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Email this pageWorld Union Delivers on its Promise and Dedicates New Moscow Center
World Union for Progressive Judaism recently opened L’dor v’Dor (From Generation to Generation), a new Jewish community center and synagogue in the heart of Moscow. The event marks the completion of the first stage of a World Union building commitment to the growth of Progressive Judaism in the FSU.
The Moscow center was dedicated in a joyous ceremony on October 8. From the opening shofar blast it was the true celebration of a dream realized, proving that at a time when other Jewish organizations are cutting back, the World Union is one of the few that is delivering on what it promises – clear evidence of a true commitment to its mission statement: “To build and connect Progressive Jewish communities worldwide.”
“While many other Jewish organizations are struggling to reinvent themselves, focusing on survival and restructuring, I am happy to report that the World Union for Progressive Judaism has stayed true to our mission and maintained focus on our core values,” said Steve Bauman, the organization’s chairman.
Rabbi Sasha Lyskovoy provides a traditional blast of the shofar (left) before World Union chairman Steve Bauman delivers greetings.
The six donors who made this remarkable achievement possible were Sue and Jimmy Klau, and Anne Molloy and Henry Posner III from the USA, who funded the purchase; and Ed and Svetlana Kaufman from Moscow, who underwrote the renovation.
Jimmy and Sue Klau.
Henry Posner III and Anne Molloy.
Ed and Svetlana Kaufman.
With them at the Thursday evening dedication ceremony were Israeli Ambassador Anna Azari; World Union leaders Steve and Ina Bauman, Austin and Nani Beutel, Jim Heeger and Darryl Messenger; Steve Schwager, chief executive of the Joint Distribution Committee; Michael Steiner, representing the Pittsburg Federation; World Union professional staff members Shai Pinto, Rabbi Joel Oseran, Alex Kagan, and FSU-based rabbis Sasha Lyskovoy and Leonid Bimbat; as well as over 120 invited congregational and community leaders and dignitaries from the FSU and abroad.
There were also greetings by Ambassador Azari; Irina Cherban, chair of the Union of Congregations for Progressive Judaism in Russia; and Novruz Mamedov and Gene Moldavsky, local Jewish leaders and supporters of the project; and special moments of recognition of the principal contributors.
The dedication was followed by Shabbat and Simchat Torah worship the next evening and on Saturday.
“It was a wonderful sight to watch Sue and Jimmy, Anne and Henry, and Svetlana and Ed, along with Nani and Austin Beutel, and both Rabbi Sasha Lyskovoy and Rabbi Leonid Bimbat, carry the Torah scrolls under a tallit chupah into the sanctuary as we began the first ever religious service to take place in our new Moscow home,” said to Rabbi Joel Oseran, World Union vice president for international development. “It was a wonderful occasion made all the more special by the fact that Austin and Nani were able to carry the very same Torah scroll they delivered to our Moscow congregation nearly 10 years ago as a gift from their home congregation, Temple Sinai of Toronto.”
The Thursday dedication ceremony launched the new facility, Oseran added, “but the Shabbat and Simchat Torah celebrations that followed truly brought it to life.”
Rabbis Sasha Lyskovoy (right) and Leonid Bimbat carry the congregation’s Torah scrolls into the new sanctuary under a tallit chupah held by the donors
