Israeli immigrant soldier is buried in southern Russia

MOSCOW, Feb. 11 (JTA) — Thousands of miles from the southern Lebanon zone where he was killed, an immigrant Israeli soldier was laid to rest this week. The 150 mourners at the funeral in the southern Russia city of Krasnodar filed silently behind the Israeli flag-draped casket that contained the body of Sgt. Nikolai Rappaport, who was killed by Hezbollah gunmen on Saturday. Rappaport’s body was flown to Russia on Monday at the request of his family. Nikolai, 23, lived in Krasnodar until he and his father, Ilya, immigrated to Israel two years ago. His sister moved to the Jewish state two months ago. Nikolai was drafted into the Israeli army last year and volunteered to serve in southern Lebanon. Ilya Rappaport and his 22-year-old daughter, Olga, said upon arriving in Krasnodar for the burial that they did not know whether they would go back to Israel. They said they would leave the decision in the hands of Nikolai’s mother, who is not Jewish and still lives in Krasnodar. In Israel, a scandal erupted after Israeli President Ezer Weizman paid a condolence call this week to Rappaport’s family in Tel Aviv and saw the squalor in which they lived. The family lived in a small, windowless shack and the father was unable to find employment. The Jews of Krasnodar were shocked by the death of Rappaport, one Jewish activist said in an interview from the city, which is located about 750 miles south of Moscow. “This is a tragedy for us as well,” said Yuri Teitelbaum, who heads the Krasnodar regional branch of the Russian Jewish Congress. Teitelbaum said local Russian authorities refused to help conduct a memorial ceremony for Rappaport in a city cemetery. City officials also refused to provide police to ensure public order at the ceremony. The Rappaports lived in the former Soviet republic of Georgia until 1992. Like thousands of others, the Rappaports fled to Russia following the civil war that erupted after the Georgian region of Abkhazia declared its independence. Many refugees from Abkhazia, like the Rappaports, have been unable to find work in Russia. Each year, about 200 Jews leave Krasnodar for Israel. Some 2,000 Jews live in the city of 600,000. Teitelbaum’s own son — who emigrated to Israel a year ago — is slated to join the Israeli army in two weeks. “We, like all parents whose kids are in Israel, will be on pins and needles waiting for letters from him,” said Teitelbaum.