The Chief Rabbi of Russia, Harav Berel Lazar, visited the Belzer Rebbe last week, partially to receive a bracha ahead of his daughter’s wedding. Last week, the chasunah of HaRav Lazer’s daughter, Rivka, to Sholom, the son of the Chief Rabbi of Odesa (Ukraine), HaRav Avraham Woff, took place near Jerusalem. When the two got engaged, a joke went around that then-US President-elect Donald Trump made the shidduch. HaRav Lazar told the Rebbe that over the past year, there’s been a great awakening among Russian Jews: “Baruch Hashem, over the past year, we’ve been seeing an unprecedented and unbelievable awakening. We have hundreds of Jews who in the past had no connection to the Jewish community who are now joining the kehilla. We send them tefillin, mezuzos, and sefarim.” Rav Lazar added that “one of the greatest things we have in Russia today is that there are many avreichim who sit and learn in the Beis Medrash from morning until night. Avreichim, who in the past didn’t even know Aleph Beis, are sitting and learning.” HaRav Lazar added that there are five yeshivos and talmudei Torah in Moscow alone. Rav Lazar also told the Rebbe about the family of Sasha Troufanov, who was then still in Gazan captivity but was Baruch Hashem released on Shabbos. Sasha’s family made aliyah from Russia about 25 years ago. HaRav Lazar told the Rebbe that Sasha’s grandmother, Irena, who now lives in Israel, had a connection to the Jewish kehilla in Russia many years ago. But her daughter, Lena had no connection with Yahadus. On October 7, Lena’s husband was murdered and Irena, Lena, and Sasha were abducted. After Lena (and her mother) returned to Israel in the November 2023 deal, “she began to daven three times a day, she says the entire Sefer Tehillim every Shabbos – it takes her four hours – and she also says the entire Tehillim during the week,” Rav Lazar said. The Rebbe was very moved by the story and offered a heartfelt bracha for Sasha’s safe return to Israel. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)