German Zakharyayev

German Zakharyayev (Герман Рашбилович Захарьяев ; born July 7, 1971, Krasnaya Sloboda, Azerbaijan SSR) is a businessman, public figure and philanthropist. He is a vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress and the president of the International Charity Foundation of Mountain Jews STMEGI.

Biography
German Zakharyayev was born in a large Mountain-Jewish family in Krasnaya Sloboda village in Azerbaijan on July 7, 1971. His father was a famous journalist and poet Rashbil Zakharyayev.

In 1992 he moved to Russia and started his own trade business. He is the president of the STMEGI foundation, founded in 2001, and vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress.

He has a Ph.D. in philosophy. The topic of the dissertation is: "Evolution of the religious-theological concept of Hasidism".

In 2012, he was appointed vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress.

In 2019, he received the Russian Order of Friendship.

Foundation and public activity
One of the priority directions of German Zakharyayev's activity is developing of the International Charity Foundation of Mountain Jews STMEGI. The regional branch was registered in Moscow in 2001 in order to promote various projects and assist to Mountain Jews. The STMEGI Foundation is aimed to preserve the historical and cultural diversity of the heritage of Mountain Jews, publish books, coordinate the work of the main Mountain Jewish organizations around the world, and provide regular support to members of the diaspora. The activities of the international foundation cover all the most important spheres of Jewish life. These are religious projects, such as the restoration of the Moscow Choral Synagogue for its centenary, the repair of the Torah scroll, organization of visits of the rabbis (Tzvi Patlas, Yitzhak Ezrahi, Avigdor Yunaev, Benyamin Batsri, Itzhak Yosef) and cantors to Russian cities for holding various holidays, donating Torah Scrolls to the synagogues and yeshivas, participation in the distribution of products for Passover, assistance to religious communities, publishing activities. STMEGI takes part in events held by the Russian office of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Moscow Jewish Religious Community, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, the Israeli Cultural Center in Moscow, the All-Russian Azerbaijan Congress, the Israel-Azerbaijan International Association and cooperates with many Jewish communities and organizations. Moreover, the STMEGI Foundation works to improve the image of Mountain Jews in Israel. One of the achievements in this area was the start of a series of radio programs about Mountain Jews on radio REKA (Israel). They sound in Russian and are intended for the general public.

Media projects
With the participation of German Zakharyayev, in 2011 the first Jewish media and information group was established. Its purpose is to unite all representatives of the community in a single resource of its own, to collect all possible information about the community, its history, culture, art, figures. The foundation's website also launched a series of video lessons of the Mountain Jews language Juhuri, Iranian language that includes many words in ancient Hebrew and Aramaic.

The STMEGI media group includes: monthly newspaper, the newspaper Birlik-Unity in Azerbaijan, the Internet channel STMEGI-TV, which cover the life of the community around the world and have its representatives in Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, USA, Germany and Canada. The channel broadcasts daily news covering events from all over the world and tells about important events in Israel.

26 Iyar - The Day of Salvation and Liberation
One of the latest achievements of German Zakharyayev was the initiative to introduce a new holiday into the Jewish calendar – May 9, 1945 (according to the Jewish chronology – 26 Iyar 5705). In February 2014, German Zakharyayev appealed to the leading rabbis of Israel, Russia and European countries with a request to approve Iyar 26 as a holy day for Jews and to celebrate it widely. The idea received wide support, and in May of the same year for the first time Jewish communities around the world officially celebrated 26 Iyar – the Day of Salvation and Liberation. The introduction of the holiday was officially announced from the tribunes of the Israeli Knesset and the UN. On May 7, 2018, the Israeli Knesset passed a law and introduces the Day of Salvation and Liberation of Iyar 26 into the official list of holidays and memorable dates as the day of the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 9, 1945. In 2018 on Iyar 26, a special memorial ceremony was held at the Western Wall. The prayer was attended by: Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef, Chairman of the Council of Rabbis of Europe and Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt, Chief Rabbi of the Caucasian (Mountain Jewish) community Yaniv Naftaliev. Collective prayers were also held in many cities in Israel.