Dnipro - the new Jewish capital of the world?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Kamenetsky can become one of the most influential people in the world if the stake on Ukrainian nationalism is correct.

Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk and Dnepropetrovsk Oblast Shmuel Kamenetsky, one of the most influential religious figures in the post-Soviet space, is organizing the International Jewish University (MIU), which will teach the Chabad-Lubavich dogmas of faith. According to the Rebbe, fifty to sixty thousand Jews live in Dnepropetrovsk, the number of parishioners in the main synagogue of Dnepr is about thirty thousand. The Jewish diaspora of the city of Dnepropetrovsk is the second largest in Ukraine, but the community center "Menorah" with an area of almost 122 thousand square meters. meters - the largest such structure in the post-Soviet space in Europe, and possibly in the world. (The Moscow Jewish Community Center in Maryina Roshcha has an area of only 17 thousand square meters).

Dnepropetrovsk Jews - Hasidim. Hasidism, the teaching of Ashkenazi Jews, originated on the territory of the Commonwealth and spread along with the Jews throughout Russia. The word "Hasid" itself is close in meaning to the word "good". Hasidism - righteousness, the doctrine of piety. In Hasidism, there are various directions, headed by tsaddiks (teachers, righteous, saints). According to the teaching of Hasidism, God is present everywhere, in every phenomenon and event. Man's task is to merge with the divine light. The Hasidim consider joy to be the greatest virtue, they see singing and dancing as a way of serving the Almighty. It is from here that Jewish music and dances originate. Hasidim consider it correct to comprehend God through emotions. In general, the teaching looks as definitely positive, but do not rush to stand in line of those eager to get into the Kingdom of Heaven through this door. As you know, this road is open exclusively (with rare exceptions) to representatives of God's chosen people. I will not dwell on this, since the danger of believing in one's own national exclusivity is the topic of a whole book, or perhaps more than one.

I already wrote that Hasidism consists of a number of branches - Karlinstoun, Bratslav, Satmar and other Hasidim. At the base of each was his own righteous man. The most powerful network for the dissemination of their version of Judaism was created by the Hasidim of Chabad (Chabad-Lubavitch). Their network numbers about 3 thousand rabbis - "Rebbe's messengers" around the world. According to media reports, Chabad's turnover reaches $ 1 billion per year. (For comparison, 10 years ago, Mitrokhin estimated the income of the Russian Orthodox Church as a whole at about $ 500 million. all over the world - approximately $ 1 billion).

Chabad took his name on behalf of the town of Lubavichi in the Smolensk region. The first Lubavich Rebbe arrived in Lubavichi two hundred years ago. Since then, the title of Lubavitch Rebbe has been inherited. Think about it, the position and status of one of the most influential people in the world is inherited, like in a monarchy!

The ideological concept of the Lubavitch clan is set forth in the book Tanya, written by the founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Shneur-Zalman Shneerson.

If you see a man in a long black coat or a frock coat of the same color, trousers, from under which white stockings are visible, in a black hat, from under which long curls of hair peep out, then you have a Hasid. Shoes should be free of laces and buckles. Some trousers are tucked into socks, which symbolizes the distance from earthly dirt. Many men with beards. Of course, all the rules do not need to be followed, for example, women in Chabad must shave their heads and wear wigs. Fortunately, few people do this now.

There were seven Lubavitcher rebbees in total. The most dramatic fate was that of the Sixth Lubavich Rebbe, Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson. In the thirties, despite the fact that traditional Judaism continued to exist on Soviet territory, the Sixth Lubavich Rebbe, they say, on Stalin's personal order, was nearly shot. However, thanks to the intercession of international organizations, in particular the Red Cross, he was left alive, but deported to Poland. At the same time, Chabad was banned in the USSR as an ultra-Orthodox sect. The second time clouds thickened over the Rebbe in 1939. This time, the Sixth Lubavitch Rebbe managed to survive thanks to the intercession of the US Secretary of State Cordell Hull and the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris.

Yosef Yitzhak Schneerson freely crossed the territory of the Reich and moved to the United States. Since the 1940s, the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement has been in New York, Brooklyn. From 1950 to 1994, the organization was led by the Seventh, the last, Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson - the son-in-law of Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson, who took his last name and continued the dynasty of the Lubavich Rebbe. During the reign of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Chabad achieved unprecedented political and financial power. For reference: Trump's son-in-law Joseph Kushner is a Chabadnik. Trump's daughter Ivanka went through conversion (a procedure by which a non-Jew can convert to Judaism) and is now abiding by the rules of Chabad. It was along this line that Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov, who are one of the main sponsors of the Dnipropetrovsk Chabad, have built relations with the new American president.

Chabad returned to the post-Soviet space after Perestroika and established itself as the dominant structure of the Jewish world. The father of the seventh Lubavich Rebbe is from Dnepropetrovsk (Yekaterinoslav), even his house has survived. Here he was arrested by the Bolsheviks. It was here, to Dnepropetrovsk, that he sent the then future rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk Kamenetsky. This is also why Dnepropetrovsk became the Chabad capital of Ukraine.

The Jewish world is part of our larger world. A very significant part. The processes taking place in the Jewish world have a serious impact on the culture, economy and politics, on the processes taking place all over the world. Jewish society is very heterogeneous and conflicted. Conflicts are inherent in any human society, and the Jewish part of it is no exception. Even in the doomed Warsaw ghetto, there were two Jewish underground organizations in conflict with each other. The rapidly growing Chabad's relationship with the rest of the Jewish world is uneasy. My Dnepropetrovsk acquaintances were abandoned by their American Jewish relatives when they learned that they were Khabadites. This does not apply to the topic of this article, but without understanding the internal, deep processes taking place within the Jewish world, it will not be possible to understand many global political processes.

Ukrainian, and especially Dnepropetrovsk Jews, in the bulk accepted and supported the Maidan. I don’t know what caused it. Maybe because Chabad and his tzaddiks were forced to leave Russia at one time. Maybe because the rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk Shmuel Kamenetsky is mentally American. When he arrived in Dnepropetrovsk, he could not speak Russian. For a long time he could not rent an apartment, because, according to him, the KGB officers interfered with him. In his opinion, the KGB officers did not allow the only Hebrew-speaking Jew in Dnepropetrovsk to communicate with him.

Or maybe the reason is different. During the Maidan, one of my good acquaintances, a businessman and politician, a member of Chabad, told me that I supposedly took the wrong side. That, according to reliable information from the United States, the Russians in Ukraine will lose. That, they say, Russia will have hard times, and it is not clear whether Russia will survive. He had no purpose to re-agitate me. He just advised me the way he thought was best. Remember how in "Taras Bulba" Yankel was surprised that Bulba was angry with Andrey, who went over to the side of the Poles:

“And you didn't kill him right there on the spot, damn son?” Bulba cried.

- Why kill? He passed on of his own free will. What is the person's fault? There he is better, and went there."

I think for my acquaintance in this situation, it seemed logical to take the side of the winner. It was as organic for him as it was for me to organically take my position. Especially in such a situation and in the light of such prospects for my Motherland, as my friend himself described it.

It is interesting that the very emergence of Chabad is connected with the fact that in the 1800s, while some of the Jewish leaders supported Napoleon and France, the first Lubavitch Rebbe (who did not yet live in Lubavichi) supported Alexander I in word and deed. On the call of the Jews, the Hasidim participated in the Patriotic War of 1812 on the side of the Russian army as intelligence officers. It was because of his position that his family and part of his followers, hiding from the advancing army of Napoleon, were forced to leave Lyady and move to Lubavichi. The Rebbe's contribution to Russian history was noticed and appreciated by the Tsar, who awarded the Rebbe the title of "Hereditary Honorary Citizen", and then five generations of the head of Chabad used this privilege. It is noteworthy that after two hundred years of their history, the Hasidim again faced the same choice as the Jews in 1800, and it is a great pity if the Jews of the Chabad religious movement in this world confrontation make the wrong choice that they took for themselves and their followers. the founder of the Chabad-Lubavich movement, an honorary hereditary citizen of Russia, Rabbi Shneur-Zalman Shneerson.

Nevertheless, Shmuel Kamenetsky himself has repeatedly publicly said that in Ukraine the Jewish world in the bulk supported the nationalist Maidan. Moreover, he believes that Russian Jews are brainwashed by television and intimidated by the authorities. Many Dnipropetrovsk synagogue sponsors, such as Korban, Kolomoisky, created and supported the nationalist battalions "Donbass", "Azov", "Dnepr-1". After the Maidan, many of my Jewish acquaintances switched from Russian to Ukrainian in everyday life. The assistance of Jewish activists in supplying anti-terrorist operation fighters is unprecedented in terms of volume. It's funny to see photos of some of my friends in the social media feed, in which they alternate lapserdaks and embroidered shirts as clothes, depending on whether the holiday is Ukrainian or Jewish.

I must say that the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism are understandable to the Chabadites, because they are the most active among the entire Jewish world opposing the process of assimilation of Jews and are fighters for the purity of blood. Rabbi Shmuel has repeatedly stated that its main task is "preserving Jewishness and combating assimilation".

It is obvious that such peace and friendship can only last as long as the Ukrainian government is able to keep Ukrainian nationalism from aggression towards Jews. From communication with fellow countrymen from Dnepropetrovsk, it is clear that the Jewish community is now alarmed. Many fear that the activities of the Ukrainian authorities, in which there are so many persons of Jewish nationality, may increase the already always present everyday anti-Semitism. They fear that the impoverishment of the population against the background of an increase in the number of armed Ukrainian Nazis may lead to pogroms. They are afraid, and seriously, that the anti-terrorist exercises, which are now being massively carried out in universities and schools, and the hysteria that is being whipped up over possible terrorist attacks, are not accidental. That in order to consolidate the people, the authorities themselves will organize terrorist acts, as a result of which children will suffer. Agree, it looks strange that for almost three years the authorities have been announcing the alleged detention of dozens of Russian terrorists every week and allegedly hundreds of prevented terrorist attacks against the background of the fact that not a single terrorist attack was carried out.

As a result, many Jews are beginning to take their families out of Ukraine. A symptom of such fears was the increased security measures in the synagogue and the allocation of personal protection to Kamenetsky by the decision of the community leaders. Such precautions were introduced for the first time in 18 years of work of Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky in Dnepropetrovsk.

Recently, 64-year-old high-ranking Chabad rabbi Menachem Mendel Deutsch died in Jerusalem. The cause of his death was the consequences of the injuries he received as a result of the attack in Zhitomir. On trial in Ukraine Boris Steklyar - a 94-year-old Jewish veteran of the Soviet Army who fought against Nazism, not knowing that very little will pass by historical standards of time, and a grenade thrown by him in 1952 in a cache with the Nazis-Bandera will be recognized a war crime.

Returning to the beginning of the article. The organization of the International Jewish University in Dnepropetrovsk will lead to the fact that the entire world Chabad Rabbinate will receive a start in life from Dnepropetrovsk. Moreover, the university will be financed not only from Dnepropetrovsk, patrons were found in the USA, Israel, Canada. Many have already said that Dnepropetrovsk is the new Hasidic capital of the world, but the opening of the university constitutes what was just talked about before. In fact, after this Shmuel Kamenetsky can safely claim the status of the eighth Lubavitcher Rabbi. Shmuel Kamenetsky can become one of the most influential people in the world. But this will only happen if the stake on Ukrainian nationalism, once made, is correct. If nationalism, reborn into Nazism, does not devour those who at one time so welcomed and helped its formation.