Us Orthodox Leader Says New Moscow Synagogue Rabbi Not an Expert on Religious Law

A leading American Orthodox rabbi said today that the newly appointed rabbi of Moscow’s Choral Synagogue was the successor but not a replacement for the late Rabbi Pinchas Teitz, of Elizabeth, N.J., a long time friend of the late Rabbi Levin, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the new rabbi, Yakov L. Fishman, 59, was qualified to perform the practical functions of a rabbi but was not an authority on religious law or a scholar of the late Rabbi Levin’s stature.

The Moscow Synagogue is no longer regarded as the “central address” of the Russian-Jewish community as it was during Rabbi Levin’s tenure, Rabbi Teitz said. He explained that in the Soviet Union today, as during the Czarist regime, there are Jewish religious functionaries recognized by the government as rabbis and rabbinical scholars who may be without official recognition but are looked to by observant Jews in matters of religious law.

Rabbi Teitz said that because of the lack of yeshivas to train rabbis under the Soviet regime, there are very few rabbis left in the USSR who can qualify as scholars. Two of them who could have replaced Rabbi Levin are Rabbi S. Oppenheimer, of Kuibishev, who is 77 and Rabbi Shiomo Lubanov, 83, of Leningrad; But the Government would not consider them as candidates for the Moscow pulpit because of their age, Rabbi Teitz said. Rabbi Fishman was recommended by the Moscow Synagogues seven member lay board by Ephraim Kaplim and was approved by the Ministry of Cults through its Council for Religious Affairs. Actually, Rabbi Teitz explained, the lay boards choices were limited to candidates acceptable to the regime. Rabbi Fishman was also approved by Jewish activists in Moscow. Rabbi Fishman has been functioning at the Moscow Synagogue since May 15 but no official announcement was made of his appointment. It was confirmed yesterday by Kaplun.

Rabbi Teitz described Rabbi Fishman as a religious functionary who had been trained by Rabbi Levin and his predecessor. Rabbi Shlomo Shlaifer, in practical matters of synagogue administration, kashrut supervision, ritual slaughtering, circumcision and other religious functions. He observed that the pulpit activities of rabbis in Russia differ from those of American rabbis, They lead synagogue services but do not deliver sermons and speak publicly only once or twice a year. Rabbi Fishman was born in Lutsk and served briefly as a rabbi in perm, a city in the Urals, Prior to his appointment to the Moscow Synagogue he was employed in an automobile manufacturing plant.