Yekaterinburg – the public prosecutor of the city of Yekaterinburg had ordered
the inspection of religion textbooks studied at the Jewish school in the city,
suspecting that, he said, they present content with “extreme nature”.
Politsovet News had reported that
the Jewish school “Or Avner” in the city was required to provide
Jewish religion textbooks, including history books, Hebrew, Bibles and Books of
Moses (Chumash), prayer books, Talmud and Mishnah, for examination of the
educational and justice authorities of Yekaterinburg .
The public prosecutor commented that this is a cultural and
linguistic examination of texts in the Jewish holy books, to determine whether
they contain texts which are classified as “extreme”. Russian law
does not define exactly what an “extreme” text is and it is subject to
interpretation of each judicial authority.
If it will be determines that the texts are indeed
“extreme”, there is a concern that these books would be banned.
Jewish community leaders in Russia
said in response that this is “a blatant violation of religious freedom”
that prevails in the country for over thirty years. “Or Avner” School
belong to Chabad institutions which are responsible for most Jewish schools in
the country. It should be noted that students are currently
in summer vacation and do no learn at the school.
