A large and beautiful new Jewish center was inaugurated this week in Naberezhnye Chelny, the second-largest city in Russia’s Muslim Republic of Tatarstan and a major industrial center known as the home of the Kamaz automobile giant.

The opening was led by Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, with the participation of the city’s mayor, Nail Magdeev, the president of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yakov Gentsis, members of the Vainer family who helped make the project possible, and shluchim and rabbonim from across Russia.

The new two-story center includes a spacious shul, a library, an event hall, and a community kitchen, and will soon be joined by a mikvah, whose cornerstone was laid during the celebration. The opening took place during the days of Yud Beis and Yud Gimmel Tammuz, adding special meaning to the celebration of Jewish life in a region where Yiddishkeit continues to grow openly and proudly.

The event also carried a deeply personal story of hashgacha pratis. The city’s new rov and shliach, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Payer, first entered Jewish life as an eleven-year-old orphan in Kazan, where he came to shul to say Kaddish for his father. He was warmly welcomed and guided by Rabbi Yitzchok Gorelik, rov and shliach of Tatarstan, beginning a journey that led him to Tomchei Tmimim in Moscow and Eretz Yisroel, and later to rabbonus.

Now, at the direction of Rabbi Lazar, Rabbi Payer has returned to the republic where he was born to lead the growing Jewish community of Naberezhnye Chelny. He is assisted in his work by his father-in-law, Rabbi Shevach Zlatopolsky, shliach in Alma Ata.

The celebration began with the affixing of mezuzos by Rabbi Lazar, followed by the writing of the first letter in a new Sefer Torah that will be donated to the community. The assembled crowd then joined the rabbonim and guests outside for the pouring and laying of the cornerstone for the future mikvah, completing another major step in building the community’s Jewish infrastructure.

An especially moving moment came when the local Philharmonic Orchestra played the niggun of Yud Beis Tammuz. The conductor, Mr. Lermont, a prominent member of the community, invited the rabbonim to sing along with the orchestra, a scene that visibly moved the mayor and many of the participants.

Among the shluchim and rabbonim who joined the celebration were Rabbi Dan HaLevi Krichevsky, rov of Bashkortostan and Ufa; Rabbi Meir Kirsh, rov of Chelyabinsk; Rabbi Sholom Lazar, rov of Sochi; Rabbi Dovid Mondshine, chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities and the Ohr Avner Foundation; Rabbi Menachem Mendel Mondshine, director of the Shluchim Office in Russia; Rabbi Yitzchok Voldorsky, shliach in Moscow’s Zhulebino neighborhood; Rabbi Meir Fyodorov, maggid shiur in the Moscow Mesivta; Rabbi Nissan Pill, maggid shiur in the Moscow Yeshiva Gedolah; and sofer Rabbi Efraim Hakohen Cohen.

During the program, Rabbi Lazar spoke about the possuk, “V’asu Li Mikdash v’shachanti b’socham,” explaining that the purpose of building a mikdash is not only to create a holy place, but to reveal the Shechinah within every Yid and make Yiddishkeit the true center of life.

He noted that while roads, factories, and city development are important, the real center of a city is the place where its spiritual life is found. “Here,” he said, “in the place where the mikdash stands, every person can feel at home and reveal the potential within them.”

Rabbi Lazar also revealed that the president of the Muslim Republic of Tatarstan had personally supported the building of the Jewish center and provided significant financial assistance for the project, calling it a powerful example of respect for faith and cooperation in a multinational region.

Turning to the local community, Rabbi Lazar praised them for welcoming Rabbi Payer, saying that although he is young, his youth brings energy and strength, and that the city has already become like his hometown. He also thanked Rabbi Gorelik for his decades of work in strengthening Jewish life throughout Tatarstan.

“This is a wonderful beginning,” Rabbi Lazar said, “but now every person is needed here every day. Only together can we reveal our potential and bring beauty to this city.”

With its doors now open for tefillah, shiurim, community events, and Jewish life, the new center is expected to serve as a central home for the Jews of Naberezhnye Chelny and a source of Torah and Chassidus for the wider region.

Photography: Yegor Sukhov