, and a musical performance that included both traditional Jewish tunes as well as popular hits.

"The Jewish community is confident that the New Year will bring mutual understanding and friendly relations, in the spirit of tolerance which is so much a part of our Jewish tradition,” emphasized Rabbi Nesterov.

Source: http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=1305122

Note: the pitcure used in that source is not one of Stavropol...

The photo at the top is an actual photo someone took on Rosh Hashana of Rabbi Nesterov blowing the shofar. :-)

Some news from the community in Stavropol

1 - Some anti-Semite went around Lenin square spraypainting 'kill the Jews' and 'Heil Hitler' (ym"sh). He was caught, however, and forced to remove the spraypaint as well as imprisoned for a couple of years.

At least the courts there got something right.

2 - Feofan is the Christian archbishop of Russia and one of its top religious leaders. He lives in Stavropol and his church is in the center of the city and is quite magnificent. People come from all over to see him. I've heard he is a miracle-worker too.

Back when I was in Stavropol, former community leader Yefim Fainer told me that he tried to organize a meeting with Feofan but the archbishop didn't like meeting people of other religions and so we never met.

It's been a month since Rabbi Alexander Nesterov arrived in Stavropol, and he's already met with Feofan, which is excellent news.
Feofan and Rabbi Nesterov discussed the people of Stavropol needing religion and how many have been trying to shake the peace. They decided that the religious leaders have to be united.

3 - Then Rabbi Nesterov was brought to meet the grand Mufti of Stavropol, Muhammed-Hadzhi Rakhimov, which is another thing I never got to do, since apparently according to Yefim the Muslim leader 'wanted nothing to do with Jews.'

This is even better news, and is sure to establish Rabbi Nesterov in Stavropol as a religious leader.

They spoke about the necessity to discuss everything that happens in international relations.


Rabbi Nesterov told the Mufti how difficult it was to work with youth today and how they need religion now more than ever. He said that all faiths have this problem and we need to teach them about other cultures and tolerance.

The mufti agreed.

4 - Then he did another thing I didn't get to do. He met with a bubnch of ministers. I'm not sure who the one in the photo is. With him is new community leader Kostya Solomonov.


He spoke with the minister of education about the teaching of history and comparative religion in the schools.

He chatted with the minister of labour and social protection about the government helping socially dependable people. Rabbi Nesterov suggested they organize something in which the community as well as the ministry combine to help these people.

He then met with the minister of justice, where they talked about the the public work of religious organizations and the legal side of it.

He also visited Ministry of Health of Stavropol Territory and the ministry of property relations, Office of Public Prosecutor of Stavropol Territory.

5 - This one I did, but it wasn't organized through Yefim. I just traveled there myself to meet the leaders of nearby Jewish communities.

Here's Rabbi Nesterov with the leaders of the community of Kislovodsk.



They met in the Sochnut offices. Here he is with many of the community leaders who traveled to Stavropol, along with their youth leaders. Natasha Kulugina of the Sochnut is standing in this picture. I'm sure she organized this - she is a very good woman.


6 - And finally, he went around Stavropol visiting the Jews who cannot leave the house. Again, I am sure Natasha took him. Yefim never did anything of the sort, and before one Pesach Natasha went with me to all these very poor people and introduced me to the Jews and I gave them Matza and chatted with them all.

I've written about Gennady Khasminsky, the actor who loved Lecha Dodi and friday night Davening at my home.

Well, here's Rabbi Nesterov blowing the shofar for him in his home (which I also visited). Gennady also is wearing Tefillin.

Keep it up, Rabbi Nesterov!!



Here's a source

Just another news story - in English

http://www.fjc.ru/news/newsArticle.asp?AID=1231174

Lots to update

How long has it been? A year?

Well, here's an update. With pictures! (see below).

This past Shabbos I was in the Russian shul for the kiddush and they asked me to speak. I was after a few Lechaims, and seeing a new face that looked 'Stavropolish' on my way to the front of the table where they wanted me to stand, I asked the man in Russian "mountain Jew?"

"Yes."

"From where?"

"Pyatigorsk."

"Cool. You were my responsibility a year ago. I lived in Stavropol."

His eyes lit up.

Then I told the story of Chaim Khanukayev, which I'd written here before about the student, a great grandson of Rabbi Rachman of Grozni Chechnya (he showed me a picture) who lives in Zelenokumsk (find it on a map).

We tried to meet many times, but it didn't work out.

Punkt on the second that my secretary asks me in the street why I wear a hat and jacket in public when it's dangerous and I tell her that I meet Jews that way, I got a phone call from Chaim, who had spotted me from across the street ONLY BECAUSE OF MY HAT AND JACKET and given me a hug, after which we had him over a few times.

Anyway, after the story I spoke to this guy, Arkady. Turns out his cousins live in Stavropol, and he talks to them regularly. I know them. The wife isn't a Jew but wants to convert. They have a baby boy.

Hashgacha protis.

So I decided to post, because of the other good news.

A new Rabbi just moved to Stavropol!

Yes, it's true. I knew about it for a while and have been giving all my files over to him.

His name is Alex Nesterov, and he's from Ufa, Russia. He's a real good guy. Married, with a baby.

I'm so grateful that all our work didn't go for nothing. Also, I have to thank Rabbi Lazar for treating us way and beyond what anyone could have ever hoped.

He sent me most of these photos.

I also need to update the political situation.

After throwing us out, Yefim lost everyone and everything. He's only full of hatred. Finally the community banded together and with help from Moscow, they created a new Jewish community - of Stavropol Krai!

Kostya Solomonov is the president of the new community, and he calls me regularly to chat and discuss what should be done.

Hopefully he will now do this with the new Rabbi and our chats will mostly be just catching up. He always tells me the community still wants us back as a second Rabbi.

Rabbi Lazar and Alexander Boroda flew down to introduce Rabbi Nesterov to the community. They met with the governor and toured the old Shul. According to the news, the work will get started for the shul to be returned to the community. Rabbi Lazar also was clear that he was giving this new community his full support.

He also met with all potential and former sponsors.

Here are some news articles.

http://feor.ru/news/index.php?newsid=9030

http://www.jewish.ru/news/cis/2010/06/news994286140.php

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=35990 - mentions that there are 3000 Jews in Stavropol.

http://www.aen.ru/?page=article&category=tradition&article_id=1510&PHPSESSID=mr9gi7h7gutimbq35aocn039q2 with a picture

http://www.gubernator.stavkray.ru/?go=news&news=2296 - THIS IS FROM GOVERNOR GAIEVSKY'S SITE. Pictures of the Rabbis meeting Gaievsky (who is rumored to be Jewish, by the way). Their it says that Rabbi Nesterov was also at the meeting.




(L-R) President of cmomunity Kostya Solomonov, Sochnut head Natasha Kuligina, Rabbi Alex Nesterov the Rabbi of Stavropol, Reb Alexander Boroda head of the Russian Jewish Federation and Rabbi Berel Lazar chief Rabbi of Russia


The crowd.



Rabbi Lazar with the Davydov family.




Kostya Solomonov president of the community now, Rabbi Lazar, and Rabbi Nesterov






Ilana Berkun holds the Nesterov baby.

For all you hockey fans

I cfried from laughter: http://www.downgoesbrown.com/2010/01/other-toronto-maple-leaf-training-camp.html

The complete Kovalev story

I was recently asked by a contact to email him my 'Alex Kovalev' story, and I looked back in the blog archives, and found it cut into pieces, so I figure I'll write the story again in full.

In my early months in Stavropol, I used taxis all the time to get from the Jewish center to my apartment. One evening after work, I got into a taxi and sat down wearing my hat and jacket.

The driver looked at me and said, "hey, are you Jewish?"

"SuperJewish."

He said, "My grandmother was a Jew."

"Maternally, or paternally?"

"My mother's mother."

"Then you are a Jew too!"

With typical Russian mentality, he says, "then why don't I have money?"

Turned out he was a solid guy, and we really got along. I told him that while we are disproportionately wealthy, most Jews are quite poor, actually. He told me that he knows why Judaism is through the mother - "since you never know who the father is."

We had lots of fun chatting, and when we reached my apartment, I told him I want to invite him and his family for a Shabbos meal. He refused, explaining that while I may consider him a Jew, he doesn't consider himself a Jew. So I told him to come instead to the Purim event. He again refused.

Finally, I told him that I use taxis all the time, and I'd rather give a fellow Jew business. So i asked him for his phone number, and warned him that I'd nonetheless be calling him occassionally to invite him for a meal.

I put his number into my phone, and then asked him his name. He handed me his passport and I flipped out. His name was Alex Kovalev.

I thought to myself, out of the thousands of Chabad Rabbis that could be sent around the world, G-d sent the ONE crazy Canadiens fan to Stavropol.

For those who don't know, at the time Alex Kovalev was the best player on the Canadiens. Matter of fact, there are groups in Montreal still making petitions for him to return to Montreal.

I told him, "oh my gosh! You have the same name as one of the greatest hockey players in the world. Did you know that?"

"No."

I told him to research a little into who the other Alex Kovalev was. I told him that I was a huge fan, and now he HAD to come for Shabbos. He smiled and shrugged off the invitation.

Over the next year, I would regularly use his taxi, and we had many fun conversations. I even moved the Torah out of the Jewish center during that battle using his car, and stopped on the side of the road to show him what it was. Of course, he always refused my invitations for a good Shabbos meal.

Two weeks before I was thrown out of Russia by the FSB together with R' Yisroel Silberstein (presumably for spreading Yiddishkeit, though I'm still not sure why), I gave my secretary a list of people to call and invite for a class on the subject of prayer.

An hour before the class, I called her and asked her who was coming. She went through the list, and finishes odd with "and Alex Kovalev."

I thought I didn't hear her correctly, but she confirmed that Kovalev would be there. I wondered why he had suddenly agreed to come.

The class was amazing, and he asked many questions. After the class, everyone left but Kovalev stayed. I asked him why he had suddenly come, and his answer was even more incredible.

He had a sister who lived in the Czech republic, an hour out of Prague. She was married to Czech guy, whose name was (here I may be mistaken) Uzhik. She was pregnant with a boy, and the Czech tradition is that every firstborn son in the family is named after the father.

In other words, this Uzhik was the son of Uzhik who was the son of Uzhik for generations.

Everyone in her village knew the baby would be named Uzhik, and someone even knitted her an 'Uzhik' baby blanket.

When they went to register the baby's name, the guy behind the counter asked what the name would be. She looks up and says, "Dovid."

He husband was shocked. "Don't you mean Uzhik?"

"No, the baby MUST BE Dovid."

The village was in an uproar, and even she didn't understand why she had named her baby Dovid - where the name had come from.

She called her brother and told him the story. He answered, "You are a Jew! Everyone knows that dovid is a Jewish name! I met this crazy Rabbi here and he explained that we are Jews. That's the only explanation I can think of!"

No sooner did an amazed Alex Kovalev hang up the phone on her, then my secretary called with an invitation to come to my class (and he wasn't supposed to be on that list).

He had to come to share the story with me.

I wonder where Alex Kovalev is now and how he is doing. I hope another Rabbi moves out to Stavropol, or I'm allowed back there someday. It was a special place.

Shout out to BENNY!!!

Not Friedman you weirdos. Benny my brother, who blogs at running84.blogspot.com


He posted this cute picture of Chaim Shimshon and his cousin Kovi (Benny's son) watching Malkali together back when Kovi was visiting Montreal.

so cute!

Stepher Harper is AWESOME

Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of Chabad of centrepoint shows the PM something...

Here is a terrific article about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Chabad of Mumbai.

Ottawa!

This past Shabbos, Rabbi Chaim Mendelsohn of Chabad of Centrepoint, which is an area in Ottawa - was in Mumbai with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who in my opinion is the greatest PM Canada has ever had. Anyway, Harper was going to visit Chabad of Mumbai (he didn;t visit any other locations) on the yahrzeit of the Kedoshim, and he asked Rabbi Mendelsohn, who was close to him before he even became Prime Minister, to join him.

So we came to Ottawa to cover for him. I think I did a good job leining, giving a nice speech and leading the Davening, and on Sunday we went downtown and to the Canadian Museum of civilization, which has an entire well made Children's area.

Here are some photos:



Chayale in front of the parliament building, where they have fire on water (or is it water on fire)?


Miriam in front of the parliament building.



In the Museum of Civilization, where Miriam got to be a shopkeeper and sell vegetables.


On a ship. Of all the cool things you can do like lift actual boxes and move them around via pulley, all Chaim wanted to do was take a mop and clean the deck (which he saw some other kid do).




Miriam in front of the pyramid. Inside there is a secret passageway.


Chaim on a camel.

The last one left - a glimpse into life in Voronezh

That picture is of a band playing Jewish songs in Stavropol during the 'City day' festival about a month ago.

Brynie Stiefel wrote a beautiful article about a woman in her community. You can read it here.

Miriam is cheating

Before I get to the story, here's me reading a story to Chaim Shimshon.



Miriam with baby Moishe, her (former) favorite doll.


This is her with TWO new dolls!!!!

I found Baby Moishe UNDER HER BED today (while she was in the other room with the new doll).

For those who understand hockey somewhat

This is a description of last night's hockey game in Boston.



Another one:



Bonus one that is just hilarious, reminding me of all the Lindros concussions...

Pictures form the event

Put them in backwards, so the sequence should start at the bottom...

Kickoff event

So I've been hired to run a program in which teens (not lubavitch) do different cool types of volunteerism and get their volunteer hours needed for school.

I'm doing it for Rabbi Krasnanski of 'Chabad of the Town'.

My first idea was for them to make a monument and donate it to some organization. Yesterday that is what we did. A woman named Edna Katz came over and taught the kids (and I) how to make monuments.

After chatting about anti-Semitism, we then took pictures of arms, and cut them into styrofoam, which we then slowly molded into looking (somewhat) like actual arms. It was very cool.

I'll post a picture when it's done, but it's in the forge right now being cast into alumnimum. The final 'product' will be a bunch of arms poking out of a bumpy peace of metal, with the words 'we will never forget' engraved into it, and the names of each teen next to their 'arm.'

Cool, huh?

Celebrate October 29th!!!

Good news from Stavropol. On the same date as Kostya Solomonov's birthday, he received notice that the new Jewish cultural group and center was approved!

Now he wants to write some sort of document listing Montreal as the religious 'sister city.'

Fine by me.

My hockey skills are improving...

As some of you know, I've joined the MJHL (Montreal Jewish Hockey League), organized by fellow Lubavitcher Mr. Abenaim here in Montreal.

I've always been a roller hockey player, and only made the transition to ice when I was about 18 - when I started going with some regularity. It took a long time for my skating to get decent.

As a roller hockey player, I used to be known for my speed, stickhandling, passes and defensive play. But now my stomach has expanded (thanks to having the best cook as a wife), and I've slowed down. I moved back to defence about 5 years ago, and in roller-hockey I do a great job at it - controlling the offence, setting up plays, stepping in to shoot at the right times, and being defensively responsible.

In my first year of marriage, I joined the league for 1 game, and hated it. Too many players, all better than me, and very little ice time for myself.

This year, after watching some buddies of mine improve dramatically (and become beter players than me) through playing in the league, I decided to join.

I played 2 preseason games, and it was clear that I was the worst player on the ice (even though in my second game I got a goal).

"You'll improve, you'll improve," everyone told me. "Why we remember when ______ started, he couldn't even skate backwards, and now he dominates the boards..."

Well, tonight was the first time I felt that I was playing at the same level as most of the regular players. I was up to their speed, and I was actually leading my defence and giving directions. I played my heart out every shift, and played responsibly yet aggressively, keeping the forwards away from my goalie.

I blocked 6 shots, broke up four 2-on-1's and one 3-on-1 in which I'm pretty sure i saved a goal. I cleared pucks from the zone well and even though we lost 11-6, when I was on the ice we were up 4-3, which leaves me with a plus-1.

I was very proud of myself.

So far my stats would read as follows: 2 team wins, 1 team loss.

2 assists, 2 penalty minutes. Plus-4. Or 3-0-2-2-2-+4 in NHL terms :).

Maaser issues

I don't know what exactly he plans on doing, but president of the new community in Stavropol Kostya Solomonov called me yesterday and we had a conversation. Apparently he is under the assumption that I am like the chief Rabbi of Canada or something, and he wants to list Stavropol as Montreal's "sister city."

What do I tell him? I told him it's a good idea, and he should email me what exactly that entails, and what his ideas are.

Then we spoke about our Maaser problem. Basically, Moscow isn't giving them enough money to really have a decent Sunday school (they get enough to keep it running though). Obviously, we want the Jewish children to get a Jewish education, and now that I have a couple of jobs, I have Maaser (10%) that I have to give to Tzedaka.

So I asked if there is any easy way for me to transfer funds to them every month... They didn't know, but they suggested that I contact Moscow. Perhaps I can donate to them, and they'll add it to the monthly budget they send...

Anyway, that's what I'm working on now...

Mikva means money?

A couple of weeks ago, I bumped into Reb Chaim Demurcur in the street. He's a friend of my father, and a very quiet guy. I rarely had spoken to him before. I know his wife and him were involved in making my mother frum and setting her up with my father, but other than that - I never really chatted with him.

He stopped me and told me that he knows what happened to me in Russia and he can see that I need money. At the time it was very true - I was desperately looking for a job, since the guy who sold stamps ran out of things for me to do.

Then he told me that Hashem is waiting to give me lots of money, and all I have to do to claim it is go to Mikva. He went on to say that even though my father only goes on Erev Yom Kippur, I should still make it important because Mikva means money and is a blessing for Parnassah.

So the next few days i went, but then I got lazy.

Oddly enough, during the two days I went, I received enough job offers to get me on my feet again.

I bumped into him again toward the end of last week, and this time he gave me a book on Mikva.

I decided to start going again, and suddenly received two more AWESOME job offers... And I've been going since.

This past Shabbos I davened in Yeshiva and for the first time since I was in Stavropol pulled out a Likutei Sichos (Chelek Alef), and started learning.

The Rebbe writes that the flood in this week's Torah portion was like a 'Mikva' for the world, purifying it - which is why it was 40 days (a Mikva needs to be 40 Sa'ah water minimum).

At mincha I picked up a pamphlet in Yeshiva to read. This one discussed how 'Mabul', the Hebrew word for flood, is made up of 'Mem Bul' - 40 levels of confusion - and it went on to say how the secret of receiveing lots of blessings for Parnassah is by going to mikva.

I feel bombarded... How weird is this?