World Jewish News

Pesakha celebration in Siberia.

Pesakh celebration in Siberia is an annual reminder of religious freedoms obtained by the Russian Jews after the fall of the Communist regime. In addition to that, the beginning of Pesakh reminds the Jews of Irkutsk, the city the oldest synagogue in Siberia is located in, of a lost skill of baking region's own matzoth. Despite the fact that the Soviet authorities destroyed any slightest manifestation of Jewish culture and traditions, for some unknown reason they synagogue of Irkutsk remained intact. For more than a hundred years, the local Jews had been developing the skill of baking local matzoth.
Yakov Levkovich, 72, is a volunteer who, every year, spends two spring months baking matzoth.
Currently, some international organizations keep the process going.
It is supposed that, during the Soviet times, the two-storied sky blue building was the sole synagogue functioning in the entire territory to the East of Moscow. After the authorities had closed the synagogue in 1934, the Jews were constrained to bake matzoth at home. The baking renewed in 1946 when the state returned the Jews the second storey of the building. The leaders of the Jewish community of Irkutsk would buy flour from local storehouses; despite the post-war food deficit, the local Jews brought their own flour. Up until the very day of Stalin's death, the synagogue had been closed several times; it was constantly searched by the secret services. "It may very be possible that, during the Soviet times, the local Jews knew no other holidays, but Pesakha", tells Olga Sosna, the manager of the local branch of the "Joint" American Jewish Distribution Committee, which occupies the first storey of the synagogue.
Nowadays, the Jews of Irkutsk are preoccupied with the preservation of their synagogue, since the last to date assessment by the municipal architect on historical monuments reads: the walls and ceiling are dilapidating. As a result of this, the President of the synagogue Georgiy Failavayev, 56, is not advertising the celebration of Pesakh, for the building's accommodation capacity is 200 people only; the repair works would approximately cost US$ 32,000.00. "Now that we have found God, our synagogue must be restored" says Failavayev.

Источник: Jewish.ru