synagogue website birth_place nationality denomination synagogueposition profession birth_date residence image article_title name
larnaca synagogue -lsb- and english -rrb- -rsb- http://www.rabbinatecyprus.org rabbinate of cyprus -lrb- chiefly in hebrew jerusalem , israel cyprus israel orthodox chief rabbi of cyprus rabbi 1976 larnaca , cyprus 250px arie zeev raskin
 arie zeev raskin
arie zeev raskin

rabbi arie zeev raskin , -lrb- ; born in 1976 -rrb- , is the chief rabbi of cyprus and the first rabbi on the island in many years .
he moved to cyprus in 2003 with his wife shaindel and their children in an effort to introduce jewish life onto the island .
he had previously lived in kiryat malachi in israel .
he is a follower of the chabad-lubavitch branch of hasidic judaism .
in cyprus , he set up the cyprus jewish community centre in larnaca , close to the international airport , to serve around 350 jewish families on the island , as well as jewish travellers and tourists .
besides the larnaca synagogue , the jewish community of cyprus also built a dining room , english and hebrew library , a mikveh and a kindergarten .
other activities at the centre include a wide variety of classes and programmes designed to reach all ages and levels of jewish learning .
activities include discussion groups on jewish issues , weekly talmud and torah study groups , special jewish holiday programmes , jewish email services and a website , shabbat meals and tourist assistance .
rabbi raskin was nominated as the official jewish leader and the chief rabbi of cyprus on monday 12 september 2005 , at the dedication ceremony of the centre which was performed by chief rabbi of israel yona metzger and a representative of rabbi jonathan sacks chief rabbi of the united kingdom , reverend weissman .
in the synagogue , rabbi raskin was draped with a tallit and officially took on the leadership of the cyprus jewish community .
other guests at the ceremony included the israeli ambassador at the time , zvi cohen-litant , rabbis from the rabbinical center of europe , the vice chairman of the lubavitch educational division at lubavitch world headquarters , rabbi moshe kotlarsky , rabbi yekutiel farkash from jerusalem , the cypriot education and culture minister pefkios georgiades , and larnaca 's deputy mayor alexis michaelides as well as members of the government , politicians , diplomats , rabbis from all over europe representing their communities and other local leaders .
by 2006 the building of mikveh -lrb- `` ritual pool '' -rrb- mei menachem was completed , and a summer centre in ayia napa and the cyprus international jewish school were opened .
`` our primary goal is to improve the quality of jewish life for every jew in cyprus : the moral values and rich traditions that judaism has to offer are things that no jew should be deprived of . ''
