There was an international reunion in Slovakia when Rabbi Dr Andrew Goldstein and Sharon Goldstein of The Ark Synagogue helped Rabbi Misha Kapustin celebrate his daughter’s Bat Mitzvah in the newly restored Progressive synagogue in Trenčín.

Hannah reads from the Torah alongside her dad Rabbi Misha Kapustin

Rabbi Mika was ordained by Rabbi Andrew after graduating from Leo Baeck College and also served as a Student Rabbi at The Ark, which in based in Northwood.

To complete the simcha circle, he and wife Marina invited Rabbi Andrew and Sharon to make the trip to Trenčín, 60 miles north east of Bratislava, to lead the Kiddush on their daughter Hannah’s special day.

The service made history as the first to take place inside the restored art-deco Art Centrum Synagóga, which will become the town’s centrepiece when Trenčín becomes the City of European Culture in 2026.

After leaving the UK, to return to his native Ukraine, Rabbi Misha led communities in Kharkiv and then the Crimea. When the Russians invaded the Crimea in 2014 he and his family had to flee. He became the Progressive rabbi in Bratislava and minister to several provincial Slovak communities, including Trenčín.

The newly restored Art Centrum Synagóga