Edward Chaprak

Edward M. Chaprak (born July 5, 1945, in Nizhny Novgorod, called Gorky during the Soviet period) is a leader of the Jewish community in his home town.

He was born into a family of disabled veterans of World War II, and graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Physical Culture.

He never lost connection with the Jewish community and adhered to its traditions even in the darkest years of economic and social stagnation in the 1970s - 1980s.

He regularly provided minyan for prayers in private apartments and defended the return of Torah scrolls which the KGB had seized as "evidence" in the investigation of criminal cases.

With his support a fundamental reconstruction of the central synagogue was begun in 2005 and a new community center is now under construction and expected to be complete by 2009.