Jewish Community Honors WWII War Heroes on 80th Anniversary

Marking eighty years since the victory over Nazi Germany, Jewish communities in Russia honored surviving veterans with house visits, tefillin, and expanded aid, highlighting their sacrifice through a series of deeply meaningful events.

This year Russia celebrated 80 years since its victory over Nazi Germany with many great events, the grandest being a huge military parade held in the Red Square.

 Alongside all of these events, the Jewish community in Moscow, as well as Jewish communities in other cities of Russia – marked the national holiday in their own unique way, mainly for the Jewish war veterans, whose life was not easy.

The Jewish events were arranged and organized by the management of the “Shaarei Tzedek Jewish Chesed Center” in the “Marina Roshcha” neighborhood, and in parallel with the “Jewish Museum” headed by the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, Rabbi Alexander Boroda. Many significant events were held, highlighting for all to see, the heroism of the hundreds of thousands of Jewish soldiers who fought fiercely against the Nazis, and the millions of Jews who were slaughtered Al Kidush Hashem by the Nazis on the soil of the former Soviet Union.

This year, the Jewish Chesed Center launched a special campaign of home visits to all veterans. The Center’s employees, along with dozens of Mesivta students, distributed unique gift sets to  the veterans, enabling them to show their respect and appreciation, while also seeing firsthand that their needs at home are being met. This is in continuation to the dedicated care that they receive from the Chesed Center throughout the year.

The founder of the Jewish Chesed Center, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, personally visited veterans and expressed his gratitude to the Jewish people for their heroism during those difficult years. One of the highlights of these visits was when Mr. Isaac Wilensky, a veteran of over a hundred years old who served for four consecutive years during the war, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. For the first time in his life, Mr. Wilensky put on tefillin, in a particularly moving occasion when he hosted the Chief Rabbi at his home and told him his fascinating and touching life story.

Photography: Levi Nazarov

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