Historic Agreement To Unify The Rabbinic Leaders Of Bukharian Jewry

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When thinking about the growth of the Bukharian community in the United States, the Beth Gavriel Community Center automatically comes to mind. What began as a Synagogue with only one daily minyan in the mid 1990’s, has now grown into an empire of Torah and community services. Beth Gavriel now has 4 minyanim daily, a day and night Kollel, a state of the art men and women’s mikveh, along with hundreds of children being educated in their Sharei Tzion Yeshiva system from elementary school through high school.

Additionally, the Beth Gavriel center was the initial home for three major organizations who inspire hundreds of thousands of people around the globe. Torahanytime.com, a leader in disseminating Torah online started in Beth Gavriel’s youth minyan. So did Emet, a prominent college outreach program, and Chazaq, a renowned organization who have revolutionized outreach amongst public school students of all ages.

This is just one sample of the beautiful growth in the Bukharian community and there is so much more going on that brings much pride to our people.

However, with all the growth, come challenges. Drug abuse amongst our youth is rampant, divorce rates are on the rise, and many other issues continue to pop up as is natural with a population increase.

More and more synagogues and community centers have opened over the years to address these problems but one thing that had been lacking was proper coordination amongst the Rabbinical leaders of the community in order to use each other’s strengths in helping one another.

Indeed, in 2016, the Chief Bukharian Rabbinate of the USA and Canada was formed, with the sole purpose of uniting the tens of thousands of members of the community across the country and guide them to preserving our traditions while living the American dream. Thank G-d, the Chief Bukharian Rabbinate, headed by Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yisraeli, now has 50 Rabbinic members, and has quietly and efficiently improved many areas of communal life since its inception 5 years ago.

And now, the Bukharian people are entering a new era of unity. As is known, our community in Israel has been headed by numerous Rabbinic figures. Two, who are well known throughout the world, are Rabbi Shmuel Alishaev and Rabbi Hillel Chaimov.

Rabbi Alishaev’s Sharei Tzion Yeshiva system in Israel has had thousands of graduates over the years and he is also the co-founder of Yeshiva Sharei Tzion in New York.

Rabbi Hillel Chaimov, whose lectures have impacted countless of Bukharian laymen across the globe, has been the head of the Bukharian Rabbinical council in Israel for approximately two decades, and has had a vision to expand across the globe.

Recently Rabbi Chaimov reached out to the Chief Bukharian Rabbinate in the USA and Canada and suggested the two Rabbinic bodies unite in order to inspire world Bukharian Jewry in ways like never before. In a recent visit to New York at the end of July, Rabbi Hillel held numerous meetings with some of the leaders of the community and in the very near future a detailed plan of work will be presented to the community at large. Indeed, this is a truly historic moment that will help the Bukharian community reach even greater heights and a movement that will bring even more pride to our community at large. Stay tuned for further details.