Dr. Alex Kagan is the World Union for Progressive Judaism's department director for the Former Soviet Union. The WUPJ’s new Moscow Rabbinic Leadership Institute (Machon) in Moscow will welcome its first class in September 2015. is the World Union for Progressive Judaism's department director for the Former Soviet Union. The WUPJ’s new Moscow Rabbinic Leadership Institute (Machon) in Moscow will welcome its first class in September 2015.