Jewish ethnographic expedition to visit several cities of Southern Russia

On August 2-12, Jewish communities of Northern Caucasus will be visited by the Jewish ethnographic expedition, organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR). The expedition will visit the cities of Novocherkassk, Taganrog, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Novorossiysk, Sochi, Armavir, Stavropol, Volgograd, and Volzhsky.

Participants of the expedition will travel on "the mitzvah-mobile" a mobile synagogue. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by Rabbi Yosef Khersonsky, the head of the expedition.

The expedition started on July 30, and it will end on August 15. According to the Rabbi, in each visited city, the participants of the expedition will stop at least in two places in the territory of the Jewish community and in a place, earlier associated with the life of Jews in the city. To ensure the safety of their trip, the participants of the expedition will be accompanied by a guard in constant contact with the private security company. Besides, in accordance with the agreement reached by the FJCR, the expedition will "be patronized" by local law enforcement agencies.

Yosef Khersonsky spoke about the aims of the expedition. According to the Rabbi, first and foremost of them is "to break ice of estrangement from tradition", which many Russian Jews still have, who "are still fear openly admit their Jewishness."

According to the Rabbi, the second aim is to refute the prevailing myths in Russia on Jews and Judaism. The third aim is to collect materials about the past and the present of Jewish communities of those cities. "We will take pictures and record stories of the past," the Rabbi said.