L.A.-Based Group Ensures That Moscow Jews Get a Passover Meal

When Moscow’s lone matzo bakery closed last autumn, it looked as if Russian Jews might lack the sacred flat bread necessary for Passover, the Jewish holiday of freedom.

But thanks to the efforts of a Los Angeles-based Jewish organization and a host of local merchants, Russian Jews will have everything they need--from matzo balls to gefilte fish--for the holiday, which begins at sundown today.

The West Coast chapter of Chabad Lubavitch, an association of Orthodox Jews, has been supporting the Polyakov synagogue in central Moscow for several years. The support has been financial and moral: In addition to providing funds to run and renovate the elegant old synagogue, Chabad has sent rabbis, teachers and volunteers to Moscow.

Chabad in Los Angeles heard about the special need for matzo from its colleagues in Moscow, and the group launched a Passover food drive four months ago.

“It’s been a huge effort,” said Yosef Cunin, the Westwood native who has served as the Polyakov synagogue’s rabbi for three years. “These things mean so much to the people here.”

Chabad brought a virtual mountain of matzo--130 tons--and numerous 40-foot shipping containers of clothing, medicine and kosher food to Russia, distributing the humanitarian aid to the Polyakov synagogue and to Jewish communities around Russia.

The demand for the traditional unleavened bread was so high that Chabad had to airlift more matzo in from Israel at the last minute.

Los Angeles businesses, including West Pico Foods, Streit’s Matzo, Hughes Family Markets and the 99 Cent Stores, contributed to the Moscow food drive, which will continue after Passover. Chabad hopes to be able to dispatch donated food to Moscow every two to three weeks.

At least 12,000 members of the Polyakov synagogue’s community are elderly Jews. Because their pensions have been devastated by Russia’s high inflation, the pensioners rely on the food parcels they receive regularly from the synagogue.

Menachim Cunin, the rabbi’s cousin, recalls how he once saw a man who was so hungry that when he received a package of food, he sat down in the synagogue and started eating.

“I saw him and I said, ‘It’s worth it’--all the time that I’ve put in, all the years that I’ve dedicated to this place, just to see how these people benefit,” said Menachim Cunin, who lives in Westwood.

Passover, the Jewish holiday of freedom, celebrates the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery in ancient Egypt. During the eight-day holiday, observant Jews eschew products made with leavening, eating matzo and specially koshered foods.

Yosef Cunin said the holiday held special meaning for him in Russia, where a Jewish revival is starting to heal the wounds inflicted by centuries of persecution under the czars and the Communist regime.

“God must have promised our grandparents or great-grandparents that, yes, your grandchildren will live in Russia and be able to celebrate Pesach,” he said, using the Hebrew word for Passover. “Our great-grandparents would never think that such a day would come.”

Many Russian Jews, consequently, know very little about how to practice their religion.

“We’re the kind of Jews who don’t know anything--not the traditions, not the laws, nothing,” said Sophia Y. Bronshtein, a retired architect who was standing in line to pick up matzo.

“But I’m registered at the synagogue, and I receive something for every holiday,” she said, looking out over the long row of people receiving cellophane packages and colorful boxes.

“So I’m learning.”