The family of a 20-year-old Breslov chossid waited for their son to return to Ben-Gurion International Airport for a number of hours on Wednesday, finally realizing he was not arriving. A number of askanim affiliated with the Breslov community told the parents their son was arrested in Kiev on suspicion of traveling on a forged passport. A Chareidim report states the detained chossid received a questionnaire from Israeli diplomatic officials, requesting that he identify himself, and he wrote “I want tefillin” on it.
The chossid, who was in Uman for Yom Kippur, was arrested by local authorities on Tuesday as he was making his way back home to Eretz Yisrael. According to friends of the family, it appears he was indeed traveling on a forged passport, and authorities are holding him, apparently planning to press criminal charges.
It appears the passport presented to authorities was worn and torn, prompting the suspicion of customs inspectors, reporting the traveler insists the condition of the passport was due to its age, nothing more. They apparently did not accept his response, deciding to probe the incident.
For his first 24 hours of detention, he did not receive any food and on Wednesday, somehow, chassidim managed to get him a “small quantity of food” and tefillin. The family in Eretz Yisrael explains they waited for about 30 hours until learning what really happened to their son.
Chareidim adds the detainee refused to cooperate with authorities until he received his tefillin. Askanei Breslov add that the case is by far not simple and if prosecuted, the young man may be facing some serious legal issues.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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8 Responses
My heart goes out to the family, but if indeed he was traveling with a forged passport why in the world was he???!!!!! In Kiev no less!!!
Japan all over again. People must realize what works in Israel & the USA does not work in other countries. PLEASE DO NOT PLAY SHTICK WHEN DEALING WITH GOVERNMENT!!
considering that requiring a legal passport is quite a normal thing and the Ukranians, as weird as they are, have no problem accepting Jews into the country provided they have a passport (and visa for Israelis) it is hard to imagine that R’ Nachman zy”a would have approve of this. True, RH in Uman “there is nothing bigger than this”, but af al pi chen nobody said that perfectly reasonable laws should be broken to get their.
obtaining a validpassport is something anybody who really wants to go to Uman should be able to do w/o having to resort to shenanigans.
why the shtick? why couldn’t he get a legal passport to begin with?
That is what happens when you have a forged document
Don’t worry! I’m sure he said the Tikkun Klali, so Reb Nachman will come schlep him out of prison by his payos!
This remindsme of the old joke,”Aside from everything else Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show?
it is all for the good, even if it doesn’t seem so. It might be hard for us to see the good in this, but it is a great thing for the boy to have spent a lot of time by Rebbe Nachman. Good luck to him in this ordeal, and also may this be a reminder to use a real passport.