THE FLOURISHING OF JUDAISM IN MALACHOVKA

The Chabad community in Malachovka went through much travail. * From a small suburb on the edge of Moscow it became an exclusive area of the wealthy.* Part 2 of the story of the community from World War II until today.

With the outbreak of World War II, many Chassidim who lived in Malachovka fled, since the front had moved near them. Only the Chassid R’ Eliezer Pinsky continued to live there, even though the Germans unceasingly bombed the city. This was in order to watch over an old, sick, childless man who was unable to flee.

It seemed as though this would be the end of the Chassidic community in Malachovka, but this was not so. At the end of the war, a few Chassidim returned there while most of the Chassidim left Russia via Poland. Others remained in Tashkent and Samarkand.

In the community that restarted in Malachovka, Chacham Yehuda Kulasher (Butrashvili), one of the senior Chabad Chassidim, served as rav. R’ Chaim Abramov was the gabbai in the shul and he also served as Rosh HaKahal. In this role, he was responsible for running the Jewish cemetery (see sidebar).

One day, the government said that every shul must have an official rav and without a rav the shul would be shut down. Everyone understood that whoever would serve as rav would be subject to persecution, but in order not to have the shul shut down, R’ Chaim did something daring. He volunteered to be the rav and, amazingly, the government agreed.

Just a few days went by before members of the secret police visited him unexpectedly at home. “You were in Siberia,” they said. He remained silent. “If we say so, then that’s what happened. Therefore, you are not fit to serve as rav. In addition, we wanted to remind you that during the interrogation and trial, you did not mention the fact that you are a rav …” And they left.

A SHLIACH OF THE MOSAD IS CAUGHT IN MALACHOVKA

The Chassidic community maintained a low profile existence during the years after the war. In later years, emissaries of the organization Netiv operated there under the auspices of the Israeli Mosad in Moscow. They were in touch with Chabad Chassidim in the Soviet Union including those living in Malachovka. They helped in various ways, such as giving them Jewish items.

One of those Mosad operatives was Mr. Nechemia Levanon, who was caught red-handed in a secret meeting with one of the Chassidim in Malachovka. This was in Tammuz 5715/1955. Levanon met in the home of someone named Levin with a Jew named Guberman. There was a knock at the door and when Levin opened it, a band of KGB agents burst in. Guberman was arrested and Levanon and two other diplomats were expelled from the Soviet Union.

Chassidim did not only live in Malachovka. They also lived in Ilyinka, Kraskova, Bikova and other nearby suburbs. In each suburb lived two or three families. The Chassidim who felt disconnected arranged to meet and strengthen one another. How could they do that without endangering themselves and being caught?

They decided that every day, when they went to work on the trolley which went from the suburbs to Moscow, they would meet in the third car (out of ten). On the trip to the capitol, they would meet and have what appeared to be typical travelers’ conversations in which they encouraged one another and brainstormed ways of observing Torah and mitzvos and teaching their children despite the difficult conditions they were living under.

IMMERSION IN THE MALACHOVKA LAKE

R’ Yisroel Pinsky, who now lives in Yerushalayim, lived in the suburb of Ilyinka for ten years between 1960 and 1970. He remembers how he and other Chabad Chassidim from the area would walk to Malachovka in order to daven in the Chabad shul.

“In those days, in the summer, many Chassidim came from Moscow to the suburbs to vacation. Together with them we had a full Chassidic communal life. Among the Chassidim were: Henoch Rappaport, Yisroel Konson, his son-in-law Eliyahu Bisk, Moshe Katzenelenbogen, Naftali Kravitzky, Eliyahu Krichevsky and his son Yanni.”

There was no mikva in Malachovka, but Chassidim did not forgo immersion. Every Friday, they would all go to the mikva in the big Archipova Shul in Moscow. On Shabbos, they immersed in a small lake which was not that clean, and the water was cold.

R’ Nosson Kanelsky tells about Malachovka in the 1960’s:

“Every day there was a small minyan in the shul and on Shabbos about thirty people. The dominant spiritual personality in those days was my father-in-law, R’ Yehuda Kulasher (Butrashvili). He had a store but whoever had halachic questions would ask him. On Shabbos Mevarchim he even farbrenged.

“Chinuch was a real problem since there weren’t enough students to open a class. So I brought R’ Berel Rikman, who lived in Kraskova, to teach my son Mordechai (now director of Bris Avrohom in New Jersey).

“We had kosher meat thanks to shochtim. At first, R’ Nosson Bernstein shechted, but after he left for Eretz Yisroel he was replaced by R’ Michel Dorfman, a Breslover Chassid.”

JUDAISM TODAY IN MALACHOVKA

About thirty years ago, R’ Kalman Meilich Tamarin was active in Malachovka. He was one of the Chabad Chassidim in Moscow back then. After his passing, his two sons Moshe and Nachum continued to strengthen Judaism and Chassidus with mesirus nefesh.

“The first time I came to Malachovka thirty years ago,” said R’ Moshe Tamarin, “I had a friend who worked here as a night watchman. After he married, he wanted to have a Sheva Brachos in Malachovka. That is when I found out there was a minyan of old men who davened every day, but they needed a lot of help in knowing the orders of the prayers, the customs etc. We began coming here for the holidays and then for Shabbos too.

“We rented a small apartment where we slept on Shabbos and for several years we supported the small shul in Malachovka. Over the years, the minyan shrank since some of the old men made aliya and some died. At a certain point, the minyan stopped and we stopped going to Malachovka, but the place did not remain without a minyan for long.

“R’ Yitzchok Abramov, the son of R’ Chaim, lived in nearby Kraskova. He felt obligated to restart the minyan as a continuation of his father’s holy work. After much effort, the minyan began again in 5750, in no small part thanks to the bachurim who would come from Moscow to help out. R’ Yitzchok Abramov was the chazan and baal korei. His main role was to infuse energy into Jewish life in the town.

“He continued with this holy work until he immigrated to the US in 2000. Even after he left, bachurim continued to come from Moscow every Shabbos and Yom Tov and they strengthened the minyan.

“In Iyar 5762, my family and I went on permanent shlichus to Malachovka. Malachovka had, in the meantime, become a town run by a separate district council and had about 20,000 residents including hundreds of Jews.”

With the arrival of the shluchim, Chabad activities were launched on an established and structured basis.

Within a few years of his arrival the shliach was quoted as saying, “We have connected to over 250 Jews and we are always discovering more Jews.”

It is not easy operating in a town with only a few hundred Jews. It is very complicated work, but R’ Tamarin is devoted and dynamic and he does what he can and is very successful. The shul is packed every Shabbos, and on Sundays there is a program for children of all ages. Many Jews participate in holiday programs, and he also provides humanitarian aid to the needy.

In recent years, the area has become exclusive thanks to wealthy people from Moscow buying magnificent summer villas. The price of real estate has skyrocketed.

The shul has one old Torah scroll. A sofer who looked at it said it urgently needed to be fixed so it would be kosher according to all opinions. R’ Tamarin decided to do something about it. He had a Torah scroll in his house for twenty years which was also in need of fixing. The family got this Torah when R’ Zalman Gluckowsky passed away in Klimovichi, White Russia (now Belarus) in 5744. He was the last Chabad rabbi in Russia until perestroika. He left this Torah, and his daughter, who was afraid to keep it in her house, told R’ Tamarin about it and he took it. This Torah was pasul in many places and a lot of work was needed to fix it.

When he decided to have it fixed, Ohr Avner provided the funding. An expert scribe worked on it for a long time, and in Elul 5763 there was a festive Hachnasas Seifer Torah in Malachovka, the first public Jewish event in decades.

A large and impressive parade walked through Malachovka and the Jews rejoiced. Even the elders of the community did not remember a celebration like this. Police officials understood the significance of the event and closed the main street of the town in honor of the procession.

Hakafos took place in the shul with the participation of R’ Berel Lazar, chief rabbi of Russia, and other distinguished people. In a meeting that took place the next day, the governor of the Malachovka district blessed the rabbanim on the grand occasion which officially returned Jewish life to Malachovka. The governor even promised to help R’ Tamarin and the Chabad community.