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World Jewish News
Mountain Jews have summed up the year
11.01.2009
On the threshold of Shabbat, the board members of the Mountain Jews community of Azerbaijan held a meeting in Baku, where they summarized the financial results of the year 2008 and reviewed the work plan of the Jewish religious organization in the first quarter of the current year.
The head of the religious community of Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan, Semen Ikhiilov, pointed out that the community budget in 2008 decreased by almost 20% compared to 2007.
"It was an expected result. Naturally, the amount of voluntary contributions from our community members and sponsors, which form the budget of our religious association, were reduced because of the crisis," said Semen Ikhiilov to AEN.
"Therefore, the board members expressed an idea of advisability of state financial assistance to all religious confessions in Azerbaijan under the conditions of global financial crisis."
The situation in the Middle East in connection with the IDF anti-terrorist operation against the militants of the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza was also assessed at the meeting.
"The Jews of Azerbaijan stand for peace in the land of our historic motherland. But peace in the land of Israel is impossible without putting an end to terrorist activities by Hamas, the militants of which kill civilians.
That is why we support the anti-terrorist operation in the Gaza Strip, aimed to save women, children, and the elderly in multiethnic Israel from Hamas terror," underscored the board members of the Mountain Jews community.
On expressing their support for decisive anti-terrorist actions of the Israeli Government, the community board members decided to ask God to bless the IDF soldiers at morning and evening prayers, as well as read Kadish for the peace of the souls of heroes who died for the sake of peace in the historical motherland.
Taking into account the insufficient information provided to the population of Azerbaijan about the current developments in the Middle East, the community board members have decided to appeal to Yunatan Mishiev – editor-in-chief of the Caucasian Newspaper published in Israel.
"This newspaper is distributed in Azerbaijan. And we would like to see on its pages interviews with people of different nationalities who left the republic for Israel, so that they tell their former compatriots about Hamas missiles falling on peaceful Israeli cities, kindergartens and schools, about innocent people who die because of these explosions," stressed the community board members.
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