The current address of the Moscow Kabbalah Centre is given in full as 13 Myasnitskaya Street, Building 11. On the tour route page, the centre is described as one of the places hidden away within a network of interconnecting courtyards. It is approached not through a grand façade of its own, but through the inner space of the block. This is more than an incidental backdrop to the centre's story: its history likewise begins not with a finished building or a ceremonial opening.
Today, the official website lists an address, telephone number, opening hours and a shop. Yet the centre begins its own chronicle elsewhere—with Russian translations and a small Moscow group formed in 2004. Several distinct events separate those first readers from the building occupied today: distance learning, the centre's first public mention, the renting of premises and the arrival of teachers. There is therefore no single, indisputable ‘birthday’ in this story; what survives instead is a sequence of steps.
The Book Came Before the Address
In May 2004, the Sofia publishing house released a Russian edition of Yehuda Berg's The Power of Kabbalah. Its catalogue entry records 320 pages, a print run of seven thousand copies and ISBN 5-9550-0332-0. This is an exceptionally tangible trace: the book has a publication month, a page count and a known number of printed copies. In the history of what would become the Moscow centre, a printed volume appears before any permanent premises.
The official chronicle refers not to a single book, but to several International Kabbalah Centre publications translated in 2004. Following their appearance, a study group began to take shape in Moscow. The Power of Kabbalah reveals the tangible side of this stage—a Russian-language text that could already be bought and read locally. Yet the significance of the event extends beyond a single cover: the translations created a shared language of study for people who had not yet gathered at a single address.
The teachers were based at centres in the United States and England. Participants in Moscow connected with them online and followed their programmes remotely. The chronicle neither names the first students nor describes the setting in which they studied; it records how the connection worked. Knowledge reached Moscow not with a ready-made institution, but through a remote channel used by the newly formed Russian-speaking group.
Thus an unusual sequence took shape. First came the books and the students, followed by a regular pattern of study, with premises in the city forming the next stage. At first, the future centre's name referred primarily to a community and a programme of study. The history of the place began before the place acquired permanent walls, a fact that later allowed the centre's members to articulate its central paradox: the students came before the organisation.
The Name Is Already Heard, but No Permanent Address Is Yet in Sight
On 15 March 2005, Jewish.ru published Alexander Fishman's interview with Vladimir Slutsker. One question was put directly: Slutsker taught at the Moscow Centre for the Study of Kabbalah—did he consider himself a spiritual mentor? Slutsker answered in the affirmative and mentioned his students. This is not a later account on the centre's website, but a publication contemporary with the events.
The interview reveals two things. By the spring of 2005, the Moscow centre's name was being used publicly, and teaching was presented as an established practice rather than a future project. The publication, however, gives no address, describes no separate building and does not connect the group's existence with an opening ceremony. This evidence confirms the activity and the name, but does not retrospectively turn them into a permanent venue.
This transitional stage left almost no visual traces. Instead of a formal photograph, a disparate collection of documents survives: the bibliographic record of a Russian book, an interview containing a question about teaching and a later chronicle of remote programmes. Together, they show the centre at a moment when it was already visible to outsiders, yet its story was not associated with any single interior. The organisation existed through relationships between students and teachers, while its geography remained fluid.
The next date appeared in an interview published in January 2011. David Mats, head of the Moscow centre, recalled that in 2006 a decision was made to try to open a centre in Moscow—and that the attempt succeeded. His wording matters precisely because it is a participant's recollection: it refers not to the group's origins or the first public use of its name, but to a deliberate move towards opening the centre.
The organisation's own history describes the same turning point through an everyday action. Two years after the group was formed, there were enough students for them to begin renting premises for study meetings. The chronicle gives no address for these rooms and does not claim that the present home on Myasnitskaya Street had already been established. It does, however, clearly distinguish the remote phase from the period when the group began to share physical meeting places.
Thus 2005 and 2006 are not competing dates for the same event. The March interview documents a public name, a teacher and students. Mats's recollection and the centre's chronicle link the following year with the attempt to open the centre and the renting of premises. These are not two incompatible versions, but two different thresholds: first, the existence of the teaching connection becomes visible; then that connection takes root in the physical landscape of Moscow.
The Year the Distance Narrowed
Another year later, in 2007, teachers from other centres came to Moscow. The official history explains their arrival as a response to the growth of the Russian-speaking group: the teachers were to support the students and help establish a centre of their own. The international network, previously accessible to Moscow students mainly online, now had an in-person presence in the city.
Here the chain of events takes on its complete form. Translations made the programme available in Russian; the internet connected the Moscow group with teachers abroad; rented premises gave the classes physical locations in the city; and the teachers’ arrival narrowed the distance once again. None of these steps supersedes the others. That is why the sources cite different years: each identifies a different moment in the group’s transformation into an institution.
By January 2011, Mats summed up the results of four years’ work as follows: five thousand people had passed through the Moscow centre, while around three hundred continued to attend lessons regularly. This was an estimate given by its director to a journalist, not an independent statistic. Yet it conveys the scale of the centre’s development: the original group, whose size is not recorded, had grown into an audience numbering hundreds of regular participants.
The public chronicle of this early period preserves neither a list of the first students, nor the address of the first rented room, nor a photograph of the first group lesson. Its documentary portrait is formed by actions of a different kind: a book was published, contact with teachers was established, the centre’s name appeared in an interview, premises began to be rented and teachers arrived. These actions may not create a dramatic legend, but they keep the story free from an invented scene featuring a first key and an inaugural speech.
By 2007, the chapter that began with Russian-language texts and distance learning had developed into a regular pattern of in-person study. The Moscow community had students, a publicly used name, premises for meetings and teachers who had come to the city. The present address does not yet feature in this early chronicle, and it cannot be cast as the centre’s first venue. The outcome of those initial years is more modest and more precise: distance ceased to be the defining condition of the group’s existence.
Building Eleven
Today, the official address is 13 Myasnitskaya Street, Building 11. The Moscow Kabbalah Centre is included in the route through courtyards and lanes as one of the institutions hidden behind the streets’ formal façades. The link does not promise admission or a tour of any particular rooms; it establishes a genuine connection between the subject of this story and a walk through the inner spaces of a central Moscow block.
The central idea of the centre’s own history is a simple reversal of the usual order: first came the students, then the centre. Behind this formula are specific milestones from 2004 to 2007. Russian-language books were already in circulation. The Moscow group studied online with teachers abroad. The centre’s name appeared in print. Then came rented premises and the arrival of teachers.
Today, this sequence has an endpoint on the map, opening hours and a telephone number. Yet the address does not negate the pattern of those early years; it makes it particularly vivid. The route from Myasnitskaya Street leads into the heart of the block; the story’s journey from book to classroom likewise moved inwards—from an accessible text to connections between people, from those connections to in-person meetings, and from the meetings to a functioning centre. The conclusion is not some legendary moment of opening, of which no documentary record survives, but an institution gradually assembled through a series of verified steps.
We took a tour of Taganka designed for 12-year-old children. It was an excellent programme. We covered a great deal of ground and learnt so much. We discovered the story of Dryanaya Street and discussed the Vladimir Highway, the surrounding monasteries and churches, and the Old Believers. We now know where Korovin was born, where Stanislavsky was born and raised, where the Morozov merchant children lived, and why Arseny Morozov was considered such an outrageous figure in his day. We also discussed Solzhenitsyn, discovered where Stalin Avenue was supposed to be built, saw the bunker, walked to the Russian metochion of the Mount Athos Monastery, and learnt why the Illuzion cinema made Taganka famous. Of course, no tour would have been complete without Vysotsky and Lyubimov. We also touched briefly on Taganka Prison, although naturally we did not go there. All in all, it was an exceptionally rich and informative tour! Our guide Alexander was superb!
Our thanks to our guide Alexander for a magnificent sightseeing tour. Alexander’s love for Moscow and its history, his wide-ranging knowledge, elegant and engaging delivery, and personal charm make the tour not merely interesting and informative, but truly delightful! Thank you, Alexander! Tatiana and Tatiana, St Petersburg
On July 18th, we participated in the "Soul of Moscow" group tour led by Alexander. Kitay-gorod and its surroundings revealed a new side to us, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Some of us began intensively studying related materials to broaden our horizons. We'll be back, and we highly recommend it! You won't regret it.
Good afternoon, on June 23rd we had a tour called " The Soul of Moscow ," led by Alexander. He's a very pleasant young man. We visited such lovely courtyards and alleys with him that we never even knew existed, and we learned so much. We really enjoyed everything, and we hope to continue our acquaintance. Alexander! Thank you! We had a great time with you, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. See you there!
This isn't my first time with Radius. This time, I took the Moscow metro . The goal was not only to admire the underground palaces but also to learn how to navigate the metro. As a resident of a region without a metro, I was a bit apprehensive and didn't understand how to navigate the metro. Of course, the internet helps, but live communication is much better. Tour guide Yulia handled this task perfectly. The information was accessible and interesting, the presentation was calm, and the communication style was very friendly. Thank you very much for the tour and the practical experience.
Good afternoon! I gave the "Soul of Moscow" tour to some of the capital's guests. We were thrilled to hear our guide, Anton. It was so informative and engaging, and very warm. To say we were absolutely delighted is an understatement. It turned out to be a truly family-friendly excursion. We learned so many interesting facts. The material was presented professionally, all our questions were answered, and we saw so much. It was simply WOW! Thank you so much, Anton, he's the best!!!!! From now on, I'll only come to you, the Radius team. I highly recommend it. I promise we'll see each other again soon on other tours.
Overall, the tour left a positive impression! Thanks to Alexander for the walk through the courtyards and atmospheric spots of Kitay-Gorod; we certainly wouldn't have done it on our own. The tour was comfortable, and the guide spoke confidently and calmly. One thing we personally missed: we would have liked more of the historical part, relating to ancient Moscow and the history of Kitay-Gorod. There were quite a few stories about the Soviet period and the bar scene, but for our group, this wasn't particularly relevant. We think the program could be a little more tailored to the age and interests of the group. It would also have been interesting to add more historical facts, monuments, and details about old Moscow and the area itself. That said, the tour was still interesting, and some places and churches were truly memorable. These aren't really "cons," but rather suggestions for an even more comprehensive program.
Hello! We had a corporate group of 10 people. Our guide was Anton, and we had a tour of Bulgakov. I would like to point out the excellent organization; everything went smoothly. The managers were very accommodating to our changes in the number of participants. The bus was very comfortable. Anton is a super-engaged and motivated guide. He lives this history and is delighted to share his knowledge and create an unforgettable experience. Everything went well. I highly recommend it!
Thank you for a fascinating tour! It gave me so much food for thought to explore! Note: Review of the "Zamoskvorechye" tour with guide Maria.
I'd like to express my gratitude on behalf of our team! Thank you for keeping to our scheduled schedule despite our lack of organization. Our colleagues appreciated your preparation for the tour! It was informative. Note: Review of the "Modern Residential Complexes, Factory Past, and Avant-Garde" tour of the ZILART residential complex with guide Maria. Maria prepared and conducted a customized tour for employees of the Samolet Group of Companies development company.
Thank you! You have great talent. Good luck! ☺️ You're a wonderful guide! Thank you again! Note: This is a review of the corporate tour "The Heart of the Capital" with guide Maria.
Thank you for a wonderful day today!!)) Note: review of the excursion "The Soul of Moscow" with guide Maria
On behalf of the whole family, I want to thank you for a very informative and interesting tour! Note: This is a review of the "Palace Dungeons" tour with guide Maria.
Good afternoon! I'd like to express my gratitude and that of my guide for organizing the tour! We were very pleased. We'd like to do it again in October, but on a different route — ZIL. Note: This refers to the tour for Samolet Group developers, led by guide Maria.
Thanks to Alexander for the bar tour of Baumanka ! It was fun, exciting, and we discovered so many new places! Awesome! May we reach new heights!
Good afternoon! I was on a tour of Sukharevskaya Square — we went all the way to Tsvetnoy Boulevard. I didn't expect it to be so interesting! For those wondering whether to go — go for it! It truly became one of my most memorable summer memories!
Anastasia, good morning! Thank you and Masha for yesterday! The speakers are happy. The connection through the headphones was often lost, especially at the checkpoint, but that's just our current situation. You could hear if you were standing close, no more than 1.5 meters away. Colleagues have already asked for your contact information. I'd be happy to share it and look forward to another opportunity to work with you. Special thanks to the Director for the Bureau . Note: " Heart of the Capital " tour for participants of the 2025 Moscow Oncology Forum. Guides: Anastasia and Maria.
We'd like to thank Anton and Alexander for leading the tour! It was fascinating to hear how the Krasnaya Presnya district developed and how Prokhorov's influence on our city's development. It was a pleasant immersion into a quiet, previously unexplored area!
Good afternoon, thank you so much, Anastasia. The " Uncle Gilyai " tour was fantastic. Even though we're Muscovites and know a lot about Moscow, the experience was amazing, so much new and interesting happened. We'll definitely be back.
Thank you for the " Heart of Moscow " and " Khamovniki " tours. Anton, a knowledgeable and passionate Moscow guide, gave me the tour. He's a great storyteller, intelligent, well-read, and captivating. You've truly opened up my Moscow to me! I'll definitely be back next summer to explore Moscow with you. I'll recommend your wonderful tour program to all my friends!
Excursions with the Radius travel agency are always a positive experience if you choose them. We planned a tour of Zamoskvorechye on our next visit. We've worked with our guide, Anton, before. We'll definitely recommend him to everyone we know. The tour is informative, not overloaded with dates, and the information is comprehensive yet easy to understand, as it's presented in a light, narrative manner, not like a history textbook, dry and academic. Thank you for this approach. We'll definitely use the Radius agency again on our next visit to Moscow.
Thank you so much for the tour of Zamoskvorechye . Despite the weather, it was very interesting and informative! Note: this refers to the tour with guide Anton.
A huge thank you to Anastasia. We had a fantastic tour of the Patriki district. We learned so much. Anastasia is a true master of her craft. The tour was captivating, not at all boring, lively and interesting. Everyone was delighted. We were full of new impressions. I definitely recommend it. You won't be disappointed!
We explored the Soul of Moscow with my family and Radius on my birthday. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the walk! Anton shared so many interesting facts about the capital and its history, taking us into spiritual depths no one else had even suspected. Most of us were either born or longtime Moscow residents who spent a lot of time walking around. It was educational, heartwarming, and unforgettable. 🙂 Overall, this wasn't my first time walking around Moscow with Anton, and each time was a real adventure!