A Russian court ordered on Wednesday the deportation of an American rabbi, ruling that he had misrepresented his purpose of stay on his visa application.
The District Court in Vladivostok ruled that Rabbi Yisroel Silberstein, the Primorye region’s Chief Rabbi, must be deported. The rabbi plans to appeal the ruling, and Russian law gives him ten days to do so.
“We believe the violation was not serious enough to deport him,” said Daniil Yakovlev, a spokesman for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. Yakovlev told The Moscow Times that the rabbi is accused of writing on his visa application that the purpose of his visit was "his cultural ties with the country," which only partially covers his rabbinical functions.
A Federal Migration Service spokesman stated that the rabbi should have written "religious activities" as his intended purpose.
According to Yakovlev, Rabbi Silberstein received his most recent visa 10 weeks ago, which was his third during his 2½ year tenure in Russia. Yakovlev said he was unaware what the rabbi had indicated as his purpose of visit on previous visa applications.
Last November, an anonymous attacker robbed the rabbi in central Vladivostok, hitting him in the head and fleeing with his bag and laptop computer. The rabbi was hospitalized with a concussion to his head. The local police opened an investigation. According to Yakovlev, anti-Semitism did not motivate the attack.
Vladivostok, a major eastern-Russian port city on the Pacific Ocean, was founded in 1860. Most of the population lives off the harbor that connects the city to Russia and serves as an outlet for fishing vessels and whale hunters. In the past, Vladivostok functioned as a naval base during the war. Because of its military importance, the city was closed to visitors for many years, opening only with the perestroika in the late 1980’s.
The Jewish community arrived about 100 years ago. Most of its community members were Jewish soldiers and prisoners exiled for religious crimes. These first residents built a synagogue which functioned as a Jewish center, until the police decided that it wasn’t “utilized” enough, closing it down without deliberation. The synagogue presently houses a chocolate store, and Jewish community leaders are fighting to have it restored to its original holy purpose.