It is with profound sadness that the EAJC announces the passing of Prof. Mikhail Chlenov (26.9.1940-7.8.2024) today, August 7th. Known affectionately as Mika to his many friends, colleagues, students, and associates, he was a towering figure in the history of the Jewish community of the USSR and Russia.

Mika was a driving force behind the organized Jewish life after the collapse of the USSR and stood at the origins of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. In recent years he has served as head of the EAJC’s Strategic Council. He was also Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress and a member of the Presidium of the World Zionist Organization.

Since the early 1970s, Chlenov was actively involved in the independent Jewish national movement, first in the USSR and later in Russia. He began studying Hebrew in 1971 and started teaching the language in 1972. In 1981, he established the Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Commission.

As a Soviet and Russian ethnographer, orientalist, and public figure, Mika held a PhD in Historical Sciences and was a professor. He authored two monographs and approximately 150 scientific publications on various topics in ethnography, linguistics, sociology, and related disciplines.

The contributions of prof. Chlenov are too numerous to list fully. His passing is a significant loss for the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress and the Jewish world at large.