Russia’s rabbis call for peace in Ukraine

By AP 6 September 2022, 2:04 pm

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Russian President Vladimir Putin accompanied by Head of the Russian Federation of Jewish Communities and the museum's director Alexander Boroda, left, businessmen Viktor Vekselberg, second from right, and Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, right, stands next the stone of the memorial to members of the resistance at Nazis concentration camps during WW II, at the Jewish Museum and Center for Tolerance in Moscow, Russia, Monday, January 29, 2018. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW — An array of Russian rabbis are calling for an end to the fighting in Ukraine and expressing concern about the conflict creating tension for Jews in Russia.

The gathering of rabbis was organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, one of the country’s two largest Jewish organizations.

“Relations between Russia and the rest of the world have rapidly deteriorated since the invasion began in February, resulting in economic uncertainty and, of significant concern to the Jewish community in particular, a sense of fear and isolation not felt in decades,” says a statement from the federation.

The conference issues a resolution calling “for peace and the cessation of the bloodshed,” the statement says.