Shavei Israel appoints new emissary to Subbotnik Jews in Visoky, Russia
New emissary Aryeh Khodorkovsky (left) with Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund
Shavei Israel has appointed Aryeh Khodorkovsky to be its new emissary to work with the Subbotnik Jewish community in Visoky, Russia. Khodorkovsky will initially travel to southern Russia for two and a half months starting in mid-June. He will be joined in Visoky by his wife and daughter.
Khodorkovsky’s main goal is to continue the work begun by Rabbi Zelig Avrasin, who served as Shavei’s emissary to Visoky until health problems grounded him last year. Rabbi Avrasin continues to work with the Subbotnik Jewish community in Beit Shemesh, Israel, and he teaches the community in Russia via Skype.
During the period when Rabbi Avrasin has been unable to travel, Shavei Israel arranged for several guest speakers to visit Visoky for Shabbat, including rabbis from Moscow and the Jewish community of Voronezh, a two-hour drive away. But there is much more work to be done – helping to organize community life, prayers, classes, and – perhaps most important – creating a database of Subbotnik Jews interested in making aliyah.
Khodorkovsky is not a Subbotnik Jew himself. Originally from St. Petersburg, he came to Israel in 2001 on the Jewish Agency’s “Selah” program, a year-long academic preparatory course for recent high school graduates from the former Soviet Union to continue their higher education in Israel. Selah is a Hebrew acronym for “students before their parents” and many of the program’s participants are followed by other family members.
Khodorkovsky studied at the Machon Lev and Ateret Cohanim yeshivot before joining the Israel Defense Forces in 2004. He later studied with Rabbi Eliyahu Mali and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner and he managed a pre-bar mitzvah program for Machanaim, the Jewish Heritage Center for Russian-Speaking Jews, which began as an underground network for studying Torah and Jewish philosophy in Russia in the days before the Iron Curtain fell. It now operates around the world, including in Israel.
In 2012, Khodorkovsky moved with his family to Kfar Eldad, a small community outside Jerusalem made up of both native-born Israelis and Russian immigrants. Khodorkovsky serves as the gabbai of the community’s synagogue.
While Khodorkovsky has been in touch with the Subbotnik Jewish community in Israel, this will be his first time visiting Visoky. If you’d like to help support Shavei Israel’s work with the Subbotnik Jews of Russia, please consider making a donation by visiting our Support page.