Russian Jewish leaders urge tolerance

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Russia's Jewish leaders, rights activists and officials on Friday commemorated the Holocaust, the 61st anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, and called for stepping up the fight against extremism and anti-Semitism. Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar performed a remembrance prayer at a commemoration event at the Moscow Writers' House, urging leaders worldwide to do more to promote tolerance. Lazar lamented that extremist sentiments were gaining popularity around the world including Russia, where a knife attack earlier this month on worshippers at a Moscow synagogue left eight people wounded. "Preachers of extremist views must once and for all be excluded from the political and social life of the country," Lazar said.