For the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Russian Jewish soldiers serving in Russia's armed forces, police and security services will receive spiritual guidance and ritual assistance from a chief rabbinical chaplain.

Rabbi Ahron Gurevich received the appointment at the recommendation of chief rabbi of Chabad-Lubavitch in Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, after Rabbi Lazar received permission from the Russian government to establish the post. Gurevich has received the rank of colonel and will be given free access to Russia's military bases. He says there are approximately 40,000 Jews serving in Russia's security forces.

Rabbi Gurevich was born into a secular home in Russia, and decided to become more religious after being exposed to Jewish literature and the Refusenik movement, and receiving information that family members made aliyah to Israel prior to World War II.