Jewish Life Digital Edition November 2013 | Page 9

STATE-OF-THE-ART SIBERIAN SYNAGOGUE
It’s a five-hour flight from Moscow, across the empty expanses of Siberia,
to the city of Novosibirsk. Known informally as the ‘capital of Siberia’,
Novosibirsk is the third most populous city in Russia. Since August this
year, it can also boast a Jewish community centre that could rival any in
the rest of the world. The Jews of Novosibirsk celebrated the opening of a
new complex that includes a vast synagogue, a kosher restaurant and food
shop, mikvehs for women and men, study rooms and a banqueting hall for
weddings, barmitzvahs and brit mila. There are also plans to open computer rooms and a swimming pool. “More than 1 000 people attended the
opening ceremony, including members of the community, local residents
and the mayor of Novosibirsk, who is very supportive of our community,”
said Rabbi Zalman Zaklos, the Chief Rabbi of Novosibirsk, during a tour of
the building. The building of the 35 000sqm complex was mostly funded
by the Federation of Jewish Communities of the former Soviet Union, and
international foundations. Parts of the building are made from Jerusalem
stone that was specially shipped to Novosibirsk. About 20 000 Jews live in
Novosibirsk today, 6 000 of whom are registered members of the Jewish
community. “We celebrate Jewish holidays and Shabbat together, we operate a school and kindergarten for Jewish children, conduct Torah and Hebrew lessons, and we have a women’s club. Siberia has a large and vibrant
Jewish community,” said Rabbi Zaklos. The rabbi explained that the Chief
Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, met him in Israel to ask him to go to Novosibirsk to become chief rabbi there. “My wife and I didn’t even think about it
seriously; what would we do in Siberia?” he recalled with a smile. He eventually took up the post after Rabbi Lazar flew him to the city for a visit.

PHOTOGRAPH: WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

INTERMARRIAGE AND ASSIMILATION RATES SOAR
The first major survey of American Jews in more than 10 years shows a significant
rise in those who are not religious, marry outside the faith, and are not raising their
children as Jews – resulting in a rapid assimilation that is sweeping through every
branch of Judaism except the Orthodox. The intermarriage rate has reached a high
of 58% for all Jews, and 71% for non-Orthodox Jews – a huge change from before
1970, when only 17% of Jews ‘married out’. Two-thirds of Jews do not belong to a
synagogue, one-quarter do not believe in G-d, and one-third had an Xmas tree in
their home last year. The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Religion
& Public Life Project, found that despite the declines in religious identity and
participation, American Jews say they are proud to be Jewish and have a “strong
sense of belonging to the Jewish people”. While 69% say they feel an emotional
attachment to Israel, and 40% believe the land that is now Israel was “given to the
Jewish people by G-d”, only 17% think the continued building of settlements in
the West Bank is helpful to Israel’s security. The percentage of “Jews of no religion”
has grown with each successive generation, peaking with those born after 1980,
of whom 32% say they have no religion. “It’s very stark,” Alan Cooperman, deputy
director of the Pew religion project, said. “Older Jews are Jews by religion. Younger
Jews are Jews of no religion.” Reform Judaism remains the largest American Jewish
movement, at 35%. Conservative Jews are 18%, Orthodox at 10%, and 7% made
up of other Jewish religious groupings. Over 30% of Jews do not identify with
any denomination. While earlier generations of Orthodox Jews defected in large
numbers, those in the younger generation are being reta ined. This is attributed to
the Orthodox marrying young, having large families and sending their children to
Jewish schools. Jane Eisner, editor in chief of The Jewish Daily Forward, an American
newspaper and website serving the US Jewish community, found the results “devastating”, because she “thought there would be more American Jews who cared
about religion… This should serve as a wake-up call for all of us as Jews,” she said.

BYZANTINE-ERA GOLD UNEARTHED IN JERUSALEM
APPLE TO PAY $40M FOR YOUNG

ISRAELI START-UP

American tech giant Apple is set to pay $40 million or more to
acquire a start-up created by 21-year-old Israeli Daniel Gross, who
now resides in California. Gross, a native of Jerusalem, planned to
serve in the IDF after high school, but changed course after a small
start-up he created generated interest in Silicon Valley. Originally
called Greplin, his company was renamed Cue. Cue is a personal
assistant app for smartphones that processes contacts, email, files
and social media, presenting a daily agenda.
Gross said there were a number of challenges in cross-pollinating data between
different sources such as calendars and email, and apps like
LinkedIn. He has been working
with 14 other engineers for the
last three years, building the
Cue software that can securely
cross-reference and present personal data on a smartphone.

NETANYAHU: NUCLEAR-ARMED
IRAN ‘AS DANGEROUS AS 50
NORTH KOREAS’
The “lesson of history” was that Iran’s rhetorical
threats against Israel and the West should be
taken seriously. “This fanatic regime must not
be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons.”
These were some of the grim words of warning given in a recent address to the United Nations General Assembly, in
New York, by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel will never
acquiesce to nuclear arms in the hands of a rogue regime which repeatedly
threatens to wipe us off the map. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will
stand alone. But, in standing alone, Israel will know that it is defending many
others,” said Netanyahu. He recalled how Iranian-sponsored terrorists destroyed a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, killing 85 people,
and Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American soldiers in 1996. “Are
we to believe that [Hassan] ouhani, the national security adviser of Iran at the
time, knew nothing about these attacks?” asked Netanyahu. “Of course he
did. Facts are stubborn things: the facts are that Iran’s savage record contradicts Rouhani’s soothing words.” Recalling how Rouhani negotiated with the
West while expanding Iran’s nuclear facilities a decade ago, Netanyahu said:
“He fooled the world once, now he thinks he can fool it again.” Referring to
Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani’s offer of “peace and friendship” to America, Netanyahu recalled how North Korea agreed in 2005 to freeze its nuclear
programme. “A year later, North Korea exploded its first nuclear weapons
device,” he said. “Yet, as dangerous as a nuclear-armed North Korea is, it pales
in comparison to the danger posed by a nuclear-armed Iran.” Netanyahu predicted that an Iran with nuclear weapons would disrupt global energy supplies and turn the “most unstable part of the planet into a nuclear tinderbox”
by triggering a regional arms race. “A nuclear-armed Iran in the Middle East
would not be another North Korea. It would be another 50 North Koreas.” JL

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