Hostile takeover in Moscow

Berl Lazar muscles in on Rabbi Dovid Karpov. Walter Ruby reporting in the Jewish Week: The move, critics say, is the latest in a series of takeovers of property affiliated with other Jewish groups that appear at odds with the ethos of a worldwide religious movement that proclaims its love for every Jew.

"Many in Moscow speculate that Rabbi Lazar, who was born in Italy, perceives the native-born Rabbi Karpov as a threat because the latter is widely viewed as better able to connect with Moscow Jewry than are the vast majority of Chabad rabbis in the FSU, who hail from the United States, Israel and Europe."

This is a picture I took of Rabbi Dovid Karpov in his tiny appartment in Moscow in 1988 where he lived with his family and his mother in law. A Hosid and a Lamdan, a heart of pure as gold, forsake every opportunity to leave to the West.

The story is consistent with what we wrote previously about Lubavitch here, here, here and here. Berl Lazar=Shlomo Cunin?

Raboisay, can you put this in your pudding:

To enforce its new status, FEOR has dispatched a guard and a manager to Darkei Shalom who have begun enforcing a new set of regulations Rabbi Karpov considers onerous. One stipulates that everyone, including Rabbi Karpov, must leave the synagogue complex no later than 30 minutes after evening prayers, making it impossible for the rabbi to teach classes.

Another new rule forbids people from sleeping over at the facility on Friday nights, a practice Rabbi Karpov sees as a �mitzvah� that has enabled single men and families who cannot walk home on Shabbat because the synagogue is in a remote section many miles from their homes to attend services.

I will call Moscow tomorrow to get the first hand account. Meanwhile please spread the word about this and see what YOU can do. Does anyone have contacts with Levayev? Call American Jewish Congress. Can someone call HAMA?

UPDATE #1: Is anyone else uneasy looking at this?