MOSCOW, Russia – Today Russia's President Vladimir Putin announced Dmitry Medvedev the current Deputy Prime minister, as his favored successor, as the next President of Russia.
Dmitry Mevdvedov has been a strong supporter of the Jewish community during his current service. Last week he spent a few hours with Jewish community leaders, discussing the development of Jewish life and the fight against Anti-Semitism in Russia. The meeting was headed by Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar at the Moscow Jewish Community center.
The visit began with the top official publicly congratulating the Jewish community of Russia and Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar on the occasion of Chanukah and proceeded with a meeting about religious education, the perfecting legislation on education, and the functioning of institutions of higher education.
Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar and Alexander Boroda, the Chairman of the Board for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, hosted Mr. Medvedev and numerous other guests – Russia's Education Minister Andrei Fursenko and leaders of Jewish higher education institutions. The First Deputy Prime Minister began by addressing the threat of extremist propaganda – neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism and chauvinism. "These phenomena exist; we must not close our eyes to them. It is the state's role to clearly and rigidly fight these manifestations," stated Mr. Medvedev.
The First Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that, as of late, a great deal has been achieved at the legislative level, noting that the State Duma's acceptance upon first reading of a law on state accreditation of non-governmental and religious educational programs as a significant step forward. "This law will make it possible, from every facet, to considerably even out the field between religious higher education institutions and state establishments and will, in the end, contribute to their development considering the opportunity for such institutions to issue appropriate a nationally-recognized diploma," he explained.
In his presentation, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar linked the ten-fold growth in the number of Jewish communities in Russia over the past decade to the need to determine the educational tasks before such communities. "A new era has arrived for Jewish communities in Russia and we are thankful to the state for paying attention to this issue, including the spiritual education of young people in Russia," he emphasized. Rabi Lazar said that he has witnessed positive change in Russia "The jewish community feels this and are morecomfortable in Russia than before; today our graduates are staying in Russia and many see their future here."
FJC Chairman Alexander Boroda further added, "Jewish educational establishments are, to a large extent, still being formed: there are challenges associated with finding teaching staff," underlining the challenge of preparing specialists among Russian citizens over the next 3-5 years. He further noted that releasing yeshiva students from mandatory army service would be the right thing to do, adding that "the lifestyle of religious youth is incompatible with the realities associated with the fulfillment of army service. Students and graduates of yeshivas would be of considerably greater benefit to civil society by educating people about spiritual values".
During his visit, the First Deputy Prime Minister also toured the JCC, witnessing first-hand its different services and learning about how it has changed the lives of Jews in Russia. He personally visited the library, the lecture hall in the education center and the Synagogue.
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