The chief rabbi of Moscow may have fled Russia four months ago, shortly after the outbreak of war against Ukraine, but he continues to walk on eggshells. “I cannot give you details of the pressures I was subjected to, as this would have consequences for Jewish institutions in Moscow”explains Pinchas Goldschmidt to the Monde by videoconference from Jerusalem.
Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian authorities demanded that the influential 59-year-old Zurich-born cleric publicly support “special military operation”. Pinchas Goldschmidt did not give in: “I couldn’t keep quiet because this war is a huge disaster for Ukraine and for the Jewish community in Ukraine, whose synagogues have been destroyed. It is also a catastrophe for Russia and Russian Jews. »
He therefore left a country where, for thirty-three years, he had contributed to the revival of Jewish life after the dissolution of the USSR. “Don’t get me wrong: the Russian state controls civil society very closely and it can decide to close everything we have builthe continues in French, his native language. It’s an entire ecosystem that I don’t want to jeopardize: a service center for the community with kindergartens, shops, restaurants, social assistance…”
“An ecosystem that I do not want to jeopardize”
Pinchas Goldschmidt fled Moscow on tiptoe with his wife, claiming to have to take care of his sick father in Israel. Finally, in a tweet posted on June 7, his daughter-in-law, Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, lifted the veil on the real reasons for his departure.
“All I can say is that the Russian authorities maneuvered to replace me with another rabbi. I don’t want to say who it is, but he comes from a very small community,” says the rabbi. The operation has so far been unsuccessful, but Pinchas Goldschmidt has agreed to step down as chief rabbi of Moscow this month, “on the advice of representatives of the Jewish community”.
Other religious leaders did not have his prejudices. Kirill, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, has publicly supported the war in Ukraine, in which he sees a “metaphysical meaning” and whose aim, according to him, is to “overcome dark and hostile external forces”. Russia’s supreme mufti, Talgat Tadjouddine, went so far as to pray that “the special operation in Ukraine is completed (…) so that neither fascists nor parasites remain next to us, because we would not have enough dichlorvos left [un insecticide très toxique] ».
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