Alexei Navalny, who is imprisoned in a penal colony, invited to prison a five-volume book with Rashi's commentary

April 14, 2021   

Alexei Navalny, the leader of the opposition in Russia imprisoned in penal colony number two in the city of Pokrov in the Vladimir region, decided to study the Torah with Rashi. According to a report in Israel Hayom, in a post he published on his Instagram account, he said that he had repeatedly requested a copy of the Quran, but was refused because of the "need to check whether the book is not inciting" - and that the check takes three months. In a letter to the prison commander, Navalny wrote: "I don't understand, what does it mean to check whether the Quran is inciting? What does it even look like? Is some lieutenant Nechiporenko sitting in the penal colony in the city and looking for incitement in the holy book for a billion and a half people? And if he finds one, will he ban the Quran?" Navalny ended his post with a smile: "And they still don't know that I also ordered a Torah with Rashi's commentary." Navalny was poisoned last August by Russian Shin Bet agents with the Novichok nerve agent. He was in a coma, was treated in Germany, and returned to Russia in January. Upon his return, he was arrested and sent to prison.