In Kazan, the capital of the Tatarstan Republic, the largest Jewish event of the year is set to begin, this September 3-6, drawing hundreds of Jews from throughout the greater Volga and Urals area, including Kazan, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg—which together comprise the third-largest Jewish concentration in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today, there are some 10,000 Jews in the city.

The Limmud FSU (former Soviet Union) conference for Russian speakers adheres to Limmud International’s principle of volunteering: The conference is run entirely by local volunteers, and will feature some 100 presentations, workshops, debates and discussions, history and cultural sessions and artistic performances, on a wide range of Jewish topics and Israel.

Kazan is located 800 kilometers east of Moscow and is often referred to as the “Third Capital” of Russia, after Moscow and St. Petersburg. With a population of 1.2 million, it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. The multi-ethnic city is famous for Muslims and Christians living peacefully together and has been dubbed the Sports Capital of Russia and will host the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

In addition to the packed Limmud program, Limmud Volga-Urals will be marked by a series of special and exciting events. One of them is an “Interfaith Dialogue—Islam, Judaism, Christianity,” co-chaired by Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU, with the participation of the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berl Lazar, the Chief Rabbi of Tatarstan, Rabbi Yitzchak Gorelik, the head of the local Russian-Orthodox church, the Grand Mufti of Tatarstan, senior Islamic clerics and two prominent rabbis from Israel—Rabbi Menachem Hacohen and Rabbi David Rosen.

Participants will also enjoy the Kazan Festival of Jewish Music, jointly organized by the Jewish community and the government of Tatarstan. This is a three-day festival of performances by different troupes, including Limmud FSU guests Hanan Yovel and the Alma Group, presenting the songs of the late Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, to mark 90 years since his birth.

Limmud participants will share in the rededication of the 100-year-old Great Synagogue of Kazan with the participation of the President of the Tatarstan Republic, leaders of the local Jewish community and the Israeli Ambassador to the Russian Federation, followed by a reception at the Kazan Municipality to mark the rededication of the Great Synagogue and a conference of Chabad emissaries to Russia, taking place at the same time in Kazan.

Among other presenters and guests at Limmud FSU Volga-Urals will be the painter Alexander Okun; Prof. Dvora HaCohen; Russian-Israeli singer Iryna Rosenfeld; former Prisoner of Zion Yosef Mendelevich; the artistic director of Beit Zvi, Arthur Kogan; an expert on the Yiddish language Mordechai Yushkovsky; Director of the Vilna Institute of Yiddish Alex Averbuch; Vicky Raveh and Yulia Olshansky from the Jewish National Fund (KKL); a group of senior journalists from Israel and Europe; and from Russia, the theater director Dmitry Astrarhan; expert and researcher on the Middle East Yevgeny Satanovsky, the poet Igor Irten’yev; journalist and the distinguished writer, Alla Bossart.

Limmud FSU, founded nearly ten years ago by Chaim Chesler (Israel) and Sandra Cahn (New York), reaches out to thousands of young Russian speakers, not only in the countries of the former Soviet Union, but wherever there are Russian-speaking Jewish communities, especially in Israel, the United States, Canada and Australia. It provides a unique pluralistic, egalitarian and all-embracing educational and cultural experience, with no connection to any particular organization or political group, but concentrates on the search for roots, national pride and a sense of unity and an affinity to the State of Israel.

As a part of Limmud International, founded in the UK 35 years ago, Limmud FSU follows the same principles. The planning, programming and administration are carried out by volunteers—neither they nor the presenters get remuneration, and all the participants pay a participation fee.

By Limmud FSU