KRASNODAR, Russia – The Jewish community of Krasnodar celebrated the Brit Mila of four of its members, which included a 13-year-old student of the Sunday School run by the Jewish community, two members of the Arevim Youth Club and a local businessman who has been becoming closer to Judaism. Community leaders arranged a festive meal, held following the circumcision, which involved the relatives of the men who underwent the Brit Mila and active community members.

The four newly-circumcised men thanked the Mohel, Dr. Yeshaya Shafit for performing the ceremony and Krasnodar's Chief Rabbi Shneur Segal for providing them guidance and encouraging them to undergo this important mitzvah.

After having lived under the Soviet regime, several generations of Jewish men and boys living today throughout the Former Soviet Union are not circumcised. Now that the practice is legal, thousands have embraced their heritage by having a Brit.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS, in partnership with the Brit Yosef Yitzchak organization, supports two full-time certified Mohels, one of whom performs all circumcisions in the Ukraine and the other, based in Moscow, traveling for this purpose to Jewish communities throughout the other countries of the CIS and Baltic states.