Krakow gets a Rov

SSC: The first rabbi to serve Krakow full time since the Holocaust has taken up his post, guiding a revival of Jewish life and helping a growing number of people rediscover their Jewish heritage forgotten through decades of communism.

Rabbi Avraham Flaks, a 38-year-old Russian-born Israeli, has been getting to know members of Krakow’s small Jewish community.

“This is a joyous festival coming just a few days after Yom Kippur, a solemn day of atonement, so it seemed like a fitting time for him to start,” said Michael Freund, chairman of Shavei Israel, an organization sponsoring Flaks’ work.

There are about 200 people registered with the community, but an estimated 1,000 Jews are believed to live in Krakow — most of them people who only recently discovered their Jewish roots following the fall of communism in 1989, Freund said.

During the communist era, some Jews hid their religious identities to avoid facing discrimination. Many fled the country in 1968, following a government-sponsored anti-Semitic campaign.