Adolf Shayevich

Adolf Solomonovich Shayevich (; born 28 October 1937) is a Soviet and Russian Orthodox rabbi who has been the rabbi of the Moscow Choral Synagogue since 1983, which is traditionally regarded as Moscow's main Jewish house of prayer. Shayevich presently holds the position of the Chief Rabbi of Russia representing the Russian Jewish Congress, one of the two major Jewish organization in Russia (of which he also is a member of the presidium). While the Russian Federation is a secular state, the federal government has referred to both Lazar

Early life and education Adolf Shayevich was raised in Birobidzhan during the years under Joseph Stalin in far-eastern Siberia near the border with China, in a fairly secular family of Belarusian Jewish descent.

In the early 1970s, Shayevich left his job as a chief mechanic with a local government agency and moved to Moscow. According to his own recollection, he was looking for a change of environment, a more meaningful life where people are not tempted to spend their free time drinking. He found it difficult to find a job in Moscow: employers were wary about hiring a Jew, as they would not want to have any problems on their hands if the employee were to decide to migrate to Israel. However, in 1972 he was admitted to the small religious school affiliated with the Moscow Choral Synagogue, the main synagogue of the city. Shayevich and Levitis became the first two Soviet rabbinical students in their generation who were allowed to go to study abroad. He met his wife in Budapest.

Career Back in Moscow, after returning from Budapest, the Council for Religious Affairs (the Soviet government's office for dealing with the religious institutions) suggested that the newly ordained Shayevich return to Birobidzhan - where there was not even a synagogue at the time a post he holds to this day. As this was Moscow's largest and principal synagogue, and the only synagogue in central Moscow, this appointment also made him the Chief Rabbi of Moscow. In 1988, he spent 3 months studying at Yeshiva University in New York.

In a letter dated 1 January 1989, Rabbi Shayevich informed the World Jewish Congress that he was no longer a member of the Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public; that made possible his participation in the WJC. In June 2000, the dispute between Lazar and Shayevich escalated after Chabad requested that Shayevitch resign his claim to the post. When Lazar was named by the Kremlin to a high-profile governmental advisory panel that includes leaders of all religions officially recognized by the Russian government, the Kremlin demonstrated that it officially recognized Lazar as the religious leader of the Russian Jewish community, replacing congress's Shayevich, who until then had occupied the post.

Awards

In 1987, Shayevich was awarded the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. In 2008, on the occasion of the rabbi's 70th anniversary, he was awarded the highest award of the City Government of Moscow, the "Medal of Merit for Moscow", by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" Order of Honour Order of Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow Order of Friendship of Peoples