Judge Repeals Rabbi’s Deportation

By COLlive reporter

Hours before Yom Kippur began in the southwestern Russian Siberian city of Omsk, Rabbi Osher Krichevsky received the good news that he wasn’t signed in the book of immigration.

Last month, the Chief Rabbi of the city was given a deportation order from the Russian authorities instructing him to leave the country within 15 days.

Krichevsky and his wife Rachel have been active in the local Jewish community for 13 years as Chabad Shluchim and representatives of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.

Leading up to the unexpected order, Krichevsky was fined and warned when “unlicensed” kosher wine was found in a kosher grocery operating under his auspices.

Rabbi Krichevsky went to court to appeal against the deportation order, which had other foreign born rabbis in the country worried about their status. Other rabbis have been denied visa without explanation in the past.

The hearing in court was postponed a few times in the last few weeks, until it was finally scheduled for Friday, on the eve of the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

The good news that the judge has finally overruled the government’s decision was delivered to Rabbi Krichevsky a few short hours before the fast began, when he was going to lead the solemn Kol Nidrei service.

“We are not alone,” Rabbi Krichevsky said last month. “We have the Rebbe who sent us here and there are good people who are dealing with the matter. We have a good reason to be optimistic that everything will turn out well.”

And everything did turn out for the good.