Rebuttal: part 2: arrival. (Please don't pass around)

A womens event in February, which we started doing in our apartment.



2 – We visited the three cities, and were attacked in an anti-Semitic incident while in Ivanovo. We were most impressed by the community of Stavropol, since the other cities seemed to have no youth, while Stavropol boasted a Sunday school with almost 30 children, and when we asked Yefim Fainer, the president of the community, what they’d like to see from us, he answered that they are ready for a kindergarten.

That was the decision-maker, and we chose Stavropol, which was also a very pretty city and we were impressed with all the people we had met there.

Back home in Montreal, we prepared to leave. We packed our stuff into boxes, and shipped them to Russia (they would arrive 6 months later). We sold our furniture, went around fundraising, and started a blog in order to record all the events that took place there for our friends and supporters (after hearing from many people that they would be interested in reading what it’s like to a Canadian Rabbi to start work in Russia). The blog has been a private diary of sorts; people searching for the truth should contact me (rabbizvi44@yahoo.com). They can be invited and then go all the way back to the beginning and read for themselves the difficulties and rewarding times we had, with pictures and videos scattered through it. Here further proof of what I am writing can be seen.

We also called many Rabbis of cities in Russia, particularly the American and Canadian ones (all 3 of them), to get tips and ideas from them, which we wrote down. One piece of advice was to have the president of the community find a couple of apartments which we can look at, so that we don’t have to stay in a hotel for a month trying to find one ourselves. However I was unsuccessful in reaching Yefim, though I tried calling many times.

I should mention that the reason why Russia must rely on foreign Rabbis is due to the fact that for over 70 years Judaism was not allowed. This meant that there were no yeshivas where people can train to become Rabbis. Therefore, almost every Rabbi in Russia is from Israel. There are several Russian Rabbis, but they are far and few between. Only 5 Americans/Canadians work as Rabbis of cities in Russia (if you include Rabbi Silberstein of Vladivostok and myself, who are currently in America hoping this problem gets sorted out and we can return to our communities).

We left Canada in a wave of tears, most of our friends and family didn’t really understand why we chose somewhere so far away, but they respected our decision. We brought with us many bags of luggage, from which we would live out of for 6 months.

We arrived in Stavropol at night, and went straight to a hotel. The next morning we went to the center and met with Yefim. We had brought a small list of requests which we had taken upon the advice of our fellow Rabbis.

The list read:

1 – Help us get a secretary (she must speak English)
2 – Help us find an apartment (followed by a list of what kind of place we’re looking for)
3 – We need an office.

We sat down with him, and spoke about our vision and plans for the community in 1 year, in 3 years, in 5 years. I had written this all down a few weeks earlier. Then he said his vision and plans for the future, which I also wrote down. I still have this paper.

I asked him our requests and he promised to take care of all of them, and help us out in every area. Then he said something which at the time I found very odd. He warned me that we must work together. He said that in other communities, there have been battles between the presidents and the Rabbis (he brought the example of Kursk). He said that he hopes we don’t have a similar problem. I told him no way, I’m glad to work with him. I am not in it for the power, money or anything. I want to build our community and we’ll be great together.

Of course, nothing of this can be proven, as I didn’t write any of this down, but it still struck me as odd.

What can be proven is that we were stuck in the hotel for over a week (I’m sure they keep a registry of guests). We were running out of money, and desperate. Whenever we went to the Center Yefim told us that he was working on finding us a secretary and an apartment. However he didn’t lead us to a single interview for a secretary, or a single apartment. Even our office was a problem, something which should have solved quickly, as there was a large office which could have been used except for Sundays when the children went on the computer in Hebrew school.

Instead, after about a week of our questions, he told me that I could use a corner in the ‘Zal’ (large room) as my office. I told him it wouldn’t work, that I need a room to use, and he said he’d work on it. These frustrations can be found in my schedule book, where I listed my requests before each meeting.

By a stroke of luck, we met a non-Jew named Alexander Dengin who helped us find several apartments. We became friends, and when we were running out of money, we were forced to choose one particular apartment on Rosa Luxemburg in order to leave the hotel.

I’ll now get to the Sachnut. Natasha Kulugina runs the Sachnut and Chesed together with Yulia Sharapan. When we first visited the city, we went over to say hello. The Sachnut is an organization concerned with sending Jews to Israel, Halachic or not. The Chesed, or ‘the joint’, gives out food packages to elderly (and sickly) Jews. Yefim told me from the beginning that we have nothing to do with them, since they work with non-Halachic Jews (I will prove this and more later). However, I was curious as to what kind of work they do, and they seemed very nice and helpful.At that point I did not know of the past history of the Stavropol Jewish community.

So when we saw that we were getting nowhere with Yefim, I went to the Sachnut and asked them for help in finding a secretary. Ads were placed the next morning in Stavropol’s newspapers, and after interviewing several candidates, we hired Viktoria, a capable and very nice person, who has been our secretary since.

Ironically, while I am now being attacked for ‘only doing things for Halachic Jews’, I was originally attacked for ‘only doing things for non-Jews.’ When Yefim found out that I had hired a non-Jewish secretary, he asked me why I did that, when there were perfectly good Jewish ones (whom he hadn’t told me about, though I’d asked him several times to help me find one).

I explained what I had been advised from other Rabbis, that to hire a Jew means that it is difficult to fire her if she is incompetent. It would divide a community. He still bothered me about this for several weeks, and continued to bother me when I hired a non-Jewish housekeeper and driver (for a time).

After a month or so, I was given an office. It was in a small, dingy room (I have pictures of myself squeezed in there) which used to be used as a place to exchange money. The key I was given was twisted, which made it almost impossible to open the heavy door, and I had a copy made. When I later would return the key to Yefim, I forgot to return the original, and I still have the twisted skeleton key with me.

After more cajoling, my secretary was given the nice, large room to use as her office. Meanwhile, I began to realize that no one showed up to the center, except on Shabbos (Saturday) afternoon, when around 10 to 15 of the elderly Jews would gather at 14:00 to eat a meal and talk about the Torah. Aside from the Sunday school, the place was always quiet. No classes took place, and barely anyone ever came in.

This was in sharp contrast to the Sachnut, which was constantly busy (at least whenever I was there). Students gathered in a classroom to chat after college, and young mothers met up. Whenever I was in the Sachnut (which was rare), people were always wandering in and out, chatting and smiling.

One day I met with Yefim, who told me that I must stop having anything to do with the Sachnut. I asked him why, and he told me that Natasha was a sly woman trying to take his job. He told me the history of the community.

After a year of being there, I still don’t have the history down pat, but this is what I gather (I can prove nothing. I am merely repeating what I’ve heard from other people).

The community was organized around 12 years ago. Yefim was president, and thanks to his wife Polina, the community was very active. Igr Lerner ran the Chesed, Natasha the Sachnut. Everything was run out of the Center. Then Polina passed away and the bickering began. It reached a height (and upset most of the community) when Yefim started going out with a new girl, Yana.

She had a terrible influence on him (this I can attest to), and he threw Natasha out of the Center. He somehow threw anyone else with a hint of power out as well, which meant that Igr and Yulia Sharapan began working in the Sachnut, which rented out a new place.

Since then the place is generally quiet, except for Sundays when it was full of children there for Sunday school.

Anyway, I started doing my work. This meant meeting people, inviting them to Shabbos meals and trying to organized Jewish classes and clubs. I had big problems trying to get classes started. The few times I visited the Sachnut, the students asked me question after question about Judaism. But my work was not for the Sachnut, and I asked Yefim to help me organize classes (all over my schedule book). Obviously, he promptly forgot about it. I even tried organizing a chess club with Torah, since I knew he loved chess, but still I received no response.

So I asked him for a community list so that my secretary can call people to a class I’ll coordinate. But he refused to do this either, telling me he’ll instruct his secretary to make calls.

It reached a climax when Chayale organized a womens event. She spent hours and hours preparing for it (making Challah class). I reminded him several times to invite people, and when the time came, not only didn’t his girlfriend or secretary show up, but no one else did. My wife was very upset about it, and so was I. We realized we couldn’t trust him when the same thing happened at a Tu Beshvat event (all proven by emails I sent to Rabbi Lazar I can dig up from back when it was happening, and my schedule book, plus photos).

Something else annoying happened. Moscow told him that he couldn’t ask for any more money, but any more money had to go through me. I hadn’t opened an Or Avner organization so Moscow wouldn’t give me money either. I asked for Yefim’s help in opening the organization but he flat out refused. Instead, he’d come and demand that I give him money for this and that…

I told him I had none, I was only receiving my salary, and he called a board meeting. At the meeting, I was told to reveal all money I receive from Moscow. I told them that I had no written proof, but they can call Moscow and see for themselves that until Or Avner is started, no money comes through except the Rabbis salary and a little bit to pay his secretary and driver.

It was simple to realize I had no money. We had no office tools or anything. Had I had money, I would have at least bought one computer, one chair, one printer, one lightbulb for my tiny office.

Instead I was being asked not only to get him nearly 10,000 rubles to come monthly (which included a huge raise in his salary and the salary of his girlfriend whom I had never seen at work as his ‘secretary’, but also money to put a water cooler in the Center), but also a one time payment of over 10,000 rubles to buy new chairs and furniture (which made sense to me too).

I still have several original papers that he gave me detailing these requests, a paper of me writing them down, and the email I sent to Moscow asking for them. Naturally, I received no answer. Anyway, until Or Avner was opened I had no way of receiving the money.

But even though I explained this to him over and over again, every day without fail he pestered me and bothered me, which made it difficult to work there.

Another problem I had was the phone line. We needed a separate phone line. But every petty little detail was a huge one for Yefim. Thank g-d he let us use a computer, but we wanted high-speed internet and offered to pay for him to receive the same as well. However, this took ages to happen, since he refused to sign papers allowing us to get a new phone line.

My secretary Viktoria once went to speak with him and ask him to sign a document, but he shouted at her, hurling insults and telling her she was a nobody. When I saw her in the office later, she was still crying from the verbal abuse which he would inflict upon her several more times, until I advised her not to speak to him.

Another problem was Shabbos afternoons. The older men met at 14:00, which was a bad time for me. I had to Davven (pray) and eat my Shabbos meal. I asked if they could move it to 10:00 or even 11:00. He told me they couldn’t, so I wasn’t able to make it every Shabbos (it was a 45 minute walk each way and on Shabbos you are not allowed to drive).

Another ugly incident marred Shabbos, when Yana (Yefim’s girlfriend) started taking photos of the meal one Shabbos. I asked her to please put away the camera, and she straight out refused. As she continued taking photos, I pretended I had to go to the bathroom and left the hall. I stayed out until after everyone had left (about an hour) and then asked her why she did that. “Not everyone wants religion.” Was her reply. I was very upset about this, and told to please not do this again, or I wouldn’t come to the meals any more.

When we went to Moscow for the annual conference of Rabbis and Presidents of Russia, we met with Rabbi Lazar. Yefim complained that I was receiving lots of money and not giving him any, and I complained that I had yet to be taken to meet people in the community or even see a community list. Rabbi Lazar told us we must work together. He asked me in English if I could spare money. I told him not much, and he suggested that I help out monetarily with Shabbos, and he also advised me to fundraise a bit so that I can give Yefim a monthly sum to keep him happy.

We also went to FEOR (the Federation), where I spoke to a woman named Rita, and asked that she give Yefim a salary raise. She raised it, giving him the most any president of any community received in all of Russia! She told this to Yefim, saying she was glad I had asked for this, and it shows a true sign of wanting to work together.

Our flight back to Stavropol that night was cancelled, and we sat in a cab driving through the darkness. It was there that I pulled out 6500 rubles and gave it to him, telling him that I’ll help him out monthly. I also told him I’d help him out weekly for Shabbos by my wife making most of the food, and my driver willing to go shopping for him. He looked me in the eye and promised that he would do everything to make sure we worked well together.

I got home all excited. My wife made a cholent for them, and two Challahs. She also bought extra drinks and white eggs that they could use. She would do this weekly until things got out of hand before the month was up.

It was also at this time that we celebrated Purim, which was a beautiful event. 100 people showed up (read newspaper article on it, or see the restaurant listings… or just ask anyone in the community), and everyone was united. It felt good, like the future would get better. Yefim made a speech at the event how it was the first time in many years so many people had attended a Jewish event in Stavropol.

Rebuttal: part 1. Who we are (please don't pass this around)

The 'queen sized' bed from our hotel room when we first arrived in Stavropol.




To whom it may concern,

I write this in response to the terrible accusations made against me by Yefim Fainer, president of the Jewish community of Stavropol, Oleg Pushkantser who is a representative of the Russian Jewish Congress in Stavropol (as I have only recently discovered), and some accusations by the media.

The truth always prevails, and nothing can refute it, particularly when it backed up by so many proofs. Therefore, I would like to start off by saying who I am.

1. My name is Zvi Peretz Hershcovich. I was born on 22 Av, 5742 (August 11, 1982) to Mechel and Faigy Hershcovich in Montreal, Canada. My father is a man of integrity, a deeply religious man who works as a handyman. He can fix or repair anything, and is a well-known member of the Chabad community in Montreal. My mother is a former nurse and current doula. She wasn’t born religious, and only became religious a couple of years before my birth. I have 6 siblings, who live in Montreal, Florida, New York, and Los Cabos, Mexico.

Chabad is a group of Chassidim. We follow the 7th Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who was born in Ukraine and moved to America after World War 2. He taught his Chassidim to learn how to love and care for every Jew, and he was among the fore-runners of the ‘Kiruv’ movement, in which he sent Rabbis around the globe to revive Jewish communities which were losing their attachment to Judaism.

In yeshiva (Jewish school), I spent my childhood learning Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, Shulchan Aruch and Chassidus (when I wasn’t playing hockey). I did not receive much of a secular education, but my knowledge of Judaism was (and still is) superb. I learnt to love every person, Jew or non-Jew as one would love himself, and I spent every Friday doing practical Rabbinical work putting Tefillin on Jews at work.

I learnt in large Yeshivas in London, New Jersey, Toronto and Montreal, and worked for a Synagogue in Sydney, Australia for a year. Then I spent two and half years in Ottawa where I worked as a teacher while learning ‘Semicha’, Rabbinical ordination.

I completed my Semicha and was tested by a Rabbi from Israel, the chief Rabbi of Ottawa, and a Rabbi from Venezuela in the summer of 2004.

At the end of that summer, I met my wife, Chaya Mushka Greenberg. Her father is a Rabbi in a Yeshiva in Morristown, New Jersey, and her mother works as a teacher in a school in the same town.

After we were married, we moved to Montreal and settled down in the Jewish community there.

I had been to the FSU 4 times before we were married, and the Jews of Russia and Ukraine had made a deep impression on me. Three times I had been to summer camps in Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine and I had helped to conduct a Seder in Kaliningrad, Russia. I felt a close attachment and deep love for these Jews, who after facing over 70 years of hardships and religious intolerance, were stepping up in large numbers and announcing that they were Jews. I cried like a baby when leaving camp in Dnepropetrovsk (and have pictures of it too), and still am in contact with many of my campers (through web sites such as odnoklassniki, vkontakte, and by regular post and telephone).

As a married man, I wanted to do something meaningful with my life. There weren’t too many Americans working as Rabbis in Russia, in part because it was financially more beneficial to remain in America (or Canada), and in part because of the language and cultural barriers. Nevertheless, I decided together with my wife that if there would be anywhere to work as a Rabbi, Russia would be the place.

This was for several other reasons as well. I felt that I would be able to do a good job in leading a community spiritually, and as a Chabad Chossid who has heard my Rebbe cry for the Jews in Russia, I knew that it was the place I must go. If I’m going to do something (in this case, be a Rabbi), I might as well do it right (and go somewhere where it will count, where I’ll honestly make a difference).

I contacted Rabbi Berel Lazar, chief Rabbi of Russia, and tried to organize a meeting. It took many months before we finally sat down together in a house in Crown Heights, and when I explained why I wanted to move to Russia, he simply asked me which city.

Up to that point, I had been doing odd jobs in Montreal, such as working as a ‘Mashgiach’ (Rabbi who makes sure the food is kosher) for a Kosher caterer in Montreal, and being an assistant film editor for a friend. I also helped write the CGI animated movie ‘Young Avraham’ (youngavraham.com), and wrote myself a live action Chanukah play (walk-through) called ‘Maccabees’, in which I also acted. It was performed in New York City the first year, attracted 15,000 visitors in its first month and was made into a video by Yanky Teitelbaum and Dovid Weinbaum (see here: http://www.mostlymusic.com/jewish-childrens-museum-maccabees-live-chanukah-adventure-p-3833.html). It also was followed by perfomances in Montreal (12,000 people over one month), and most recently Miami (another 15,000).

But all those were temporary jobs, and when Rabbi Lazar asked me to choose a city, I told him that I had no city in mind, but I did think I would do best as the Rabbi of a city rather than being another Rabbi in Moscow, for example.

He gave me a list of cities which needed Rabbis and told me to narrow down the list to three cities, which I would then visit and decide for myself.

We spent the next month doing careful research until we chose our final 3 cities. A month later, we visited them and were shown around the cities and made to meet the communities by the leaders of the communities.

Now that you understand who I am, I will give a history of what has happened since my first arrival in Stavropol. I’ll try to be brief, and be careful to back up my words. Actually, everything I write here can easily be backed up by even a cursory glance at my schedule book, which was filled daily with all the work I had to do. I can scan and upload the 5’th of January of this past year for example, and there you would read for example that at 9:00 I had an appointment with a Stavropol businessman. At 11:00 I had gone to a store to look at prices of different appliances (and written them down in my book), at 13:30 I had been on the phone with a scheduled appointment with a fellow Rabbi, at 15:00 my wife had work on the internet for askmoses.com and at 17:00 I had gone to buy a scanner for our office (or lack thereof).

You get the idea. Every date, from my permanent arrival on 4 Kislev, 5768 (November 14, 2007) is available. I also have photos, and in some cases – videos, which I have filed in my external hard drive and my parents computer and have with me today.

But without further ado, allow me to take you to July, 2007 where a young, excited couple (my wife and I), together with our 8-month-old daughter Miriam, traveled to Russia to choose a city to work in.

A nice email I just received

That's Chaim Tanny at the wedding.


Dear Zvi,

The director of EF told me that she saw a report on the local television about you. It was an interview with your good friend the president of the community and these are the things he claimed that I remember her telling me:

1. No one in the Jewish community knows who you are because you never see them.
2. You lived in a run down little house on the outskirts of town so no one knew where you lived.
3. You were in Russia without a visa.
4. You didnt fulfill your duties as a rabbi, even on festivals.

Now we all know that is a pack of very stupid lies, but I have no contact with anyone from the community now, so I dont know how they have reacted. Did you hear about this?

Do you have the number of the family who speaks Hebrew? Maybe I can at least do the seder with them.

How are you all doing? Any news about your return here yet?

Missing you all,

Mel.




Should I post all the other emails? (I'm too lazy to translate them all).

A cute email

Chaim Shimshon, a proud Russian (whom we hope will grow up to emulate some other great Russians, such as Reb Mendel Futerfas at best, or Alexander Ovechkin at worst).

Someone asked me a good question in an email: why wasn't Yefim voted out by the community in the last election?

The answer: last election was this past summer. Yefim told only 5 of his friends about the date, time and place. Then he was revoted in. Apparently there's no rule which says he cannot do this.

Anyway, I got a cute email Erev Shabbos. It was sent when it was already Shabbos in Stavropol.

Dear Zvi,

Tonight we gathered together about 7 of us in the Sachnut where we prayed for your return and sang all the songs from the friday night prayer you taught us. We then ate a Shabbat meal. We hope you return, we don't want any other Rabbi. Say hello to Chaya and the kids...

Then theletter goes on to discuss other stuff.

I thought it was very cute.

Thank you Reb Reuven!

Roman Yablonovsky kindly helped me (figure out how to) translate the web page I wanted in the last post.

It's difficult to read and translate appropiately (and a long article), so I'll just post the new revelations.

1 - Apparently I am an Israeli espionage agent, or so 'sources' claim.
2 - Yefim Fainer refused to an interview, claiming that 'you know why I can't speak, and if you look into the story a little bit you'll see what you want.'
3 - The Russian Jewish Congress is furious with the letter by Oleg Pushkantser
4 - My 'crime' has now been changed to 'convincing people to leave to the US and Israel.'
5 - 184 (off the mark by 3) people signed a letter to Rabbi Lazar asing him to send them back their Rabbi
6 - Medvedev said something about how Rabbis shouldn't be deprted, but can be seen as nationl security threats (i I understood the end of the article correctly).

Great. I'm apparently a National Security Threat.

I'm getting punched around in the press. But you know that for every goal power forwards score in hockey they get pounded around a bit first.

I hope I go back. I miss my friends and community.

Video... finally

Another picture from the VERY SAME Sheva brochos to prove I am completely normal.

Click here: http://skavkaz.rfn.ru/region/rnews.html?id=164201&rid=370 and then watch the video. If you understand Russian, basically Yefim is saying "He worked alone. We had minimum contact with him. There were some people in Stavropol who knew him somewhat, but I did not know him."

Boy does he look uncomfortable saying straight out lies.

Another interesting thing they did was place a montage of photos that I had put up a while back from the Sefer Torah event, and next to it they put a paper which had been there from before my time listing prices of tickets to Israel. The deduction: the Rabbi was obviously promoting people to leave to Israel.

One problem: If he 'barely' knew me, then that must mean I didn't really work in the center or if I did, was barely ever there.

Then how did I manage to get that sign up there, and if he is so oppoed to that sign, why didn't he take it down?

Hashem works in mysterious ways

A picture of me at one of the Sheva Brochos'. My brother-in-law Dovid is trying to avoid me (for obvious reasons).

I just went on my odnoklassniki page (a Russian version of facebook) where I have met and had many conversations with people from my community (yes, about half of them non-Halachic Jews).

Anyway, I had 3 messages. 2 telling me to keep strong blah blah blah, but one was interesting.

It was from someone in Pyatigorsk, a student (not sure if he's a Halachic Jew). I had met him on odnoklassniki ages ago when he visited my page (you can see anyone who looked at your page), so I asked him if he was Jewish. He said yeah and that was it.

Here was his new message:

Hey, Zvi. I saw the news on TV, and I hope you are doing ok. I decided that I want to learn TORAH with you when you come back.





Cool, huh?

I feel good

That's me at Dovid and Chavi's wedding!

I feel alot better since that realization came to me yesterday, and am trying to oganize an over-the-phone meeting with some members of my community.

The news in Russia keeps getting worse and worse, with more and more lies being published across the nation out there. Yefim went on TV saying he didn't know me since I never worked with him (which is the oddest lie ever).

I had a conversation with Benny (my brother) in which he was asking me about all the claims written by Yefim. He thought some of them were probably not lies, rather overdoing facts.

For example, when Yefim claimed that they used to have 200-300 or something like that coming to each holiday and now have 30-50... was it an exaggeration or a lie?

I suppose many people think the same way (if my own brother... just kidding Benny), and iy"h I will write my 'rebuttal' soon. Remember, this is a man who told Rabbi Lazar, Alexander Boroda, a woman named Milla and myself (in one room) that we don't need to organize a Shul etc. since there are only 150 Jews in Stavropol. Then, when told that they were giving him too much money if that were the case, he immediately did an about-face and said that there were at least 2000...

Anyway, I'll get to that later.

While the news reports are all similar, maing the same claims that you can read somewhere below, either from Yefim's letter to presidents around Russia, or Oleg Pushkantser's letter to the authorities. There's also a new claim that I've been trying to convince my 'flock' to all move to Israel and the USA (but why not Canada?).

So I won't bother to translate them for you.

However, two new ones are a little interesting. The first is from http://izrus.co.il/diasporaIL/article/2009-03-27/4132.html and I owe a thanks to Rabbi Nissen Ruppo of Kostroma for bringing it to my attention. Free translation will come soon. I need someone to translate it for me first.

The other is from http://portal-credo.ru/site/?act=news&id=69509&cf=

Here is a translation:

Canadian Zvi hershcovich will be kicked out of Russia by decision of the Stavropol regional court.

It's interesting that that his infringement of the law was only known to the authorities through a fellow Jew informing on him. Not just any Jew, but the representative of the Russian Jewish Congress in Stavropol Mr. Oleg Pushkantser.

Another point of interest is that Hershcovich is already the second Rabbi from the Federation of Jewish Communities of russia (FEOR) deported from the country this year.

And you cannot say that Pushkantser's complaint is a casual one, since Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich arrived in Stavropol in 2008, and strictly following Jewish religious law "Halacha", he declared that only maternal Jews can be members of the community.

"He started dividing us by 'pure' and 'dirty' and every project he did was only for Halachic Jews", Oleg Markovich Pushkantser has told the news, "Most of us are paternal Jews, myself included. People were indignant, and I have written about it."

Oleg Markovich has written to the regional committee on affairs of nationalities and Cossacks: "For us Jews who were bought up in the USSR and the CIS, everyone is equal in rights, Hershcoviches beliefs are nationalism... For traditional Jewish holidays 300 people gathred before Hershcoviches arrival - now no more than 50 show up."

Oleg Pushkantser has specified possible financial infringements and at the same time asked to check up on the legality of the Rabbi living in Russia. Then it was discovered that the Rabbi had moved without advising the divisional FMS, breaking article 18 of the Code about Administrative Offences.

However, the maximum punishment a court could give is 5000 rubles (according to the law). So why have judges in Stavropol, and earlier (a month ago Rabbi Silberstein was deported from Primorski Krai) used such extreme measures?

It's no ecret that FEOR is categorically against introduction of "Bases of orthodox culture" (Zvi note: that is, teaching Russian orthodoxy as a religion) in schools, considering it an infringement of the rights of religious minorities. Obviously this position has irritated the Russian Orthodox Church.

This is the key question. The Council of Mufti's in Russia (CMP) holds a similar position. In spite of their sharp opposition regarding the middle East conflict, they are united in this position. Here it's not too difficult to notice that for quite some time now legal problems have started against these two organizations.

The Ministry of Justice revealed a number of infringements in the activity of the CMP, and the FMS (Federal Migration autorities) - illegalities of Rabbis.

While officially FEOR stated that they know nothing about the conflict going on in Stavropol, and that it was initiated by local authorities, one week ago the Chief Rabbi of Russia Rabbi berel Lazar tried to discuss the problem of the deportations with authorities at the highest level. In answer the FMS coolly advised Rabbis to foolow the laws strictly.

Pushkantser isn't sorry about what has happened. He says:

- Thank G-d for nine years the community existed without a Rabbi. We asked FEOR to send our local Rabbi instead of Hershcovich.

- While any Rabbi will keep the same stance on the Halachic Jew issue, he won't push away other people.

A couple of things

- We have received so much support. From ou friends, and beautiful emails and messages from our community as well, and we'd like to say thanks to everyone!

- We have 41 readers so far, who support us as well. Thank you.

- Yefim Fainer is an anagram for "I free infamy"

- I've been emailing back and forth Rabbi Lazar, who keeps advising me to stay away from the press, no matter where it may be, even though the story is out in the open. I wondered what the point was, but today in the Mikva a realization hit me.

It's all about my ego.

All these panicky feelings are egoistic. It's about ME, rather than my community. Yefim Fainer is spending his time, money and energy trying to tell everyone he can (and even using the media, as I was told he went on Stavropol TV bashing me publicly) what a bad person I am. Trying to besmirch my name.

But ultimately it's not about me. My pride can take a beating. But if fight back, I will be spending all my energies devoted to a losing cause. I can be quiet, grin through it and let it pass when the next story of interest hits, or I can make a storm and end up upsetting everyone.

I am a shliach. It's not about me. Truth is, it's not about the Rebbe either. It's about the Jews of Stavropol, who will not see much of a future with Yefim running the show. I doubt any Rabbi will go to Stavropol after this story, and I doubt the community can move forward with all the infighting.

I think Rabbi Lazar hinted at it in his last email. He told me that they re making new elections for a president of the community. This is what I must do and will do. I must make sure he doesn't win. Let him expend all his energies trying to give me a bad name. I'll take the battle loss and the war win.

I have a great head Shliach.

Interesting discussion

The childrens choir at the Krasnodar sefer Torah event two months back.

http://www.vosizneias.com/29380/2009/03/25/moscow-russia-court-upholds-expelling-of-chief-rabbi/ read the comment in this article, and I think people are writing what they perceive is the truth.

Actually, they are correct. Chabad has becom somewhat arrogant. Also, when any shliach moves to a different country, he should be bending ver backwards to comply with the rules.

I've also read other opinions, these on the Russian forums, of people who are seething. They are upset about the apparent request from the Federation that Rabbis seemingly should be above the law, able to be on different visas, registration problems etc. and get away with it.

And the truth is they are correct. We come out sounding very arrogant.

So what is missing here?

What's missing is the fact that the authorities have made it virtually impossible for us to live there. I wrote about the whole problem in a previous post, but I think it should have been publicized along with the other news stories.

President nasty

Yefim Fainer, the man we honored with the writing of a letter in the Torah.

It's all over the Russian news, including BBC Russia. I expect it to be a couple of hours (a day at most) for it to hit the American media.

Our loss at the appeal somehow got public, and our president got even nastier. He released his tirade full of lies to the media here: http://news.mail.ru/society/2459021 and another lie was added here: http://www.infox.ru/authority/mans/2009/03/25/Iz_Stavropolya_vyysl.phtml stating that I have been urging my 'flock' to all leave to the USA and Israel.

I got a call this morning from a local TV station in Stavropol, and might get interviewed. We'll have to see what Rabbi Lazar says, since I trust he knows what he's doing better than I know what I'm doing. I know he's on top of the situation since I was asked to urgently send a 'press picture' to the Federation.

Only time will tell, but I suspect there is alot more to come.

I'm going to try and write a rebuttal to all the lies.

Our appeal is in the news

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=5835

This is where it starts. It'll probably hit local news soon.

The smear campaign has begun

Apparently Yefim will stop at nothing. I guess we should have seen this coming, since the few people who have supported him up til now (from what I hear) are furious with him for going to the authorities.

The following is a letter he sent to almost every single Rosh Hakahal (president of the community) in the entire Russia. Free translation:

Who are we?

For two thousand years the Jewish people did not have a state. But the people scattered around the world managed to keep their religion, tradition and customs. They managed to remain a united nation. Only through being a community was this possible, since by being together they found spiritual support, understanding, and help in a community.

The community leaders have always told Jews to follow the laws of the country of residence. Jews in Russia have been together as communities up to the 30s and 40s but assimilation, and in particular antireligious prosecutions by the Soviet powers caused that Jewish communities were practically destroyed. Yiddish culture in the USSR was also ruined in the 40s and 50s as a result of the terrible war and Stalin's "struggle against cosmopolitis", and this helped complete the process.

In a post-war Soviet Union, existence of traditional Jewish communities was already impossible. Formal equality to Jews was limited by private instructions of the authorities. But as soon as official interdictions were removed, all over the country the process of revival of Jewish communal life began.

However there were serious obstacles in the way of its restoration. No one knew national, religious traditions, or even the Hebrew language. There were no educational institutions where it was possible to receive this knowledge. There was no place to find training, laws of the religion, ritual objects, or even books.

Nevertheless, inspired by wisdom, Jews overcame all the difficulties in a uniform structure which started in 1988.

In 1999 isolated communities initiated the creation of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. Now under the flag of FEOR (the Federation) communities have been very successful in their work and in all seven federal districts of Russia have begun to develop.

The city of Stavropol was no exception. One of the youngest organizations in the North Caucasus is Stavropol's Jewish religious organization "Shalom". At the community center there was a Sunday school, youth and womens clubs, a library, an ensemble of Jewish music, and an Ulpan. Children left to a summer camp organized by the community of Sochi.

The humanitarian aid rendered by the community included distribution of Matza before the holiday of Pesach. Members of the community together celebrated all holidays in which the Jewish musical ensemble was an indispensable participant. There were competitions on preparations of our national dishes in which the winners received traditional gifts.

Why are we using the past tense?

In 2008 we were visited by a Canadian named Zvi Hershcovich, a young and devout person whom we faithfully accepted because until then the community in Stavropol existed without a religious leader - a Rabbi.

From the moment of arrival, Hershcovich spoke all the right words about the necessity to revive the community, the construction of dialogue with the regional and city structures of power and law enforcement bodies.

What have we received?

With the appointment of Zv Hershcovich as Stavropols Rabbi, the community completely lost its financing, i.e. money resources which came from FEOR didn't reach the community but instead went to another application - rent of a five-room apartment in the city center, and weekly trips with his family to Canada.

While members of the community have received kosher foods which came through haritable contributions from international Jewish organizations, the money for such work also completely disappears.

With such carelessness n his financial affairs, one can ask how can the community of a city exist on that.

That was all the financial aspect, but now let us discuss the theme of how he is a "spiritual leader" to members of the community.

This Canadian citizen started to apply to us Russian Jews a policy of discrimination by dividing the community into people who are pureblood (both parents Jews, or only mothers are Jews) and dirty (non-Halachic) Jews.

To can he act this way to us who have been born in the country where for 90 years our religion was banned, and the majority of marriages were assimilated?

Veterans of the Great Patriotic War (WW2) were left without a holiday to celebrate on Victory Day, and only because Hershcovich claimed that it was not in the canons of Judaism. Apparently he is unaware that Jews were the main victim of World War 2.

During the time that Hershcovich has served as Rabbi, under the cover that he is working in the interests of the community, he managed to spoil our once positive relations with the regional administration, migratory and law enforcement bodies, particularly when he threatened to carry out a mass protest in the streets of Stavropol in the possibility that it will draw public attention to the problems of the Jewish population in Russia.

Besides, Zvi intended to publish articles in local newspapers with opinions about the oppression of ethnic Jews that in actuality would inevitably lead to an explosion in our multinational city which is always on edge.

Let me remind you, this is a "leader" who is supposed to protect the commuity from internal and external threats!

The community in the city of Stavropol felt compelled to express to Zvi Hershcovich their dissatisfaction concerning his activities as Rabbi of the community. In answer he told us that he doesn't need us and that he is fine with the dozen or so people who support him.

Eventually, the rough activitiesof the Canadian drew the attention of migratory bodies of Russia and the approached him. During all the time he resided in Stavropol the foreigner never found the time to issue his stay in Russia properly.

The irresponsibility and superficialities of Hershcovich to everything he touched finally caught up with him.

The numerous letters we sent to FEOR and Berel Lazar the chief Rabbi of Russia have been unanswered.

We must ask, if the opinion of the community regarding Zvi Hershcovich doesn't interest the "Federation of the Jewish Communities of Russia", then who do they represent?

Members of the Jewish center "Shalom" in the city of Stavropol.

A curious thing

Yisroel Silberstein today found out that his high court appeal was also lost. Interesting that both came on the same day, especially considering the fact that our court date was moved back...

Either something real good is happening or something real bad.

We can only improve our ruchnius...


By the way, the wedding was amazing! It was wild in the men's side. It's so good to dance. I haven't danced in a long time, and it was good to finally let loose. My parents came, which was a nice surprise, along with my sister Esty. Also the Bernaths showed up, but I didn't get to dance with Yisroel much.

Oh yeah, and Shlomo Bongart came and brought like all his juggling equipment with him. We put on a nice performance for the Chosson. Balls, knives, an axe, fire... the works. It was awesome!

The appeal

'Rabbi' by Chaya Mushka Berkun, age 11 of Stavropol.

Here is the lowdown on how the appeal went.

Many people from the community showed up (don't have a number but I assume around 20 or 30), but the judge allowed only 3 peole inside. The judge listed my crime as a problem with registration, and our lawyer agreed that it was wrong, however not bad enough to have me thrown out of Russia.

The judge then heard the FSB people (3 of them), who brought out a letter dated in January from Yefim (president of the community) requesting that I be thrown out. My lawyer protested, since she hadn't seen the letter beforehand, yet it was still accepted by the court.

The lawyer is trying to get a copy of the letter.

The judge then deliberated, and ruled that I must pay a fine of 2000 rubles. He didn't say a word about whether or not I can stay in Russia.

It will take a day or two for his written ruling to go through, and I'll pass it along then...

I wonder what will be changed in this one.

Received in email

This is a response from the Russin Jewish Congress regarding the letter from Oleg Pushkantser which was sent to the authorities.

Free translation:

Dear Rabbi Herschcovich,

Only several days ago the Russian Jewish Congrss indignantly learnt about the arbitrary act of O.M. Pushkantser, who sent a letter about a disputable situation in Stavropol's Jewish Community to the authorities of Stavropol Krai. In his letter he acts on behalf of Russian Jewish Congress.

Although Pushkantser is really a leader of Stavropol regional department of RJC, the Russian Jewish Congress has nothing to do with the letter and the conflict itself.

One of the main principles of RJC is non participation in the conflicts within Jewish community including regions. Besides, RJC is a secular organization, and it does not interfere into relations between religious structures.

RJC is very sorry about this incident and we hope that it won’t influence the relations between RJC and other Jewish structures, which suffered from Pushkantser’s actions.

Yours sincerely,

Vice president of RJC
Alexander Shlimak

Mishenichnas Adar...

I have some extra time here.

Adar is supposed to be a time for miracle. An 'auspicious' (very Shliachy word) time in Jewish history.

Last night I was in the airport for an our and half with my sister-in-law trying to convince people to tae our documents to Russia.

Miracle followed miracle so far. If we win the appeal, then I will seriously KNOW that the Shulchan Aruch made a good point when it advised Jews to go to court in Adar.

Miracle:

1 - It was late and no one was left in line at the aeroflot counter when we bumped into a Russian who didn't speak English, and agreed to take the documents in for us.

2 - He actually called Yanky Klein as soon as he arrived n Moscow.

3 - I only got through at 3:00 AM, but Yanky was amazing! He got it all organized. A driver was waiting at the airport.

4 - The driver refused to give it to someone flying to Stavropol, but they found a company or something that will send it off for 500 rubles.

5 - It's going to Stavropol, and we even organized that Igor Lener is picking it up.

Thank you Yanky Klein! Thank you Rabbi Lazar for taking a personal interest in this, and making sure it happened!

One more miracle to go (I hope).

Lots to write, no time

Today is my sister-in-law Chavi Greenberg's wedding to my good buddy Dovid Russ, which means that I won't have time to post, even though there's lots to write.

I'm going to be the MC at the Chuppah, and I have lots to prepare (they want me to explain everything and the reasons for them).

Next post: The documents B"H made it to Moscow. Now for the second haul of the trip (and perhaps the ruling).

And also, another nasty letter from the president of the community, this time written to all community presidents in every city in Russia.

Just got back...

From the airport. I spent an hour and a half trying to convince someone to take our documents to Moscow.

Finally at the last minute, with the Greenbergs at home saying Tehillim (I kid you not), a Russian agreed. He was a sweet guy, but running late for his flight. He refused to give us his number, and instead wanted to take a number of someone in Moscow to give them to.

Thank G-d I had my book of numbers (not Shmos, silly) with me, and gave him Yanky Klein's.
Now I must organize someone to pick up the documents from the airport, drop them off at a different airport and get them on the plane to Stavropol, and have someone in Stavropol pick them p from the airport.

It's going to be a long night.

The problem

Kids in Sunday school learning chess.

I don't think I wrote about the crux of the problem, about the reason many shluchim feel threatened and several have left Russia temporarily.

I realized this after having a conversation with a friend of mine, who told me that while there was obviously either politics or anti-Semitism involved inmy case, Yisroel Silberstein was in the wrong in Vladivostok.

So here are the facts:

Yisroel had a problem with his registration before. This courtcase was about his visa (and the visa upon which most shluchim are on).

If you go back in my blog to the beginning of our shlichus here, you'll read how Russia made some new rules. Previously (before 2008 I think), you can get a 1 year working visa, or a 1 year cultural visa and everything would be ok.

The new rule was probably backed by Russian nationalists who wanted to keep Russian jobs to Russians and not foreigners. It stipulated that that the maximum a visa can be made is for 3 months (with few exceptions).

When everyone started scrambling to get permanent residency (another thing I wrote about in the blog perhaps a year back), they added a law that only about a thousand people per year are allowed to get permanent residency in each province (Stavropol alone has several thousand applicants). This is aside from all the tedious and expensive paperwork that must be done in order to secure the possibility of permanent residence. Of course, they could refuse your application in the blink of an eye (as they did to Yisroel a while back).

Anyway, most of the Rabbis in Russia are in Russia on cultural visas.

The reality is that we should be there on religious visas, since that is our work. I tried to get one, but Russia doesn't recognize the word 'Rabbi' as a religious figure, so unless you're a priest you can't be a Rabbi (I think I wrote bout this previously).

Cultural work is the closest thing to what we do...

Anyway, Yisroel was brought to court because he was on a cultural visa and yet was doing religious work. They proved this by showing the letter from Rabbi Lazar stating that he was Rabbi of the city, and by showing proof that he was organizing Minyanim to pray, and reading from the Torah.

They claim he should have procured a RELIGIOUS visa since he wasn't doing cultural work.

See the problem?

The government made it that as soon as a Rabbi comes into Russia, he's already doing something illegal. Therefore, almost all the Rabbis in Russia are under threat.

I'm really upset about this. I love Russia, Russian people, and particularly Russian Jews, but this is annoying.

I have been contacted by several newspapers and radios, but since my goal is to return to Stavropol and I have been advised to keep quiet so as not to jeopardize my chances, I refused interviews.

But I'm angry.

I don't understand the gag order (I undersand it as it pertains to my returning to Stavropol, but not in the overall picture).

There is a story of (I think) the Mitteler Rebbe (2nd Chabad Rebbe). The Russian authorities called a meeting of all the Rabbis in Russia and then told them that they wanted the Rabbis to tell the world media that everything is great for the Jews in Russia, and that our people are being treated very well. If they don't make such a statement, then pogroms are sure to happen.

While most Rabbis agreed immediately, the Mitteler Rebbe threw a fit. He said no way. There is no proof that otherwise there won't be pogroms anyway, we cannot lie to the world (remember this was at a time when Jews were actually persecuted in Russia. Today B"H everything is fine).

The pogroms never took place, neither did the statement (though the Mitteler Rebbe probably suffered from it).

I think this may be similar. There is gross injustice here. Shouldn't we be publicizing it? won't the pressure probably accomplish more than trying to work silently without ever getting anything solid proving that we can return and all will be good.

I understand why I shouldn't be going to the press, but I just needed to vent.

Excuse me.

When Malach Michoel isn't doing his job...

I was in Crown Heights over Shabbos.

It was lots of fun, and there were three highlights.

1 - I found a copy of the Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon in English, and bought it for 15 dollars. It's a book I've been looking for.

2 - I met some old Ottawa boys that I haven't seen in around 8 years such as Nissen Lewis, Gav Cohen and Avi Mogilevsky.

3 - The best highlight - my brother-in-laws ufruf (calling to the Torah the Shabbos before his wedding, followed by a kiddush and farbrengen of epic proportions).

I davened in the Rebbe's room, which meant that I was able to concentrate and didn't bump into all my friends downstairs which would have kept me from getting any praying done.

Anyway, at the kiddush, Mr. Russ (Dovid's father) stood up and shushed everyone, and then put me on the spot by telling me to give over my story from Russia.

I looked around the room. It was packed. At least 50 people inside, many of them respected, elderly Chassidim who have probably been to Siberia.

But I had no choice, so I told them all what happened.

To my surprise, when I finished, everyone lifted their plastic cups of scotch (or vodka), and made Lechaim's that I should very quikly return to Stavropol.

There is a Chassidic saying that a farbrengen can accomplish more than Malach Michoel (the angel Michael).

I hope this is one of those cases.

I have seen that saying at work. Only once, though.

It was back when I was in Yeshiva in Montreal. One of the teachers was farbrenging with the boys, and he started crying and told us all that he had been married for over 10 years, yet still had no children.

A very good friend of mine jumped up on the table and made a big Lechaim, then got everyone else to join him in toasting the Rabbi that he should have children.

That summer he had a son. And I think now he has 3 kids.

Now we'll see what 50 Lechaims do for a young Rabbi who just wants to continue his work...

Backlash? perhaps...

Zvi writing.

Yesterday morning I got a panicky email from our secretary informing me that our appeal trial was moved to March 24th (from March 31st).

This is a disaster, since I had to prepare and send an ORIGINAL apostilled document authorizing a lawyer in Stavrpol to represent me in court. I had gone to a notary who speaks Russian on my first day back, and was still waiting for the document to be ready from the apostille office.

Well, to make a long story short, as soon as the document was ready, I picked it up (150 dollars for notary and apostille work). Then we had to figure out a way to get it to Stavropol before Tuesday.

So we called DHL, FedEX, UPS, and USPS. While DHL said it could be there on the 25th (as did FedEX), UPS and USPS said (over the phone) that it could be there in 2 days (UPS) or 1-3 days (USPS).

I zipped over to the UPS store, where after a long discussion and more phone calls, discovered that 2 days is a general idea to get you into the store. The quickest the package can get to Stavropol is by Wednesday.

So I went to USPS, where after going through the same Spiel, discovered that it would take them 11, yes ELEVEN days to get a letter from Morristown to Stavropol. Ridiculous, huh?

I raced home to brainstorm what to do. By now it was 6:00. Rabbi Lazar had suggested that I call Mrs. Zalmanov in New York (who runs Or Avner there), and find out if she knows anyone leaving to Moscow, but she told me that the earliest anyone is travelng would be on Monday.

This gave me an idea. To go to JFK and get the documents on the plane, then have someone pick them up in Moscow. Seemed like a good plan, except I don't know how to get to JFK, and by the time I got near the airport, it was already 8:30.

I was back in Morristown at 10.

Anyone else have any ideas?

More news...

http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/18466/

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/604684

And this is interesting. Gives you an idea of what the Russians think about it (fun read):
http://engforum.pravda.ru/showthread.php?p=2766635

FAQ

Another Shliach posted his FAQ on his website, and I thought it was a great idea. So here are our Frequenly Asked Questions (thanks for the idea, Chaim).

Why did you move to Russia?

I (Zvi) have been to Ukraine/Russia several times for camp and Pesach, and identified very much with the Russian Jews. I feel that I have the talents and abilities to be the Rabbi a community, particularly in a place where I would have to literally revive Judaism, and this was available in Russia. As a Lubavitcher Chossid, my Rebbe had a special place in his heart for Russian Jews, and so do I.

But why Stavropol?

When we decided to move to Russia, we met with Rabbi Lazar. e asked us where we wanted to go, and we told him that we wanted to spiritually lead a community. He offered us 3 cities which we then visited, and finally chose Stavropol because while the other cities had dwindling populations and no youth, Stavropol had an operating Sunday school with over 20 children.

How do you get kosher food?

We are lucky to be one of the cities in Russia that has a 'Metro' store, where we can buy many kosher products. Milk and meat is brought in from Moscow, and whenever we travel out of the country, we try and stock up on cheese, nosh and meat so that we can constantly have full freezer in our apartment.

Is there lots of anti-Semitism in Stavropol?

I haven't felt it. Whenever I walk in the streets, I always get the stares, but mostly they are curious ones. In the year that I've been there, I've received probably around 10 anti-Semitic comments in total, and had one creepy story where a guy followed me home that you can read waaay back in my blog.

Do you wear your hat and jacket when you walk in the street, or a baseball cap?

Hat and jacket. If it's a very hot day, then my hat is off, but my yarmulkah remains. The reason for this is because people will anyway know I am Jewish. I am proud of it. Also, that is how I have met many members of my community, and I know that when Jews see a Rabbi, even if they are afraid to admit they are Jewish, it gives them a surge of pride.

Where is Stavropol, and how far is Stavropol from Moscow?

Stavropol is in the South of Russia, near the Kavkaz (Caucasus) mountains. It's quite a distance from Moscow. A two-and-a-half hour flight, and a day's drive from Moscow.

Are there any other Shluchim nearby, and are you in contact with them?

Yes, Rabbi Shneor Segal in Krasnodar has been a huge help and a great friend. He is a five hour drive. Chaim Danzinger just moved to Rostov which is a similar distance, and it's nice to have a friend from Canada nearby. There is also a Rabbi who is a mountain Jew but not Chabad in Pyatigorsk, two-and-a-half hours from Stavropol. We have met and he is a very nice man and a good Rabbi, and another Shliach in Nalchik, 5 hours South-east.I haven't had the opportunity to visit him yet.

How can you take your children so far from America? How can you eprive them of the good life?

Growing up on shlichus might be a better life than growing up in America. Miriam has some really good friends in Stavropol, and she will be a part of our shlichus - doing something more important than just going to school each day.

How do you deal with the fact that many Jews n Russia are intermarried?

It's part of life. Since we follow Jewish law, we obviously prioritize Halachic Jews (and if your mother is a Jew, you are too), since a Rabbi cannot marry a Jew to a non-Jew, and we don't want non-Jews growing up thinking they are Jews. However, we are also out thee for humanitarian reasons, and have for example raised money for a child with leukemia who was not a Halachic Jew. In general we invite anyone who has a Jew in their family over, but I have also made friends with several non-Jews, including two Christian priests.

Do you have running water?

Yes, we do. But some areas of Stavropol don't, and one of the saddest things I have seen was a lineup at a pipe in the middle of the winter. The pipe is in the street, and that is where residents get their water. About 10 people were waiting, each with a small bucket. It was freezing outside, and there was an old woman in the line.

How do you travel to Stavropol?

Stavropol has an airport, but it only travels once a day to Moscow, and not even to Moscow's international airport. When I need to go to Moscow, I use Stavropol's airport. Otherwise I will fly from Mineralni Voda (a city two and a half hours from Stavropol) or Krasnodar.

what is the hardest thing about your shlichus?

The visa issues. If only we were settled.

Where do you shop for clothes?

In America. Whenever we visit the US, we bring 5 suitcases minimum with us, and only 2 are packed. Then we return with all the stuff we can only get in America.

Are there any frum families in Stavropol besides for you guys?

Not yet ;).

How many Jews live in Stavropol?

Several thousand.

How cute

The woman who runs the Sunday school in Stavropol just sent me a message telling me how she decided that each week until we return all the children will be giving Tzedaka for us. She then asked if there is anything else spiritual she (and the community) can do.

What's so amazing about this is that we never even suggested the idea of Tzedaka. It's strange how we suddenly see our work coming to fruition.

What should we do?

Old picture from our Sefer Torah event in Stavropol. And now in Hebrew http://col.org.il/show_news.rtx?artID=45686 The comments there are informative.

The reason I started updating this blog regularly was that so many people - family, friends, sponsors told me how interesting it would be to read about the trials and tribulations of a new couple going out on shlichus to Russia. Particularly an American (Canadian) couple heading to one of the more rural cities out there.

Now thanks to our dramatic deportation story, it has become very popular, enough to be quoted by the LA Times, and I'm afraid that I will be misquoted by further papers. (The Times took a joke about being in a future book by Mordechai Staiman out of context).

My goal is to return to my community, not to make a point or upset the Russian authorities. My question is now whether or not to make the blog private (which I have done temporarily, while I await a similar answer from rabbi Lazar).

Reasons to keep it open:

- Reach out to more people who can get inspired and read about a tough (yet always interesting) shlichus

- Friends and supporters don't have to sign in every time they want to read my blog, and friends that I forgot to invite will have easy access

- Ultimately I have nothing to hide. Closing the blog seems like I'm afraid to let the world know what's going on, particularly now that anyone who wants to read it (for good or for bad) can easily find out about it

- It's probably not too difficult to hack into my blog. I assume any newspaper and certainly the Russian authorities have easy ways to get in and read what they want

Reasons to close it:

- Avoid being misquoted by newspapers, which will keep the story (hopefully) low-profile so Rabbi Lazar can continue to do his work to get us back to our cities

- Who knows who reads it now anyway? it's not exactly so wise in todays world to be so public

- Anyway I originally made the blog for friends and supporters

I'd like to hear what you think. Please comment.

Different angle

http://www.russiaprofile.org/page.php?pageid=Politics&articleid=a1237400324

It's funny how nobody mentions that I wasn't even kicked out for a visa issue (though that could have been the excuse). Rather, I was officially chucked from Russia for not being registered in my current apartment. Even the LA Times got that one wrong.

We may have to privatize this blog

Now that this blog has become world-famous thanks to this article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-russia-rabbis18-2009mar18,0,7212585.story (and she wrote very well and honest, in my opinion) we either must be careful what we write or make the blog private. Should this blog go private, anyone wishing to read it should please contact me at rabbizvi44@yahoo.com for an invite.

This article http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14753&size=A brings a different angle to the whole situation (and calls us missionaries).

I had a beautiful conversation yesterday with Rabbi Silberstein from Vladivostok. He told me that he had opened an Igros (book of the Lubavitcher Rebe's letters) randomly, and happened to chance upon a letter written in Russian (extremely rare). On the other side of the page, the Rebbe spoke about the month of Adar and how it s a good time for the Jews, and how if we increase in our prayers and learning, any courtcases we have will go our way.

Then he told me that he learnt a Maamar of the Rebbe before Purim, and was again shocked by the clarity of what he read and how it applies to us. The Rebbe wote that in the time of Purim the Jews were more connected to the authorities than at any time in our history. Mordechai was an advisor, the QUEEN was Jewish, and yet they weren't the main reason the Jews survived in Shushan and around the world. The proof is that Haman's decree to kill all the Jews was in effect, and about to take place.

So how did the Jews mange to come out of the story unharmed, and even more strong than they were before? the Rebbe explans that it was because of their prayers and learning. When the Jews decided to do Teshuva and pray and learn, everything worked out. And Mordechai and Esther were just the Keilim (vessels) that were in place t make it possible.

I was (am) inspired. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but in general the Silbersteins have been a inspiration. When I heard that Yisroel had gone to Russia on shlichus, I decided that if he can go, then I can go. He was the one I spoke to before we left. He further inspired me when after officially losing their appeal, they had to leave Russia. Probably permanently, we all thought. When I asked him (this was before anything happened to us) if he is packing up his apartment before he leaves and taking as many things with him as possible, he said nope. He is leaving to America with 5 suitcases, and 3 of them will be empty, so that he can return home to Vladivostok with suitcases of books, food and other articles that are impossible to get in Russia.

Inspiring.

We took on a resolution to learn together over the phone once a week, and I took on a personal one to concentrate harder when I pray, and to Daven Shacharis in the mornings (I have been lagging to 2:00) after Mikva, and finally to set up a Chavrusah for about an hour with someone in Tiferes. If anyone wants to learn beChavrusah with me, let me know.

Zvi (writing under Chayale's acount)

We want people to sell tickets

For every ticket you sell, you will receive five bucks cash. If anyone is interested, email me at rabbizvi44@yahoo.com or write in the comments.

Win an Apple Mac Laptop and support us

We have many expenses to pay... for starters our flights and our lawyer, and then we still have to raise money so the community in Stavropol can have a Pesach Seder.

Therefore we have started a Russian Raffle.

The grand prize is a Apple Mac Laptop. Second prize is the KGB Book of Poems, and third prize is a Collector's item! One (1) Russian Kopek.

Stop salivating, and start donating! 100% of the proceeds supports us!

The price is 54 dollars a ticket!

Drawing date: TBA, but probably Chol Hamoed Pesach.

When buying online, please send us your contact information. (Or fill in your info at stavjews.info)

Number of tickets

1 ticket $54.002 tickets $108.003 tickets $150.00a million tickets $10,000.00

Vacation in Lake George

I just received an email from a reporter in the LA Times. She found me through the chabad.org website, and wants to interview me. I told her that until I get the go-ahead from Rabbi Lazar, I won't be dong any interviews.

We just got back from Lake George, where we took a Shabbos off away from the hustle and bustle of the Greenberg house and spent it with our friends Yisroel and Sara Bernath, who are shluchim to NDG in Montreal.

It was also an opportunity to spend some time with our friends, and get our ever-disturbing thoughts away from our hopes, fears and plans of returning to Stavropol.

We had a cottage to ourselves... wait, let me rephrase. We had the entire CITY to ourselves. It's one of those resort towns that is basically just open in the summer.

We had a quiet Shabbos, with walks along the beautiful lake, and then Motzei Shabbos we found some tickets for free bowling, so we took the kids to bowl. Miriam got a strike!

Sunday we drove around looking for something to do, but everything was closed. So we returned to the cottage and chatted for a while.

I feel a little rejuvenated.

And now its all over the news

Above is the official stamp in my passport that I only saw when I was arriving in America.

We've hit vosiznaies, the Yeshiva world, and the Rabbinical Council of Europe has issued a statement as well about us. shturem.net is the only website so far to have managed to post a picture of us.

Yesterday I was in Crown Heights, and bumped into many friends on the street. The story is out, and everyone stopped me to chat. They all wanted to know what I plan on doing.

"Going back." Is my response. I have a community there who needs me, and I was finally starting to really see the results of my work. We don't just have congregants in Stavropol, we have friends. True, family friends. I won't post the many letters we have received from people in the community, but we ACHE to return.

When the Silberstein's were officially told that they had lost the appeal and had to leave Russia for 5 years, Chayale called Alizah. She asked Alizah what they were planning to do. Alizah simply answered, "we are taking 5 suitcases which will be empty besides for our clothes. We need to fill them up with kosher food and Jewish books for when we return."

We feel the same way. We must go back to Stavropol, and while thoughts have gone through our heads of what to do should this decision be final, we push them away, since we know that we will do whatever it takes to return home.

On a side note, I had my Tefillin checked. For all you Kabbalists out there, my Rashi Shel Yad needs new straps, and the Rashi Shel Rosh needs the Batim tightened. Also, my Rabbeinu Tams needed work on the crowns (on the words).

What this means? I do not know. Perhaps someone can write their thoughts in the comments...

189 signatures so far

In the previous post, I translated the letter sent to the authorities. For every bad in the world, there is double good. Here is a beautiful petition put together by people in the community, and signed by 189 people (so far).

Free translation:

Dear Rabbi lazar,

The Jewish public (community) of Stavropol addresses you. We are the ones most punished by the decision to deport Rabbi Zvi Hershcovich from Russia!

Since the Rabbi arrived to ur city, we have become closer to our traditions, and our children began to receive professional lessons in Jewish history. Rabbi Zvi in a short time has become a major part of the young familis and has opened their eyes to Jewish life, and Rebbetzin Chaya has taught us about the Jewish kitchen, and the role of the Jewish woman.

Zvi and Chaya are given over to the Sunday Jewish school with selflessness, and they have brought new innovative approaches too. We only have gratitude for their leading such events like Bar Mitzvahs, Bas Mitzvahs, Opshernishes, and the reading of Kaddish, all things which did not exist in Stavropol prior to their arrival.

Unfortunatly for some reason, all this activity didn't suit the president of the community's desires.

He tried to work it out together with the president of the community repeatedly, but the level of hatred from the president increased each day, and he spent every moment trying to propagate the uselessness of a Rabbi in a city, and blackening his work and personal life.

All of this divided the community into pro- and contra- Rabbi groups. Letters were written to anyne who could cause the Rabbi to leave the city. A result of that is his current deportation.

Of course, we understand tht the Rabbi and the migration authorities must work together, and they have found some legal problems on his documents.

Dear Rabbi Lazar!

The Jews of Stavropol strongly demand that you keep Rabbi Zvi in Stavropol and help him increase his work! And if there is no possibility of him returning with his family, then please send another Rabbi!

We and our children need Judaism! We have the full right to learn about our Jewish laws! We ask you to leave the fund 'Or Avner' in Stavropol, so work can continue! There are people who can continue to try and teach the next generation of Jewish life. Please don't disregad the shout of the Jewish souls.




The letter is then signed by 189 people.

Well, it's a nice letter, and hopefully we can return.

By the way, we hit the news here: http://www.crownheights.info/index.php?itemid=16453 and here: http://collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=2583

Both times mispelled.

Its in the news

http://lubavitch.com/news/article/2025734/Russia-s-President-Medvedev-Government-Should-Not-Interfere-With-Religious-Life.html from Lubavitch.com and they naturally spelled my name wrong...

http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=5794 Interfax religion got it right, at least.

At the end of last week, I got an email from an ex-Stavropolian living in Israel. He passed along the original letter sent to the authorities (and I have no idea how he got it).

The letter is from someone on the board (although I'm pretty sure most of the board doesn't know about it) to Shnyukov, the head of religion in Stavropol region.

Here is a free translation:

Dear Vasili Vladimirovich,

The Stavropol religious community "Shalom" asks for your assistance in deporting Zvi Hershcovich from Stavropol territory. He arrived as Rabbi to the city contrary to what the voted community leaders wanted, and the invitation for a Rabbi to join a community should come from the community itself.

In spite of the fact that "Shalom" was vigorously against having a Rabbi in our city, and has written many times to the Federation in Moscow, and in spite of the fact that no official invitation came from the community in Stavropol, Zvi Hershcovich still arrived and is currently in our city.

Zvi does not have visas with the sanction to conduct religious activity in our country. He is a representative of an ultra-orthodox branch of Judaism. After he arrived in Stavropol, he immediately brought about a split in the community.

He has said that he is against assimilation of Jews, against mixed marriages, and that we mujst keep the Jewish nation "clean", and only people whose mothers are Jewish (Halachic Jews) can be accepted as part of the community. Others have no right to call themselves Jews. He divided the community into two classes. For us, who have been brought up in the USSR and Russia and who know that all people have equal rights, and it isn't dependant on national identity and religious beliefs.

Zvi Hershcovich also believes in a revival of fascism and nationalism. As of now, most of the community are Jws from mixed marriages, and now we all feel different.

The Rabbi wants to organize a religious school for children in the community, but only for 'thoroughbred Jews', and only his orthodox Judaism. This in turn would mean that a new generation of nationalists would be raised.

Before Zvi hershcovich arrived when we gathered for traditional Jewish holidays we had 200-300 participants, including people from other cities. Now the number has dropped to 20-50 people.

Before he arrived the community received funding from the Federation in Moscow. All money was accounted for, and the expenditure was upon the advice of the community. Now the president of the community must write up a list of what and how he will spend the money and send it to Moscow. Moscow will then give the money to the Rabbi who spends it at his own discretion.

The community doesn't take a cut of the money, and is unable to control the incoming amount. Thus, all money obtained is unaccounted for, and the Rabbi spends it satisfying his personal interests and ignoring the needs of the community, ignoring demands of accountability from the president of the community. There are financial irregularities, which has created an opportunity for the Rabbi to do financial fraud.

Based on all the above, I ask you to deal with the legality of the Canadian in Russian territory, and to take all necessary measures for expulsion from the city of Stavropol.

Sincerely,

Representative of the Russian Jewish Congress in Stavropol,
Oleg Pushkantser




Wow. Just wow.

Long time no post

Miriam back in America, acting nuts.

It's been a while, and the main reason I haven't updated the blog is because I wasn't officially authorized to do so (to write the more recent news).

However, over Purim many people came over to Chayale and myself an asked about our blog. They also knoew the whole story (or the basic gist of where we are now), so being that we are not massive media, I see no harm in giving an update. Hopefully this news never has to go to the public.

My last post (about the Stavropol situation) was written in Stavropol. We were all upbeat and relieved to not be thrown out of Russia for 5 years as Rabbi Silberstein from Vladivostok was.

That is, until we arrived in America.

Landing in JFK, we had to fill out our declaration cards. I pulled out my passport in order to put in the information and opened it to a page with a large stamp.

"That's odd," I thought, "I've never seen that before."

I looked closer, and the stamp read 'no entrance to Russia'. Period.

This got me worried, and I also found it odd that I wasn't told about it. It seemed odd because:

- The judge had ruled that we can return.
- I hadn't seen the authorities stamp my passport. They must have done this over Shabbos, when I was at home.

I assumed it was a mistake, or perhaps I hadn't translated it correctly, and so I emailed my secretary who confirmed that it meant I was kicked out of my shlichus.

She also added that:

- Or Avner's request to send me an invitation (standard procedure for getting a new visa) was cancelled. Igr Lerner was told that 'there was no way they were giving the Rabbi an invitation.'
- Someone who works in the immigration authorities had told someone in the community that we were to be kicked out for 5 years.

I immediately called Rabbi Lazar, who got the machinery going. Soon calls were pouring in from Moscow and New York, and I emailed all my documents to everyone who needed them.

I also received a copy of the WRITTEN judgement (forgot to mention that I didn't wait around for it on shabbos since I anyway wouldn't be able to carry it home. Instead I rushed home to the 25 guests). On this decision was written that I must pay a 2000 ruble fine, and 'as for whether he can stay in Russia, that is up to the authorities.'

Odd. I thought judges are supposed to stick to their rulings...

I sent that to rabbi Lazar too.

Letters poured in from my community. Some of them were beautiful. Lots of people asked what to do, how can they help. I explained that everything physical comes from spiritual as well, and they must take up extra Mitzvos. Some of them did so, and hopefully in their merit we will soon return.

They also started a petition, and should be able to get over 200 signatures, please G-d.

Now it's limbo time. We wait and wait for decisions to take place. I am appealing the courts decision, and hopefully they will make a clear judgement allowing us to stay PERMANENTLY and continue doing the good work we are doing there.

We are worried

Pictured: Sonya Terenteva lighting candles with the Shabbos candlesticks my class made in Sunday school.

The shluchim in Vladivostok were kicked out of Russia for 5 years. They had spent the last 3 years moving in and trying to secure permanent residency, and in one moment of wackiness, it's over.

Now we are all worried. The threat lies on most of the Shluchim out there, and our options are very limited. I won't write details here, but it looks like there's no solution. No matter what visa we are on, if they have concise proof that you're working there as the community Rabbi, you are in bad shape.

As Rabbi lazar said, we can only do our work and say Tehillim. Everything ultimately is in the hands of G-d.

I wish there was a solution.

Benny has left

My father drove in from Montreal with Shmuel Spicer to pick us up. They thought we were coming in at 6:00 AM, and were hoping to get a chance for us to meet Benny and Sonya (my brother and sister-in-law) before they leave on shlichus to Los Cabos, Mexico.

Unfortunately, we landed at 6:30 Pee Em. So we missed Benny by a couple of hours. I hope he had a safe landing. Please send him some donations. He has lots of money to raise for his community. You can donate on his blog: running84.blogspot.com

New Laptops

In Moscow our stopover was for about 4 hours, so I took a taxi to meet Peter Order and Gary Levinovsky (I think I got the last name correctly), two old Carmelis who have donated 3 laptops for us to use at work. They did an amazing job, and I cannot thank them enough. I am currently at my in-laws, writing from one of my laptops.

I also put Tefillin on both of them, and we chatted for a bit over tea.

Now I have to install the Russian Chabad Management System onto my computer. I can finally start some serious work.

Great quote from Chayale who heard it at the Kinus: "After 120 years Hashem won't ask you why you didn't say Chitas. Instead he'll ask why your children don't say Chitas."

Surreal story

Thank G-d our 27 hour trip is over.

We also had a scare, at 5:00 in the morning, on the road to Krasnodar.

We were driving down the one-lane, non-lit highway in a minivan taxi. We had gotten a decent price for the trip, and for some odd reason we were awake, chatting with him.

You have to imagine the picture of what it was like, because it was terrifying. No other cars on the road, farmland all around us. Pitch black and heavily fogged. We can only see a few feet in front of us by the headlights of the car. Light snow was falling, and the windshield wipers were on high, swishing back and forth and back and forth. The driver is doing 100 km an hour on this bumpy, lonesome road.

Then from out of nowhere, as if in a nightmare, we see the figure of a man directly in front of the car, in the middle of the highway. We couldn't have seen him earlier since it was so foggy, but there he was, the outline of a figure, and we were racing toward him. My heart jumped out of my body.

The driver slammed on the brakes and veered hard to the right, but we heard a loud SMACK, and then it was quiet.

Immediately the driver stopped the car and ran out to look. I was sure the guy we hit was dead, and terrified as there was no one else around, and no civilization either for another 10 minute drive.

The driver came back from studying the front of the van, and said it wasn't damaged. However, his side mirror was gone, obviously smashed to pieces.

Then he backed up to find the person. When we got close he stopped and left the car. Chayale told me to lock the doors, which I did. I also looked out my side mirror to see the driver shouting at someone (it was very foggy, so I couldn't see clearly). The driver finally came in, furious (it was an imported car, and would cost him over 300 bucks to get a new mirror).

We backed up, and collected the shattered pieces of the mirror (there weren't many). As we drove off, I saw the guy we hit on the side of the road, walking forward as though nothing happened, holding a large bottle of Vodka in his hand.

He was wearing army fatigues.