Breslover Drafted After Uman Trip Receives Aid From Chabad

A Breslov chossid from Beitar Illit who was detained while returning from Uman is expected to be placed as a doctor with a Ukrainian military unit near Kharkiv, as shluchim in Ukraine continue providing him with kosher food and his Yom Tov needs.

Yonatan Karlinsky, 49, was detained around ten days ago at the Ukraine-Romania border after authorities determined that he was subject to Ukrainian military service. Karlinsky, who was born in Ukraine and later moved to Eretz Yisroel, had traveled to Uman for Rosh Hashana.

After his detention, contact with him was initially lost. The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine later learned that he was being held at a military detention facility in the Odessa region and began working to assist him.

Working together with Odessa shliach Rabbi Shneur Vigler and the city’s chief rabbi and head shliach, Rabbi Avraham Wolff, the Federation arranged kosher food for Karlinsky and checked that his rights and religious needs were being met.

The organization has now informed attorney Shlomo Hadad, who is handling the matter on behalf of the family, that Karlinsky is expected to be assigned as a doctor to a military unit in the Kharkiv area. He is not expected to be stationed directly at the front, but at a rear base several dozen kilometers from active fighting.

Federation representatives said they had attempted to secure his release, but the Ukrainian military decided to retain him because of his medical training and the need for medical personnel. They also noted that Karlinsky had previously served in the Ukrainian military before becoming a baal teshuva and moving to Eretz Yisroel.

Throughout his detention, Rabbi Yaakov Sinyakov, who coordinates religious services for Jewish soldiers on behalf of the Federation, has been arranging Karlinsky’s needs. Kosher food was supplied for weekdays and Shabbos, as well as for the seuda hamafsekes before Yom Kippur and after the fast. He was also provided with a machzor, and ahead of Sukkos received a set of arba minim.

The assistance comes as the Federation and shluchim across Ukraine continue working to provide Jewish soldiers with their religious needs. Over the past month, Sinyakov and volunteers distributed more than 1,000 Yom Tov packages to Jewish soldiers stationed at bases and military camps across the country.

Photo: FJCU