The death of Rabbi Nathan Nute Alevsky, oldest rabbi in Russia, was announced here by Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the American Jewish Conference on Soviet Jewry. “We have just received information on the passing of Rabbi Alevsky, who was over 90 years of age, but active until shortly before his death, has served in Moscow for over thirty years as leader of Maryna-Roschtsa Synagogue, second largest congregation in Moscow. He was formerly rabbi of the Urkutsk Congregation in Siberia.”
Pointing out that there are now only 65 synagogues in all of Russia, and less than 50 rabbis, Rabbi Miller said: “Rabbi Alevsky’s death dramatically highlights the tragic disintegration of the institutions and instrumentalities necessary for the survival of the religious and cultural life of Russian Jewry. The loss of another link with Russian Jewry’s historic past, and the additional void it leaves in Jewish spiritual leadership in the Soviet Union, points up the need for the early reopening of Jewish theological seminaries and Yeshivot in the Soviet Union.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
