Berel Lazar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rabbi Berel Lazar (born 1964) is an Orthodox rabbi affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. He presently serves as the Chief Rabbi of Russia, and is the chairman of the rabbinical alliance of the CIS.
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[edit] Education
A native of Milan, Italy, Rabbi Lazar was born in 1964 to parents who were among the first emissaries of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Until the age of 15, he studied in Milan’s Merkaz Jewish Day School. Afterwards, he went on to study in New York and pursued a degree in religious studies at the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of 23, he was ordained at the Central Lubavitch Yeshiva in New York.
[edit] Career
In 1992, he was appointed chairman of the Rabbinical Alliance of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In 1997 he helped establish the Federation of Jewish Communities of CIS (FJC) representing 15 FSU countries. In 2000, he was elected chief rabbi of Russia and appointed to Russia's Council for Coordination of Religious Associations. In 2002, Lazar was elected Chairman of the Rabbinical Council of the World Congress of Russian Jewry.
[edit] Disputed
The Russian government and the rabbi's organization claim that he is the Chief Rabbi of Russia. Lazar was elected to his position in 2000, and both the vast majority of the local Jewish communities and the political establishment recognize his leadership.
