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World Jewish News
The Head of the World Association of Belarusian Jewry Calles upon Lukashenko to Stop Pulling down the Synagogue in the Town of L
30.04.2009
The Head of the World Association of Belarusian Jewry (WABJ; New York, the USA)
Yakov Gutman has called upon the President Aleksandr Lukashenko to stop the work on
pulling down the synagogue in the town of Lyuban (Luban), Minsk region,
immediately. In his letter from April 26, addressed to the leader of the
Belarusian state, Mr. Gutman informs that in 1996 the WABJ under the auspices of
local authorities installed memorial plaque in memory of the renowned 20 th century rabbi Moshe Feinstein on the synagogue's wall. Besides, he said that the district executive committee had decided to name one of the town streets after Feinstein, the world-famous leader of Orthodox Judaism. When he died in the US in 1986, about 60,000 Jews followed his coffin in a funeral
procession in New York, and 150,000 people took part in the funeral ceremony in
Israel. Anything connected with the name of Moshe Feinstein is sacred for Jews
from all parts of the world, the letter underlines.
Further Gutman notes that demolishing the synagogue in Lyuban would be
viewed as continuation of destruction of Jewish houses of prayer that tool place at Dzimitrau Street, 3 and in Nyamiha Street in Minsk; of Jewish cemeteries in Hrodna and Mozyr (Homel region); the memorial sign in the place of self-immolation of Mozyr Jews during the World War II. "We would like to believe that the situation in Lyuban arose as a result of local
authorities' foolishness, and not the policy of the state. The chairman of
Lyuban district executive committee Vasil Akulich hasn't even answered the
letter from the WABJ," Gutman said.
In Lyuban two synagogues standing next to each other have remained. They are
unique examples of wooden Jewish houses of prayer from the end of the 19th and
beginning of the 20th century. The both synagogues are related to
Feinstein's work. Local authorities have decided to demolish the
synagogue built inthe 20th century. On April 21, the chairman of the Belarusian
voluntary society of historical and cultural monuments' protection Anton
Astapovich sent a written proposal to Lyuban district executive committee to
address the Culture Ministry with an initiative to grant a status of historical
and cultural heritage site to the building of the remaining synagogue.
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