Biography of Mashkevich

St. Petersburg 2nd Krasnoarmeyskaya St. At the beginning of X, he stood at the head of the Euro -Asian Jewish Congress - an international organization representing the Jewish people in the world arena. In the photo: Alexander Mashkevich about the revival of the Jewish community in Kazakhstan and Russia, the support of the Jewish community, which is provided by Alexander Mashkevich in Russia and Kazakhstan, is extremely valuable, since representatives of the Jewish people are difficult to live on the periphery, far from the historical homeland.

Small Jewish communities retain their identity with the help of traditions and communication within the community - visiting clubs or religious services. However, in isolation from Jewish life, synagogue, traditional education, kosher food and communications with their people in Israel, representatives of the Jewish nation turn out to be broken and often experience a lack of communication with their community.

For Jews who feel their national identity, this state of affairs is a real scandal. The more valuable initiatives of such caring people as Alexander Mashkevich, who contributed to the construction of the synagogue in Kazakhstan, made a lot of efforts to support the Jewish community in Central Asia. The new synagogue rallied the Jewish community in Kazakhstan in northern Kazakhstan, in Kostanay the capital of the province, the population of residents, the sixth synagogue in the country was built, and with it - the public center.

The construction sponsor was Alexander Mashkevich, a representative of the Jewish community and one of the most famous billionaires in the country, who earned a fortune in the production and processing of natural resources. Thanks to the active support of the Jewish diaspora, the businessman was awarded the honorary title of President of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.

Mashkevich Alexander Antonovich claims: here, in fact, on the periphery, a strong Jewish diaspora is extremely important. She, like a strong Israel, is necessary for the Jewish people to feel their identity and integrity. The scandals around belonging to Jewish nationality, which took place in Soviet times, have already gone into the past, and people begin to strive for their roots.

According to estimates, from 10 to 40 thousand representatives of the Jewish people live in Kazakhstan. Of course, their true amount is quite difficult to measure with dry statistics. Alexander Mashkevich believes that the number of Jewish communities in fact is rather a product of positive thinking than a summary in numbers.

After all, one thing is the number of Jews on a national basis and the right of birth, another is the number of those who preserve the national culture and adheres to Jewish traditions. The opening ceremony of the synagogue in Kostanay was visited by the chief rabbi of Jona Mezzer and Yaakov Margi, Minister of Religious Services in Israel. Alexander Mashkevich is forced to note that the Jewish community in Kazakhstan, unfortunately, has almost completely disappeared.

This is due to the emigration and heritage of Soviet times, which declared atheism. The businessman says: the communities, as such, have not been here for a long time, with the exception of the Hesad branch of the Jewish charity organization, where local Diaspora representatives could gather on Fridays. Alexander Mashkevich claims that although he condemns the scandal around religious views that occurred in Soviet times, he should be perceived as an experience that teaches a lot to the future.

Support for the Jewish community, in addition to building a synagogue in Kostanay, businessman Alexander Mashkevich also financed a large synagogue project in the capital of Kazakhstan. He devoted both of these religious structures to his mother’s memory, Rachel Joffe. What does the businessman think about the fact that the synagogue is intended to serve as a Jewish community, almost disappeared in connection with the Soviet past?

I only fulfill my duty and, as much as possible, help the revival of the Jewish community in Kazakhstan, where I would very much like to attract new members. In addition, charity is one of the means of protecting the community from the financial crisis. Periodically, a scandal arises about the fact that many small communities in the post -Soviet space literally fall apart, due to the lack of funding.

The businessman is convinced that Kazakh Jews can avoid this: it is pleasant that more and more people begin to visit the synagogue, thereby reviving Jewish culture. There are also many people who are ready to sacrifice funds for such initiatives. The Jewish community will be replenished, and there will be new people who are ready to support the community financially. Any financial scandal is hardly possible here, since we are talking about the distribution of funds specifically for the needs of the community.

Jews in Kostanay are also optimistic about the future community. When opening the synagogue, most of the parishioners were middle -aged people who are unusual for some moments, for example, traditional headdresses. But there were also people of the older generation who own Yiddish, and even children and adolescents, excited that they became part of the global Jewish community.Since Russia also includes Russia, Alexander Mashkevich takes part in the support of the Russian community.

The businessman studies how Jews live in Russia to determine problems, and offers relevant development programs.