Slice of life

Last autumn, the synagogue was visited by many community member. A well-known businessman Iakov Tihman, a well-known businessman in the community, gave Chief Rabbi Abelsky a portrait of Rabbi Zalman that was hung in his newly reconstructed office.

The 18th of Elul.

The 18th of Elul is the birthday of two historic figures of Hasidic Judaism, Rabbi Israel Baal-Shem-Tov and Rabbi Shneur-Zalman of Leadi (Altar Rabbi). The Kishinev synagogue held a celebration in their honor and invited many important visitors. Kishinev and Moldova’s Chief Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, used this important event to discuss Jewish traditions and the fundamental ideas of Hasidism.

Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, Chief Rabbi of Kishinev and Moldova, meets Mr. Avraham Sharon, Israeli Ambassador at Large.
 

Rabbi Abelsky, who is also the Chairman of the Federation of Lubavitcher Communities, met with Mr. Sharon to discuss Jewish life, and the development of Jewish culture and traditions in Moldova.
 

jpost.com

On his way to board a flight to Israel with families accompanying the bodies of loved ones killed in the massacre at Mumbai's Chabad House, Rabbi Shneur Kupchick, the director of New Delhi's Chabad House, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that his organization would not be shaken by the tragic and terrible events of last week.

After more than 40 hours and a day-long siege by Indian commandos against Islamist terrorists holed up in the Mumbai Chabad House, the operation ended with the discovery that five of the Jewish hostages had been murdered by their captors, including Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka.

Mr. Leonid Valenyansky (Left) and Mr Samion Vaniberg (right)
recieve Honey cake (Lekach) From Rabbi Zalman Abelsky

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Of the 70 synagogues in Kishinev, only one survived communism.  This shul is  operated by Rabbi Zalman Abelsky Chief Rabbi of Kishinev and Moldova.  The synagogue (known as “The Glaziers Synagogue”) has been active for over 100 years.  Thousand of people gather here in the high holidays.

Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, Chief Rabbi of Kishinev and Moldova, met with Avigdor Lieberman, leader of Israel's Homeland Israel Party, on July 14, 2008. The following are excerpts from an interview about the meeting between Mr. Lieberman and our correspondent 

Q: Mr. Lieberman, what does your visit to Rabbi Zalman mean to you?

The holiday of liberation was celebrated with great joy in the Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue. It was the 12th of Tammuz, 5768―a date marking the day a brave man, the Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, of righteous memory, received documents authorizing his release from Stalin's prisons in 1929.

Thanks to him, many Chasidim and others managed to keep Jewish traditions alive in the Soviet Union. This man conquered the Soviet system.

For the first time in its history, the Kishinev synagogue became the site of a painting workshop that attracted some of the most well-known painters from Moldova. For more than 3 days, the central hall of the synagogue was filled with easels and the smell of paint as Alexandr Alavatsky, Tatiana Frunze, Ilia Leo,and Lilia Nashcu  painted scenes from Jewish life in Kishinev while members of the synagogue watched with interest.