Pavlodar’s Merkaz cultural centre, Hesed and synagogue

Jewish presence in Pavlodar predates its post-Soviet organisations

Pavlodar’s Jewish history did not begin in the 1990s. A historical account of the early twentieth-century city on the E-history portal notes a substantial Jewish presence, mainly artisans and descendants of exiles. The source does not describe the institutional history of the local community, but records a Jewish population long before the USSR dissolved and modern organisations appeared.

Pavlodar’s community gathered before legal registration in the late Soviet period

The Mitsva Association’s archive describes Pavlodar as an early centre of post-Soviet Jewish self-organisation. According to its account, around 500 people had come together by 1990 around cultural and community life. They met, maintained traditions, studied the language and read letters from relatives and acquaintances who had moved to Israel.

Later materials from the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan state that the Jewish National Cultural Centre was established in 1991 and officially registered in 1993. In 1995, the centre joined the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan’s network. A year later, it joined Mitsva, the Association of Jewish Organisations of Kazakhstan.

The Mitsva archive dates the first meetings to 1990. The Assembly dates the centre’s establishment to 1991 and its official registration to 1993.

Merkaz runs cultural programmes; the synagogue supports religious life

The Merkaz Pavlodar Regional Centre of Jewish National Culture became the main public and cultural institution of this early post-Soviet wave.

Its history includes language and cultural classes, the Jewish department of the School of National Revival, a youth club, dance and vocal groups, celebrations and participation in Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan events. In 2017, the Assembly listed Faina Svechinskaya, Leonid Shestak, Tatyana Lyubarskaya, Sofia Burshtein, Marat Dinershtein and other members of the city’s community among the centre’s founders.

The cultural activities have continued. The current regional list of ethnocultural associations still includes the Merkaz Pavlodar Regional Centre of Jewish National Culture, naming Tatyana Slivinskaya as its chair. In 2025, she was elected one of the public deputy chairs of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan’s regional council.

Hesed Rachel is a separate social assistance centre

From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, a separate charitable structure, Hesed Rachel, emerged in Pavlodar with international support from JDC or “the Joint”. Sources differ slightly on its exact starting date. A current page of the Association of Jewish Communities of Kazakhstan reports cooperation with JDC from 1999 and the charity centre’s start in 2000; a 2020 interview with Merkaz’s head gives 2001 as the year Hesed Rachel began operating.

Sources date cooperation with JDC to 1999, while Hesed Rachel’s independent work began in 2000 or 2001. The archived catalogue lists food, medical assistance, home care and volunteer programmes; it does not give their current range in 2026.

Evidence of social work in 2025

A publication from 2025 describes volunteers from Pavlodar’s Hesed Rachel collecting waste paper and using the proceeds to buy food for community members in need and holiday gifts for older people.

Hesed Rachel provides social assistance. Merkaz and the synagogue have other roles, even though their staff and participants may overlap.

A permanent synagogue was established in 2001

An Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan article published for Merkaz’s 25th anniversary explicitly states that a synagogue opened in Pavlodar in September 2001. Rabbi Shmuel Karnauch arrived in the city with his family at that time to develop religious and educational life, including Torah lessons, prayers and celebrations.

A regional Pavlodar article from 2023 confirms the same date, stating that the synagogue was built in September 2001.

According to a local newspaper, the Chabad-Lubavitch House of Rachel centre opened in 2021. Materials from the Assembly and the region published in 2023 date the synagogue’s opening to September 2001. The dates therefore differ.

Religious facilities at the synagogue and Chabad

The current Chabad Kazakhstan website confirms the Beit Rachel centre, synagogue and mikvah in Pavlodar at 162 Academician Kanysh Satpayev Street. Shimon Ash is listed as its rabbi and shaliach, or Chabad emissary.

The official list of religious associations in Pavlodar Region as of 22 May 2025 also records the Jewish Community of Pavlodar Region at 162 Satpayev Street and names Shimon Ash as its head.

Why sources mention both 2001 and 2012

The current registration record of the present local religious association gives its registration date as 31 October 2012.

Religious life and the synagogue existed before the present legal entity was registered in 2012. The dates concern different events; the sources do not state the reason for the discrepancy.

Community leadership in the official list and registry

The official religious associations list from May 2025 names Shimon Ash as head of the Jewish Community of Pavlodar Region. The current Chabad Kazakhstan website also lists him as the Pavlodar centre’s rabbi and leader of its religious life.

An aggregated state registry record updated in 2026 names Alexander Pliner as head of the legal entity, whereas the regional 2025 list names Shimon Ash. Chabad Kazakhstan names Ash as the centre’s rabbi. The published information does not explain whether the different names reflect different positions or discrepancies between records.

Merkaz, Hesed and the synagogue have different roles

At different times, activists have been involved in the cultural centre, Hesed and the religious community. Tatyana Slivinskaya is mentioned as Merkaz’s head and an organiser of Hesed’s work; Alexander Pliner as an activist at the Jewish centre and the religious legal entity’s head in the registry aggregator.

Merkaz undertakes ethnocultural and public activities. Hesed Rachel provides social assistance and volunteer programmes. The religious community and Beit Rachel centre provide prayer, religious education and ceremonies; the centre has a synagogue and mikvah.

Pavlodar’s family and cultural ties with Israel

The early history of Merkaz already shows the human connection between the two countries. Centre members read letters together from Pavlodar residents who had moved to Israel and discussed the lives of relatives and acquaintances after emigration.

In 2001, Rabbi Shmuel Karnauch and his family arrived in the city from Israel. Pavlodar’s public and religious organisations are registered and operate in Kazakhstan, working with international partners and the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan.

Naum Shafer and Pavlodar’s cultural life

Assembly materials regularly connect the community to the city’s cultural and intellectual history. One such figure was musicologist, composer and collector Naum Shafer, who founded Pavlodar’s well-known gramophone record museum. At his 90th birthday celebration in 2021, Merkaz’s head and the region’s chief rabbi attended alongside representatives of the city’s cultural community.

Pavlodar’s centralised library system reports that Shafer’s house museum opened in 2001, based on his private collection. It includes recordings by Kulyash Baiseitova, Zhamal Omarova, Roza Baglanova and other performers of Kazakh music. source 13

In brief

• The early twentieth century. Sources confirm a substantial Jewish population in Pavlodar, including artisans and descendants of exiles.
• In 1990. The Mitsva archive dates an early gathering of around 500 participants to this time.
• In 1991. The Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan dates the establishment of the Jewish National Cultural Centre to this year.
• In 1993. Merkaz was officially registered.
• In 1995. The centre joined the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan’s network.
• In 1996. Merkaz became a member of Mitsva, the Association of Jewish Organisations of Kazakhstan.
• In the late 1990s and early 2000s. The social welfare activities of JDC and Hesed Rachel developed. Sources differ on the exact year when the centre began independent work.
• In September 2001. Pavlodar’s synagogue opened. Rabbi Shmuel Karnauch arrived with his family from Israel.
• In 2012. The present Local Religious Association “Jewish Community of Pavlodar Region” was registered.
• In 2025 and 2026. Sources confirm Merkaz, Hesed Rachel, the religious community and Chabad’s Beit Rachel as active parts of the city’s Jewish infrastructure.