One of Russia's two competing chief rabbis, Beryl Lazar, used uncharacteristically alarming language in describing the threat posed to the Russian Jewish community by rising nationalism and efforts by the government to introduce compulsory Russian Orthodox Christian teachings in the public schools. It may be a coincidence, but Rabbi Lazar's interview was with a German news organization (Deutsche Weld), while just yesterday, he presented a more optimistic vision to a domestic audience. This is not meant as criticism, but it does show the difficult balancing act that minority community leaders have to perform in today's Russia, a country where the Jewish community has unprecedented opportunities for religious and cultural freedom, but that has a history of sudden and drastic changes for the worse.

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