Amidst great celebration, a new Torah scroll was brought into the Maor Jewish Community Center, in the Vyborgsky district of S.Petersburg. The event was attended by over 500 guests, including local residents and visitor from other cities and countries including Rabbi Ari Zev Raskin, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Cyprus and Chief Rabbi of Pervomaisk, Ukraine, Levi Perelstein. The guests were welcomed by Rabbi Bentzion Lipsker, who directs the Maor Community Center, and Chief Rabbi of S. Petersburg, Menachem Mendel Pewzner.
After writing the last letters in the Torah scroll, participants danced with the Torah in the courtyard of the JCC. Rabbi Pewzner thanked the sponsors, Zion Benyaguev and Eliyahu Nachum Kaganovich, whose generosity enabled the Center to acquire this new Torah. Thanks to their support, the Maor JCC can be a true source of the “light” (“maor” in Hebrew) of Torah for thousands of Jews in the Vyborgsky district of S. Petersburg.
Rabbi Lipsker shared with everyone a letter from the Governor of S. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko. In the letter, the governor gave permission for the construction of a large synagogue and mikvah on the premises of the Maor Community Center.
The audience then watched a pre-recorded message from Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger, who had planned to take part in the celebration in person, but was forced to cancel his visit at the last minute.