Moscow hosted the milestone conference of the Sefer Center

The 25th Anniversary Conference, organized by the Sefer Center, was held in Moscow on February 3–6 with the support of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress. The conference featured panels on key areas of academic research. This year, special emphasis was placed on the history and contemporary state of Israel, as well as the relations between Israel and the diaspora.

The conference was attended by Mikhail Chlenov, Head of the EAJC Strategic Committee and Chairman of the Sefer Academic Board, and Dr. Haim Ben Yakov, Director General of the EAJC. Dr. Ben Yakov delivered a presentation titled "Double Loyalty: Jewish Diasporas—Structure, Dynamics, and Relations with the State of Israel."

The Sefer Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization was established in 1994 to facilitate academic research in Jewish studies, promote the teaching of Jewish disciplines in higher education, and provide comprehensive support to undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as academic researchers in various areas of Jewish studies. The Center unites all scholars engaged in the study of Jewish civilization. Currently, Sefer is one of the leading organizations in the post-Soviet space dedicated to advancing all aspects of academic Jewish studies and investigating the heritage and contemporary status of Jewish communities.

Over the past 25 years, the conference has become a prominent global event transcending academic Jewish studies. The Sefer Center not only coordinates research and organizes lectures, seminars, and publications, but also plays a vital educational and cultural role within Russian-speaking Jewish communities, preserving the traditions and lifestyle of Jewry in the Euro-Asian region. The Sefer conferences serve as an essential forum for leaders of Jewish organizations to meet and exchange community-building practices.

Notably, the Sefer Center's "Memory Maps" project—an online archive of field research in oral history, ethnography, epigraphy, and archival documents—has recently secured a grant from the Russian Presidential Grants Foundation.

We congratulate the team of the Sefer Center and its long-standing director, Victoria Mochalova, on these outstanding achievements!