Doing what a Rabbi is supposed to do (gasp).
6. First we must read the letters. In case you don’t have them in front of you, I will list the offenses in each letter. Anything repeated in another letter or document won’t be repeated here.
Oleg Pushkantser’s letter, point by point (it should be noted that he wrote in the name of the Russian Jewish Congress, who have written an angry letter about it).
1. Rabbi arrived to the city contrary to what the voted community leaders wanted
2. The community wrote many times to Moscow prior to Rabbi’s arrival saying they wanted no Rabbi, but the Rabbi arrived without any official invitation from the community
3. Rabbi doesn’t have a visa to conduct religious activity
4. Immediately after he arrived, he brought about a split in the community
5. He called Halachic Jews ‘clean’, and claimed that non-Halachic Jews have no right to call themselves Jews
6. He is a fascist
7. He is trying to revive (Israeli, I assume) nationalism
8. He is trying to organize a religious school only for ‘clean’ Jews
9. there used to be 200-300 participants at traditional Jewish holidays, but the number has dropped to 20-50 after the arrival of the Rabbi
10. Previously the community received money from Moscow, and we filed reports on all of it
11. Now the Rabbi receives money who spends it at his own discretion
12. The Rabbi is spending the money satisfying his personal interests
Based on this, please expel this Rabbi from Stavropol.
Ok, now let’s take this point by point, starting with points 1 and 2, which may be true, and I had no idea anyway. I assumed they had asked for a Rabbi. But this is not provable, and certainly not a horrible thing. They accepted me and welcomed me to the board. They didn’t throw me out or anything. As a matter of fact, they tried (at least superficially) to work with me, as can be proven by the many contracts we wrote and signed. It seems like they accepted the Rabbi.
Point #3 – no visa to conduct religious activity. Where does he base this on? Has he seen my passport? I may not have a religious visa (because the word Rabbi isn’t recognized as a religious figure in Russia), but I’ve got the closest thing – a cultural visa. It’s not a good idea to start the letter off with a lie.
Point 4 – I brought a split to the community. Speak to members of the community. The split existed long before I arrived. Or look up the past addresses of the Sachnut. No, the split was already started, perpetrated by Yefim Fainer and people like yourself.
Point 5 – I have something against non-Halachic Jews. This is completely false, and very easily proven. Let me first say that I came to Stavropol for religious purposes and according to Jewish religion, non Halachic Jews don’t count. However, that doesn’t mean I would EVER push away a non-Halachic Jew, or even a non-Jew. I have had many interesting conversations with non-Jews. I even call some of them (like Father Pavel – a Ukrainian priest who works with drug addicts) a friend. This is a ridiculous, yet somehow actually believable accusation.
Many of our Shabbos guests have been non-Halachic Jews. Classic example – the family of Refoel Khaimov (his wife isn’t Jewish), the Andronovs. Most Jews are married to non-Jews but when we invite a family, we invite everyone. We are not disgusting people.
Go on odnoklassniki or vkontakte. Look at my list of friends. Count how many are from Stavropol. Count how many of them aren’t Halachically Jewish. Yes, at least 30 of them. I also created a group called ‘Stavropol Jews’ on odnoklassniki about 6 or 7 months ago. Half the group is not Halachically Jewish. As a matter of fact, I have several friends on there who aren’t even Jewish! For example Ivan Scheinerman, a German.
I recently helped a man whose son has cancer. I raised money for him, and helped organize that someone should sponsor medicine so his son can be treated. The father and the son are both non-Halachic Jews, and I’ll give you their names if you’d like. You can ask them yourself.
The contrary is true. Yefim is the one who has made a separation, he has been louder than I have been.
When people first visit him (anyone, try this out yourself) and claim to be Jews, he asks to see documents. Why? To prove you are a Halachic Jew. He then keeps them in his office, along with an entire dossier full of everyone’s documents. Ask him to show it to you. I saw them once, but he still hasn’t allowed me to even look at them, though I asked several times early upon my arrival to Stavropol. The proof for this is in the contracts. The last contract includes a request to see the Halachic documents. It didn’t bother me before, and it proves I had no access to them until then. The reason I asked for it then, was because I was starting to realize that this wasn’t going to work out, and I wanted to see the documents.
So in summary to that question. Yes, there is a difference between Halachic and non-Halachic Jews, but it is a delicate topic and I have dealt with it delicately, contrary to the way Yefim has treated non-Halachic Jews.
Point 6 – Rabbi is a fascist. Isn’t that like Nazism? That’s just disgusting and low. It shows that the letter wasn’t guided by brains, rather by hatred.
Point 7 – Rabbi is an Israeli Nationalist. This claim would later be made in the papers – that the Rabbi was telling people to leave Russia and go to Israel. This is entirely baseless, and there is not one proof to support it.
When I left Russia, I was under the assumption that I could return. Therefore my home and workplace are intact. Go there (ask my secretary to take you), and search for ONE Israeli flag. You can always judge a man by his books. Search for ONE book on Israel. Not that I am against Israel, I love Israel. It’s the Jewish land, but I came to Stavropol for religious purposes. I would never tell anyone to go to Israel or America. The one time I can remember suggesting to anyone to go to Israel is to the father of the boy with cancer. I told him that there are good medical centers there.
On the other hand, walk into the Jewish Center run by Yefim. You will very quickly see flags, portraits of Ministers in Israel, an entire MAP on the wall. Read the pamphlets too, please. He even has a printed list of prices of tickets to Israel hanging prominently on one of the walls. He speaks a fluent Hebrew.
Besides, what ‘flock’ would I have if everyone moved to Israel? It makes no sense.
Obviously, I am proud of Israel, and support them in (almost) everything they do, but I did not travel halfway across the world to tell Russians in a city of half a million to move to Israel and the US. And by the way, I’m Canadian.
Point 8 – Rabbi is trying to organize a school for ‘clean’ Jews.
And where does he base it from? With what money? Where will the school be? Which children will go?
Point 9 – There used to be hundreds of Jews at holidays and now there’s a maximum of 50. While I cannot give numbers to what happened before I arrived (I wasn’t there), I can certainly give numbers for when I was there. If someone does a little research they’ll read the local newspaper articles. If that doesn’t satisfy you, then I’ll send pictures in which at least 100 people can be clearly seen. And this is after I arrived. I again advise the researcher to simply ask members of the community. If need be I’ll send you a list of 100 names to ask if they were there.
The numbers I know are as follows: our first Chanukah in Stavropol was held in the Center. 75 people showed up for a sit down meal. Purim was in a restaurant – 100 people. Pesach was in the Center – two Seders. 50 at the first, 35 at the second. Sefer Torah event had 120, just ask the chefs at restaurant Kavcheg in Verkhnirusskaya how many meals they made and how much of it was eaten or look at some pictures. Chanukah this past year had 70 people show up for our ‘Chanukah on ice’. Another 40 were at Yefim’s event, which was beautiful.
So the numbers lie.
Point 10 – Previously the community received money from Moscow, and filed reports. Nothing to argue here… except that I have a copy of what the money was SUPPOSED to be used for, and have two eyes which saw where the money went.
Point 11 – Now the Rabbi spends it at his own discretion. No actually, I also have to file reports to Moscow. So if someone asks Moscow for the reports of my expenditure, they’ll find out all they need to know. As for my personal account with my salary, that is frankly none of anyones business (though the board originally wanted to see that too).
Point 12 – The Rabbi is spending his money satisfying his personal needs. Yes, HIS money, satisfying HIS personal needs. Not, the community money satisfying his personal needs. I fail to see the point here.
Now I will continue on to the next letter.
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