It was a small but impressive ceremony last week marking the opening of the Shaarei Tzedek Jewish Chesed Center, Moscow’s new home for geriatrics, which provides dedicated and professional nursing care to about 2,000 elderly Jews, free of charge. To date, it is the largest center of its kind in all of Russia.

Some of the patients are Jewish war veterans who fought in the Red Army against the Nazis, and others are Holocaust survivors.

The new center was established with the help and support of friends of the Chesed Center, who are involved in all aspects of the volunteer work.

The state-of-the-art center, increased manpower and highly professional caretakers are contributing to a marked improvement in the quality of care for Jewish geriatrics in Moscow. This is in keeping with the Torah’s directive to “stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect to the elderly,” a phrase which is inscribed under the center’s logo.