A new Chabad center is set on the 27th floor of a prominent tower at the Moscow International Business Center (MIBC), also known as Moscow City, which is home to Russia's tallest skyscrapers. The district, which draws hundreds of thousands of workers and residents daily, including many members of the Jewish community and businesspeople, has become a growing hub of Jewish life in recent years.
The local Jewish presence first gained traction with the opening of a synagogue in the Afi-mall City shopping center, an initiative spearheaded by businessman Lev Leviev.
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The Moscow City tower complex, one of which now houses the new Chabad center
(Photo: Eli Yurivna)
Roughly five years ago, Rabbi Yosef Moshe Weissberg established the first Chabad center in the area. Now, with the acquisition of a permanent location on the 27th floor of one of the central towers, the facility has undergone extensive renovations to accommodate an expanded range of programs geared toward business professionals, families, and young Jews.
Shabbat and holiday prayers and meals will continue at the ground-floor synagogue.
The inauguration ceremony, which included the affixing of mezuzahs, was attended by Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar; Lev Leviev; Rabbi Yehuda Davidov; Alexander Moiseevich Boroda, who is the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia; and Rabbi Mordechai Weisberg, head of the Jewish community and director of Chabad Houses in Moscow and father of the new center's director.
A shofar was blown in honor of the Hebrew month of Elul by Rabbi Zvi Ruderman, father-in-law of the center's director and head of the Chabad House in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda neighborhood.
Guests toured the new space and took in the sweeping views of the city below. The opening of the new center is expected to strengthen and expand Jewish communal life in the area, alongside dozens of other Chabad institutions operating across the Russian capital.