Krasnoyarsk, Russia

The Jewish community in Krasnoyarsk is a proud Kehilla with a 180-year documented history, starting with the first Jews who arrived there as Siberian exiles. Early on, they had built a small synagogue, which the communists destroyed in 1924. The local population grew during the Holocaust as many Jews fleeing the Nazis made their way to Russia.

In 1990, the community received a small building to dedicate as a Shul, and they built a beautiful synagogue and community center. The plan was to build a Mikvah on the adjacent lot, but legal challenges with the property resulted in a decade of dragging timelines. With Hashem’s help, the community finally won full rights to the property a few years ago, and Rabbi Benyamin Leib and Mrs. Dina Vagner contacted Mikvah Tahara to begin building.

Previously, kosher families in Krasnoyarsk were forced to take a plane to Tomsk. Today, close to 20 families adhere to the laws of Tahara and use the new Mikvah on a regular basis. As Rabbi Vagner so proudly puts it, “The important message here is that precisely in Krasnoyarsk, a place to where Jews were expelled or exiled, we have a kosher Mikvah and a budding community. This is our ultimate victory over the communists.”