(JTA) — A Torah was dedicated in the birthplace of Communist leader Vladimir Lenin.
More than 500 people gathered Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the first Torah scroll for the city of Ulyanovsk, Russia, according to Chabad.org.
A parade escorted the Torah scroll from the community’s theater to the synagogue.
“Everyone remembers how not long ago they had to hide their Jewish identity,” said Rabbi Yossi Marazov, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to the Volga River port city. “Now, on the very streets where communism [flourished], they are proudly parading as Jewish with the full support of the government.”
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