The Day of Salvation and Liberation - 2018

On May 7, 2018, the Israeli parliament passed a law to officially celebrate the Day of Salvation and Liberation. The new law established that each year a solemn ceremony dedicated to 26 Iyar will be held at the Western Wall. In 2018 the Jews gathered to pray for the exaltation of the soul and in memory of those who fought against Nazism. Hundreds of people came to the Wailing Wall in honor of this date. The solemn prayer was attended by Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef, Chairman of the Council of Rabbis of Europe, Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of the Caucasian community Yaniv Naftaliev, other rabbis and yeshiva students.

On May 10, Moscow hosted the Second International Scientific Conference "Victory in the Great Patriotic War as a Historical Event in the Life of the Jewish People." In the framework of the scientific part of the conference, reports were heard by scientists from Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan and Belarus.

In the main hall of the Choral Synagogue, hundreds of believers read a prayer for those who did not return from the war, for those who, risking their own lives, saved thousands of others. On the same evening, the premiere of the documentary film “No to Oblivion” by the STMEGI Media Group (directed by Marat Mardakhaev) took place.

About 200 people gathered for a ceremony on May 11 at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Its participants honored the memory of the fallen soldiers with a minute of silence and laid a wreath and red carnations at the memorial.

The Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar and the President of the STMEGI Charitable Foundation German Zakharyayev congratulated everyone who came to the commemorative event. Separately, they appealed to the pupils of religious educational institutions and students of Jewish schools in Moscow with an appeal to be worthy of the heroic deed of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers, passing on the memory of the events of the Great Patriotic War from generation to generation.

Collective prayers and solemn ceremonies in honor of 26 Iyar were held in Germany and Italy, Poland and Austria, Great Britain and Argentina, Russia and Hungary, the USA and Australia, Belarus and Ukraine, Azerbaijan and China. The action, which took place on a truly international scale, was attended by Jews from Rome, London, Budapest, Amsterdam, New York, Baku, Pinsk, Kiev and Sydney, as well in the largest cities of Russia and Israel. For the first time, the holiday was celebrated in Guangzhou, the third largest city in China.