Moscow (AsiaNews/F18) Moscow's Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt was denied entry to Russia after he flew in from Israel on September 27. Upon landing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, border guards cancelled his visa without giving any reasons.
Some observers believe that this might due to the rivalry between the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organisations of Russia (KEROOR) and the Kremlin-backed Hassidic Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR). Others suggest that a dispute between the Chief Rabbi and KEROOR might be behind the decision to bar him from entering Russia. Still others argue that his strong criticism of a petition signed by 19 Russian parliamentarians, who called for a ban on all Jewish religious and national organisations in Russia, might explain his troubles at the airport.
So far Russia's Foreign Ministry has made no comment but KEROOR has condemned the expulsion.
Swiss-born Goldschmidt had been living in Moscow with his wife and seven children since 1989. He is now in Israel trying to get a new visa for Yom Kippur, which this year falls on October 13.
Since his arrival, the Chief Rabbi has played a key role in the affairs of Russia' Jewish community and has shown remarkable ecumenical awareness.
On several occasions, he has stressed how the German Pope, Benedict XVI, visited a synagogue (in Cologne) in his first trip abroad, "following in the illustrious footsteps of his predecessor John Paul II [and thus] opened his arms to Jews around the world. "
Convinced that "Jews and Catholics must work together to defend their shared values and common interests," he wrote in September that "[w]e, the Jewish people, are reaching out to the Catholic Church in brotherhood. Let us try to start the third millennia of Jewish-Christian relations with renewed hope and mutual goodwill, and also with mutual respect and dignity."
Rabbi Goldschmidt is the 53rd foreign religious worker to have been denied entry to Russian since March 1998.
Another example is that of Fr Janusz Blaut who was denied a visa in October 2004 after ten years in Russia, thus forcing him to leave his Vladikavkaz parish in Northern Ossetia without a priest.
For Catholic Bishop Clemens Pickel, this is creating problems for the Church. It is in fact difficult to replace an experienced priest who lived in the area for ten years. What is more, Father Blaut is but one of nine Catholic priests who have been denied entry to Russia.
Of the 52 Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Buddhist and Mormon religious workers who were not allowed in after 1998 (not counting Rabbi Goldschmidt), only a handful were eventually permitted to go back to Russia.
All this has not gone unnoticed abroad. On 7 November 2002, a group of Helsinki Commission members and US congressmen wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin expressing their "growing concern over the pattern of denial or cancellation of visas for foreign religious workers of minority faiths." Such ""artificial impediments imposed by [Russian]federal authorities that prevent foreign religious workers from taking up their clerical responsibilities in the Russian Federation ultimately undermine the rights of individuals from these faiths to practice their religion."
But for Russian officials and media these foreign religious workers are part of a foreign "religious expansion" that represents a threat to Russia's "national security".
Soon after his election in January 2000, Russian President Vladimir Putin sounded a warning against the "cultural-religious expansion of neighbouring states into Russian territory", claiming they constituted a threat to national interests and security, and called for a "counteraction to the negative influence of foreign religious organisations and missionaries." (PB)
