Russia's Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar sharply criticized an article by Assistant Secretary of the Security Council Alexey Pavlov on "neo-pagan cults" in Ukraine, in which he touched upon Hasidim.
This is reported by Radio Liberty.
The rabbi said that the Jewish community of Russia perceived the material "with extreme astonishment", and the theses contained in it were considered an insult to "millions of Jewish believers, including a significant majority of Jews in Russia."
The Federation of Jewish communities of Russia believes that Pavlov's article "creates a cause for hostility," and the Russian Jewish Congress asked the Investigative Committee and the Prosecutor's Office to evaluate the statements of the Assistant Secretary of the Russian Security Council.
An article by Alexey Pavlov is titled "What is being cooked in the "witch's cauldron"? Neo-Pagan cults gain strength in Ukraine" was published in 'Arguments and Facts' magazine on October 26. It says that since 2014, as a result of Western "manipulations and Political Technologies", Ukraine has turned into a "totalitarian hypersect" with "neo-pagan cults". Pavlov claims that Ukrainian society is run by "fanatics", adherents of religious sects who committed "the greatest atrocities in the Donbas and other Russian-speaking regions of Ukraine." Further, the FSB major general writes about the need to "desatanize" Ukraine during the so-called special military operation.
In the text, Mykola Patrushev's assistant touches on Lubavitch Hasidism (a widespread trend in Judaism) and considers the Chabad religious movement to be one of the sects, pointing out that Igor Kolomoisky, Viktor Pinchuk and other Ukrainian oligarchs allegedly belong to it. Pavlov argues that the main life principle of the Lubavitch Hasidim is the superiority of his supporters over all nations and peoples.
Berl Lazar, commenting on the article by the assistant secretary of the Russian Security Council, noted that the Lubavitch Hasidim and the Chabad religious movement are not a sect but a legitimate School of Judaism. He noted that he himself belongs to this direction, as well as "90% of rabbis who work in the Jewish communities of Russia." The rabbi stressed that the Chabad ideology is based on respect for all religions, peoples and every person.
Pavlov's reasoning "could be called vulgar anti-Semitic nonsense and squeamishly pass by," Lazar said, but the post of Chief Rabbi of Russia does not allow this to be done. "Such new rehashes of old bloody slander on behalf of an employee of the Russian Security Council are a huge danger and, therefore, should cause an immediate and unambiguous reaction from society and the country's authorities," Lazar believes.
Borukh Gorin, the official representative of the Chabad movement in Russia, believes that such statements by the assistant secretary of the Russian Security Council can be assessed as an official position of the authorities.
According to experts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Russian officials are increasingly trying to link the war in Ukraine with religious concepts. This is indicated by the latest statements of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who called the war in Ukraine jihad.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, previously spoke about the "satanization" of the West and the battle of "angels and demons", where the battle is Ukraine.