Exiled Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt has warned Jews in Russia to leave the country before they are made into scapegoats.
Rabbi Goldschmidt made the comments in an interview with The Guardian, citing growing anti-Semitism and a deteriorating political climate in Russia as reasons for his warning. Goldschmidt, who fled Russia in 2019 amid threats to his safety, argued that Jews in the country are at risk of being used as a convenient target for those in power to distract from larger problems.
“When we look back over Russian history, whenever the political system was in danger you saw the government trying to redirect the anger and discontent of the masses towards the Jewish community,” he said. “We saw this in tsarist times and at the end of the Stalinist regime.”
“We’re seeing rising antisemitism while Russia is going back to a new kind of Soviet Union, and step by step the iron curtain is coming down again. This is why I believe the best option for Russian Jews is to leave,” he said.
“Pressure was put on community leaders to support the war, and I refused to do so. I resigned because to continue as chief rabbi of Moscow would be a problem for the community because of the repressive measures taken against dissidents,” he said.
Rabbi Goldschmidt first urged Russian Jews to flee the country after a Russian official called Chabad a supremacist cult, warning that things would only get worse for Jews as the war in Ukraine plodded on.
According to the exiled rabbi, 25%-30% of Russian Jews have left Russia, or are planning to leave, since the outbreak of war last February.
Russia currently has about 165,000 Jewish people living in it out of 145 million total citizens.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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16 Responses
You are exiled. This makes you useless and unnecessary. Why. Truth is omitted. Shame on every part of you
The question is, would Israel engage in conflict against Russia to save Jews? I’m not so sure
The Rav showed tremendous courage both by serving in such a place for many years and then leaving when things became impossible. He could have stayed and get paid well for that by the Russian Nazis.
He could have made another point: those Jews should not just be afraid for their own safety, but make sure that they do not continue being supporters of the evil regime.
A silver lining of Jews being expelled from Spain was that they did not have a chance to join Spaniards in their conquest of Americas with all the cruelty it entailed. Better to be prosecuted than become part of the atrocity … (This “historical” thought was published by Avraham Heschel under Nazi censorship).
30 years!
They had 30 YEARS to get out!
WWII lessons not learned!
I’ve spent 25 years begging, BEGGING, my cousins to get out!
Sorry, not sorry!
shtusim.
YWN’s constant Sheker of white washing murderous Nazi Bandera Ukraine as it smears Russia causes Jewish hatred! Enough aping fake, woke CIA media and stop hiding Ukraine’s grisly past and present.
Rabbi Goldschmidt is still the Chief Rabbi of Europe.
So this fella is warning Jews about staying in Russia, which is a friendly and perfectly safe place. Yet, he is not urging Jews to flee Ukraine which is run by literal Bandera-loving fascists. Ok.
The Chief Rabbi of Ukraine resides in Rockland County and raises money for his activities.
To all the FOOLS who think Russia is “safe”——FOOLS!!!!
With all that, which he certainly knows better than other, I would suggest he offer suggestion to those Jews who do decide to stay how best to conduct themselves to minimize problems.
Not ever my Rabbi. Russia should prevail over this Zelensky the gentile
Those who speak against Russia:
KGB is alive and reading YWN, you might suddenly find yourself poisoned….
@Sara Rifka
Supporting Russia because Ukraine have a history of antisemitism is akin to supporting Germany in 1939 for Poland’s history with the Jews.
@ Rif,
🤣🤣🤣🤣
the rabbi is 100% right