Adolf Shayevich

Who is Adolf Shayevich?

Adolf Solomonovich Shayevich has been since 1983 the rabbi of Moscow Choral Synagogue, which has been traditionally considered as Moscow's main Jewish temple.

During the waning days of the Soviet Union, Shayevich was sometimes unofficially referred to in the West as the "Soviet Union's Chief Rabbi".

Presently he is considered the Chief Rabbi of Russia by the Russian Jewish Congress, one of the two major Jewish organization in Russia. His claim to this title is not universally recognized, however, because the country's other major Jewish organization, Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, has its own Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar.

While the Russian Federation is a secular state, the federal government has referred to both Lazar and Shayevich as the "Chief Rabbi of Russia".