ULTRA ORTHODOX SECT

AT AGE 8, ITZAK KOGAN WAS UP TO HIS ARMS IN ILLEGAL FLOUR; HELPING HIS MOTHER BAKE MATZO, WHICH WAS BANNED IN THE SOVIET UNION.

EVEN AFTER IT BECAME LEGAL IN THE 1960'S SUPPLIES WERE SHORT.

WHEN HE WAS A RABBI IN LENINGRAD IN THE 1970'S HE WOULD TRAVEL TO THE SOVIET REPUBLIC OF GEORGIA TO BAKE 1,100 POUNDS OF THE FLAT UNLEAVENED BREAD, BECAUSE RUSSIAN FLOUR WAS UNSUITABLE FOR MAKING KOSHER MATZO.

TO GET THE LARGE CARGO HOME WITHOUT RISKING DIFFICULTIES WITH THE POLICE, FAMILY MEMBERS SPLIT IT UP AND FLEW IT TO LENINGRAD, NOW SAINT PETERSBURG.

BUT IN MOSCOW TODAY, THE BREAD ABOUNDS BILLBOARDS URGING RUSSIANS TO BUY GENUINE ISRAELI MATZO.

THE CAMPAIGN IS SPONSORED BY THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX CHABAD LUBAVITCH MOVEMENT, WHICH IS IMPORTING 1.2 MILLION POUNDS OF IT INTO THE FORMER U.S.S.R. FOR PASSOVER, WHICH BEGINS AT SUNDOWN WEDNESDAY.

THE MATZO AIRLIFT IS JUST ONE PART OF THE GROUP'S EFFORTS TO REVIVE JUDAISM IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION, WHERE EVEN PRACTICES SUCH AS KOSHER BUTCHERING WERE ONCE SEEN AS THREATS TO THE STATE.

KOGAN AGE 56, NOW A LEADING CHABED RABBI ALSO PERFORMED CIRCUMCISIONS, WEDDINGS AND OTHER RITUALS IN SECRET.

RISKING PRISON, HE RAN AN UNDERGROUND JEWISH SCHOOL.

CHABED LUBAVITCH IS THE FASTEST GROWING MOVEMENT PROMOTING THE REVIVAL OF JUDAISM IN THE FORMER U.S.S.R., MARKING ITS PROGRESS IN THE DOZENS OF SCHOOLS, COMMUNITY CENTERS AND ORPHANAGES IT HAS OPENED.

IT HAS 3,200 WORKERS IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION, PLUS 70 KINDERGARTEN, 64 SCHOOLS, THREE ORPHANAGES AND COMMUNITY CENTERS OR SYNAGOGUES IN 70 CITIES.

THIS YEAR THE MOVEMENT IS HOLDING PUBLIC SEDERS FOR 250,00 RUSSIANS.

THE FEAST COMMEMORATES THE EXODUS OF THE JEWS FROM EGYPT, AND IT IS CELEBRATED ON THE FIRST NIGHT OR THE FIRST TWO NIGHTS OF EIGHT DAYS OF PASSOVER.

THE UNLEAVENED MATZO IS EATEN TO COMMEMORATE THE ISRAELITES WHO FLED INTO THE DESERT WITH NO TIME FOR THEIR BREADS TO RISE AND WERE FORCED TO BAKE THE DOUGH INTO HARD CRACKERS IN THE SUN.

RUSSIA IS FERTILE GROUND FOR THE LUBAVITCH MOVEMENT.

THE NATION IS HOME TO AN ESTIMATED 600,000 JEWS, MOST OF WHOM HAD NO SPIRITUAL CONNECTION WITH JUDAISM DURING THE SOVIET YEARS, NOR AN APPRECIATION FOR THE NUANCES OF JUDAISM AND THE DIFFERENCES AMONG ULTRA-ORTHODOX, ORTHODOX AND MORE LIBERAL STRANDS OF THE RELIGION.

LUBAVITCHERS INSIST THAT THEIR MOTIVE IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION IS NOT TO ATTRACT JEWS TO THEIR OWN ULTRA-ORTHODOX MOVEMENT BUT TO REVIVE PEOPLE'S JEWISH IDENTITY.

THE MOVEMENT TAKES ITS NAME FROM LYUBAVICHY, NEAR SMOLENSK WEST OF MOSCOW; THE VILLAGE WHERE THE MOVEMENT WAS BASED FROM 1813 TO 1915, SPREADING TO OTHER NATIONS.

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