Moscow’s former chief rabbi, who has been in exile since July, is urging the Jewish community in Russia to leave the country as much as they can before falling victim to the troubles caused by Ukraine.
“When we look at the history of Russia, we see that whenever the political system is in danger, the government tries to redirect the anger and discontent of the people towards the Jewish community. We saw this during the time of the tsars and at the end of the Stalinist regime.” He said. Pinchas Goldschmidt, exclusively for the British newspaper “The Guardian”.
The religious leader, chief rabbi of the Russian capital between 1993 and 2022, reported on “the rise of anti-Semitism” at a time when Russia was facing “a new kind of Soviet Union”. “Step by step, the Iron Curtain is coming back. That’s why I believe the best option for Russian Jews is to leave,” he added.
Goldschmidt resigned in July and fled Russia after refusing to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That same month, the Kremlin shut down the Russian branch of the Jewish Agency, a non-profit organization that promotes immigration to Israel. “Community leaders were pressured to support the war, and I refused to do so. I resigned because continuing as Moscow’s chief rabbi would be a problem for the community due to the repressive measures taken against dissidents,” he explained.
Russia’s Jews have immigrated by the tens of thousands over the past 100 years, first to Europe and America, and more recently to Israel. According to the 1926 census, there were 2,672,000 Jews in the then Soviet Union, 59% of whom were in Ukraine. Today, only about 165,000 Jews live in Russia out of a total population of 145 million.
Goldschmidt believes that 25% to 30% of those who have stayed in the country since the start of the war have left or plan to do so, although there are now few flights from Moscow and the cost of a flight to Tel Aviv has quadrupled. Around 1800 euros.