On December 12, Jewish inmates and Jewish community leaders participated in the opening ceremony for a synagogue, newly opened at the corrections facility 7 (otherwise known as Yablonevka) in S. Petersburg. The event involved Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of S. Petersburg Menachem Mendel Pewzner, and Rabbi Aaron Gurevich, the head of FJC Russia’s Department for Cooperating with the Military, the Ministry of Emergency Affairs and Law Enforcement Agencies.
It also involved I.V. Potapenko, the Head of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FPS) in St. Petersburg and Leningrad Region, and Vladimir A. Zatonsky, the FPS First Deputy Head of Social, Psychological and Educational Work with Inmates.
“The main thing for me with today's opening of the synagogue is that, among the inmates, there are no people lost to society. If a person, even if he is in an institution, realizes that he can continue to evolve and to grow spiritually, that is a special moment in his life. Hence, it is able to correct his previous mistakes,” stated Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar.
Rabbi Lazar thanked the FPS Russia and its administration in S. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region for their support. “By opening synagogues at correctional facilities, we are working with the administration of these institutions to help these inmates to better adapt,” noted Chief Rabbi Lazar.
Now, Jewish prisoners will have the opportunity to pray, study the Torah and spend their leisure time in a special room 15 square meters in size. This is plenty of room, as there only 11 Jews in this institution have been identified to date.
The opening ceremony for the synagogue took place thanks to a series of agreements between FJC Russia and the Federal Penitentiary Service in 2007 and 2010 with respect to the spiritual and humanitarian work and cooperation.
The synagogue will host prayers, talks and Torah lessons at the correctional facility twice a month under the leadership of Rabbi Ifrah Abramov of S. Petersburg.
The first synagogue established at a Russian prison was opened two years ago in a correctional facility in the Arkhangelsk region. After that, a few more were opened at other institutions in Mordovia (a prison for foreign nationals), elsewhere in the Arkhangelsk region, and one at the infamous so-called Butyrka jail in Moscow.