An Israeli resident of the Binyamin Region was detained last week at the airport in the Romanian city of Iași after he was told that he was subject to European Union sanctions. The individual, who was en route to the gravesite of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov in Uman, Ukraine, landed in Romania last Thursday.
Upon his arrival, he was taken to the departures section of the airport, where he was notified that he was forbidden from leaving the terminal and he would have to board a flight back to Israel, which was scheduled to take off during Shabbat. In addition, he was prohibited from receiving food that was brought to him from outside the airport, including special kosher food.
Following an urgent request from the office of MK Amit Halevi, approval was granted to postpone the man’s return from Saturday to Tuesday. In addition, he was permitted to receive a supply of kosher food into the wing where he was staying.
Since no readily available kosher food option was found in the city of Iași, the Stepanst Jewish synagogue in Iași, headed by Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Salmon, and the Chabad House of Chernivtsi, led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Glitzenstein, stepped in to assist. The two arranged deliveries of kosher food as well as grape juice for Kiddush, with the main delivery arriving on Saturday itself via a non-Jewish driver after a journey of about six hours.
On Tuesday, nearly a week after landing in Romania, the resident returned to Israel on a direct flight from Iași Airport.