The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia announced a five-year project to translate 50 Jewish religious texts into Russian.
According to federation spokesman Baruch Gorin, the project, called The Library of Jewish Texts, is aimed at Russian-speaking Jews worldwide and non-Jewish Russian speakers interested in getting acquainted with Judaism.
“It is the largest-ever project for the publication of academically accomplished Russian translations of the fundamental book of Judaism,” Gorin told the Interfax news agency.
The first title in the series will be “The Lamentations of the Ninth of Av: The Temple We Have Lost.” Accompanied by an article explaining the history of the First and Second Temples, the federation, a Chabad umbrella organization, plans to print 10,000 copies.
Pope Benedict urged Shimon Peres to use his term as Israeli president to advance peace.
Peres, who was to be sworn in as Israel’s ninth head of state Sunday evening, received letters of congratulations from the pontiff as well as other world figures. Israeli media quoted Benedict as telling Peres that millions of people in Israel and abroad hope that he will help Middle Eastern leaders bring peace to the region.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described Peres’s inauguration as an event of global significance.
“Shimon Peres has been one of the most important figures in Israel over the past 60 years,” Olmert told his Cabinet. “He is a person who is welcomed and known in the entire world as a representative of the State of Israel, and he is one of the best-known figures in the world.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
