This week, Rabbi Aaron Gurevich, the head of FJC Russia’s Department for Cooperating with the Military, the Ministry of Emergency Affairs and Law Enforcement Agencies, visited Corrections Facility 11 in the Nizhny Novgorod region.
Over the past six months, due to prison reforms and the reorganizing of Corrections Facilities, many prisoners have been transferred from one facility to another. The database of Jewish inmates has to be reorganized as well.
For this reason, certain facilities are being personally visited by FJC staff. Rabbi Gurevich’s visit clarified that there are 10 Jews at Corrections Facility 11 in the town of Bor, located in the Nizhniy Novgorod region, not two as was previously believed.
In a meeting between Rabbi Gurevich and the inmates, the group decided that they wished to establish a Jewish community in the Corrections Facility. They are submitting the relevant documents for its official organization and the allocation of space. During his visit, Rabbi Gurevich also had a one-on-one conversation with each of the prisoners.
While in the region, Rabbi Gurevich also spoke with Internal Affairs Colonel I.K. Deryabin and held a meeting with the Head of the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Colonel A. Koshkin, dedicated to discussing mutual cooperation between the FJC and Federal Penitentiary Service structures.
During his visit, the FJC official also met with the Chairman of the Public Council under the State Penitentiary Service of Nizhny Novgorod Region, S.A. Zarya, and its Deputy Chief of Educational Activities, Colonel M.D. Molchanov.
Chief Rabbi of Nizhny Novgorod Shimon Bergman, who was an active participant in organizing and attending the visit, expressed his desire to provide outreach for Jewish inmates. In particular, it was agreed that he and the Jewish community of Nizhny Novgorod would organize a Purim celebration and deliver Passover matzo to the inmates.
There are an estimated 1,200 Jewish inmates in Russian penitentiaries, 400 of whom openly identity as Jews and are in contact with Rabbi Gurevich’s department. Rabbi Furevitch and other Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries are reaching out to these Jews, providing them with guidance and information, as well as literature and humanitarian assistance.