Lechaim (magazine)

The magazine was founded at the end of 1991 (registration certificate was obtained on May 22, 1992) as a journalist and activist of the Marinoroshchina community of the Chabad Borukh Gorin movement. Initially, it was assumed that the new magazine would be called “Shalom,” but then the word “Lechaim” was still chosen ^[4] .

The first issue of the magazine consisted of eight pages and, according to the latest assessment of Borukh Gorin , resembled a "student circulation". The first year the magazine came out irregularly. Until the mid-1990s, almost all of the materials published in the journal were translated, introducing readers to the basics of Jewish life ^[5] , and the journal itself was of an “agitation” character of not very good quality ^[6] . According to Borukh Gorin, at first the magazine was read “because there was nothing more to read” ^[7] . From the second half of the 1990s, according to the memoirs of B. Gorin, he began to understand that it was necessary to make a Jewish magazine, not a Chabad magazine ^[6] . And by the end of the 1990s, “Lechaim”, according to one of the experts, became “a stylish full-color publication with excellent printing and a record print run for Jewish media” ^[8] . In the 2000s, the circulation of the magazine reaches 50,000 copies per month, and an Internet version is appearing two weeks earlier than the paper version. In the 2000s, there was a radical expansion of the circle of authors and topics, the rejection of reprints in favor of exclusive materials. The magazine manages to get out of the framework of “departmentalism” and gradually turn into a magazine that is interesting not only for religious Jews and not only for Jews in general ^[9] .

Media expert Mikhail Gold in the mid-2000s noted that the Lechaim strategy was “an effective way to reach the contingent, the third way bypassing the synagogue” ^[8] . Since 2011, as an appendix to the journal, preprints of works by Yiddish classics have begun to print, which are then published in separate editions. On December 5, 2011, Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar congratulated the editorial staff, authors and readers of Lechaim on the 20th anniversary of the publication of the magazine. The congratulation noted that the pages of the magazine reflected every stage of the restoration of the Jewish community of Russia. “Today, for all Russian-speaking Jews, it is very important that there is such a magazine that its pages deeply analyze the situation in the community and in the Jewish world as a whole, that it constantly acquaints the readership with the treasures of Jewish spirituality, culture, literature; that he, finally, not only reveals to people the important pages of our history, but also offers to learn from them lessons for today and tomorrow. The increase in the Lechaim circulation clearly indicates that interest in the magazine is constantly growing - and this proves not only the general upsurge of Jewish identity in our country, but above all the fact that the magazine’s team is able to find really relevant topics that are interesting to many thousands of people, deeply analyze them and intelligently discuss with the reader ”- emphasized the chief rabbi of Russia ^[10] . Until 2007, the heading of the journal was mostly situational: headings appeared and disappeared depending on the presence or absence of materials. Mandatory were the publication of letters from the Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem-Mendl Schneerson , an essay by Rabbi Berl Lazar on relevant topics and news from the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (since the beginning of the 2000s - news from the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia ). In 2007-2014, the number of sections was gradually reformatted in accordance with the concept of the magazine’s mission (see below). In January 2007, journal publications were rigidly structured into sections (at that time there were seven). At the end of 2008, the “Walk of Fame” section was abolished, where, starting in the 1990s, articles on prominent Jews and a calendar of memorable Jewish dates were published. Obituaries from this section have been moved to the Crossroads section. From April 2006 to March 2014 there was a section called The Knigonosha in the magazine, which inherited the traditions of the magazine of the same name, published in the early 2000s by the Gesharim publishing house and affiliated with Lehaim. Subsequently, its functions were distributed between the sections "University", "Crossroads" and "Culture Park". Since 2014, the magazine has five sections: “The House of Doctrine,” dedicated to the study of Jewish thought based on the Torah. The section includes several headings: “Messages of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ”, “The Word of the Rabbi” (column of the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar ), “Reading the Torah”, “Calendar”, “A pinch of knowledge”, “Actual Alaha”. "University", which includes educational articles and essays, as well as essays on relevant scientific topics and answers to questions related to the study of Judaica. “Crossroads” is a journalistic, focused on problematic materials analyzing socio-political and cultural events relevant in the Jewish world, representing a wide range of expert opinions. “Culture Park”, which includes interviews with cultural figures, an overview of book novelties, cinema novelties, music albums, a poster for exhibitions and performances, as well as recipes for kosher dishes. "Library", which publishes original Russian-language and translated works of Jewish authors. Often, many works of Jewish classics written in Hebrew, Yiddish and English, as well as the first publications of the stories of modern Russian-speaking Jewish writers, are often published here in Russian for the first time.

In an interview with the Jewish News Agency in October 2004, Boruch Gorin defined the magazine’s mission as follows:

“Today, the magazine’s tasks are not“ to teach you how to be a Jew ”, but to engage in your world. We do not say: this is my tradition, my story. We say: this is your tradition, your history, your commandments, your literature ” ^[11] ,

and in an interview with the Jewish.ru Internet portal published in December 2013, B. Gorin said about the magazine’s mission that he

“The cultural and tribal goal that Jewish activity in the country has. As part of this, he sets himself a completely clear task: to make sure that a person who is not too drawn into Jewish life is interested in this journal, that this is his connecting thread, which will involve him in the sphere of Jewish interests. It is clear that these can be Jews or non-Jews, it does not matter ” ^[5] .

Until 2009, the magazine was free. Currently, the circulation of the magazine is 30,000 copies per month. It is distributed in synagogues and community centers throughout Russia, members of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (about 160 communities), as well as in the CIS and Baltic countries - by subscription and through communities. In the USA, Europe and Israel, it is distributed only by private subscription. The online version of the magazine , its blog and Facebook account are working.

The editorial office of the magazine is located in Moscow at the address: 2nd Vysheslavtsev pereulok , house 5A. For 2016, in addition to the editor-in-chief of Borukh Gorin, the editorial board includes administrative director Yakov Ratner, executive secretary Elena Kallo, art editor Evgenia Chernenkova, editors-in-chief Larisa Bespalova, Ishaya Gisser, Galina Zelenina, Irina Mak, Afanasy Mamedov , Lisa Novikova, Yehuda Rabeyko, Victoria Ryabtseva, Mikhail Edelstein ; Assistant Artistic Editor Dmitry Kobrinsky, proofreader Julia Bliskovskaya, layout author Evgeny Grigoryev.

Among the authors of the magazine are the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar (his articles are published in each issue), publicists Arye Barats , Vladimir Bader , Mikhail Gorelik, Shaul Reznik, Evgeny Satanovsky , writers Grigory Kanovich , brothers David and Yakov Shekhtera, Alexander Ilichevsky , Arkan Kariv , Asar Eppel , famous Russian journalists Boris Klin, Nikolai Svanidze , Grigory Revzin , historians Oleg Budnitsky , Valery Dymshits, Galina Zelenina, Gennady Kostyrchenko , Alexander Lokshin, Semyon Charny, literary scholars Leonid Katsis , Benedict Sarnov , Mikhail E delstein .

In the 1990s, Alexander Boroda , advertising director of the Lechaim magazine, was later president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia ^[9] .

• Official site