Last week in Moscow, rabbinical students of the yeshiva at the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue took their final exams. In all, 22 young men received their Rabbinic ordination as well as certification as shochtim (ritual slaughterers).
The 22 newly ordained rabbis and shochtim can now use their knowledge and skills to serve the Jewish people. In the first stage of the examination, the students were tested on their knowledge of kosher slaughter of poultry and cattle. In the second part of the test were rigorously examined on the actual slaughter of animals, carried out under the watchful supervision of experts. The following day, the graduates demonstrated their knowledge of the written and oral Torah and they received their ordination.
On the evening on February 8, the Bolshaya Bronnaya synagogue hosted a reception in honor of the graduates. Numerous businessmen from the community, some of whom serve as the yeshiva’s Board of Trustees, attended the event.
The new rabbis expressed their appreciation for the boundless energy of Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan and his wife, Rebbetzin Sophie Kogan, of blessed memory. It was the Kogans who established this yeshiva at the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue. Rabbi Kogan stated that the work of the yeshiva and its graduates is the best compensation for the many years of suffering endured by the rabbis and other religious Jews who had tremendous self-sacrifice to keep Judaism alive during the Soviet years.