01.02.2012                      08.Schwat. 5772

Jüdische Welt:

Conservative movement sending 1st rabbi to FSU

New leader of Kiev congregation: Anti-Semitism in Ukraine at a low simmer, gays welcome in his synagogue.

When Rabbi Reuven Stamov arrives in Ukraine next March he might receive a mixed reaction from local members of Conservative Judaism. While they are certain to congratulate him on becoming the movement’s first rabbi in the former Soviet Union, they might also be wondering what took him so long.
Whereas Chabad has an extensive network of emissaries in almost every midsized town in the former Soviet Union, from Vladivostok in the east to Kaliningrad in the west, and even Reform Judaism has a presence in big cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Conservative – or Masorti movement, as it is also called – has lagged behind….