Pecherski, Gedalia

Gedalia Pecherski (1901-1975) was a prominent Jewish religious leader in Leningrad, a chairman, a gabbai, and chazzan of the Grand Choral Synagogue, and a prisoner of Zion. Pechersky was born in Babinavichy - a small town in the Belarussian province of Mogilev (then, part of the Russian Empire). In the early 1920s he studied in Vitebsk at the Lubavitch yeshiva Tiferes Baсhurim, and also participated in underground Zionist circles. At the end of the 1920s, the Pecherski’s family moved to Leningrad, where he worked as a dentist and medical technician. During the siege of Leningrad in the WWII, Pecherski helped Jews suffering from hunger, and organized burials in the Jewish cemetery. From the end of 1940s, he managed to organize an underground system of aid to needy old people. In 1954-1956, as chairman of the synagogue, Pecherski struggled to obtain permission for the slaughter of kosher meat and baking matzot. He also sought the authorities' permission to teach Hebrew and Jewish history. This activity caused him to lose his post in 1956. In 1961, he was imprisoned for Zionist activities. In 1968, Pecherski was released, and later struggled for the right to emigrate to Israel. He was permitted to leave in 1970. The private collection of Gedalia Pecherski consists of his correspondence and appeals to the Soviet authorities regarding his public activity in the Leningrad Grand Synagogue during the 1950s. In addition, the collection includes other records related to Pecherski’s post as chairman of the Grand Synagogue, his personal documents, his diary, complaints to the prison authorities, and appeals to the editorial offices of the central Soviet press. An important part of the collection are historical notes he wrote in Yiddish on the life of the Jews of Leningrad during the siege and the war. The papers also contain applications for permission to emigrate to Israel -- Read more