Privacy policy

This privacy policy explains how Individual entrepreneur Shepitko Mariia Mikhailovna (the Operator, “we”) handles the personal data of visitors to batmeleh.com: what we receive, what it is for, how long we keep it and who can see it.

The policy covers every page of the site, including the English version in the /en/ section, and every feedback form. It does not cover third-party websites linked to from articles or forum posts — they have their own rules.

What you tell us yourself

• At registration: first name and surname, date of birth, country and city, email address, password (we store an irreversible hash, not the password itself — even we cannot recover it), and optionally a profile picture, a pen name and profile visibility settings.
• When you write to the rabbi: name, email, the text of the question, the answer channel you chose and — if that is Telegram — your username there.
• When you book a meeting: name, telephone, email, preferred date and the subject you want to discuss.
• On the forum and in comments: everything you write in a post, including attachments.

What the site picks up by itself

• IP address, browser and device type, interface language;
• date and time of visits, addresses of the pages opened, the referring page;
• a session identifier in a cookie — without it you cannot stay signed in as you move between pages.

We do not collect data on ethnicity, health, religious beliefs or other special categories, we never ask for passport details and we run no biometric identification. If such details end up in the text of your question, we use them only to answer you.

• so that you can sign in to your account and stay signed in;
• so that the rabbi receives your question and the answer reaches you the way you chose;
• so that forum posts are signed with the name you picked;
• so that we can book you for a meeting or a class and remind you about it;
• so that we can reply to your enquiry; newsletters go only to those who ticked “Subscribe to the newsletter”, and unsubscribing takes one click;
• so that we can tell people from the automated scripts that would otherwise flood the forms with spam;
• so that we can investigate a fault when something breaks.

We do not sell data, do not pass it to advertisers and do not build advertising profiles. The site carries no traffic counters, no advertising pixels and no third-party analytics.

Only what you send for publication is public:

• your name or pen name and your picture — next to your forum posts and comments;
• the text of your posts and comments;
• a question to the rabbi — only if you ticked “I allow my question to be published”. Without that tick the question is seen by the rabbi and the site administrators, and by nobody else.

Your date of birth, city, email and telephone are never shown to other visitors. Your profile also has switches that hide your full name, your date of birth and your location.

Site administrators and the rabbi can see the content of enquiries — there is no way to answer them otherwise. The circle of such people is small and each of them is bound by confidentiality.

• The hosting provider (JSC IOT, Moscow, Skolkovo Innovation Centre (Russia)) — the site and its database physically run on its equipment in Russia;
• the email provider — to deliver a letter it receives the recipient’s address and the text;
• Telegram — only your username and the text of the answer, and only if you chose that channel;
• state authorities — on a request made in accordance with the law.

Nobody else. Databases holding the personal data of Russian citizens are located in Russia, as part 5 of article 18 of Federal Law No. 152-FZ requires. Data does not leave the country — except for the Telegram case described above, which you choose yourself.

The site uses a small number of its own cookies: they hold your sign-in session and remember that you have already dismissed the cookie notice. There are no third-party or advertising cookies.

The full list with names, lifetimes and purposes is in the cookie policy.

• account data — for as long as the account exists;
• questions to the rabbi and the answers — three years from the date of the answer, so that you can go back to an earlier conversation;
• meeting requests — one year;
• forum posts and comments — indefinitely, until you ask us to delete them;
• technical access logs — twelve months;
• the record of your consent — for as long as the consent is valid and three years after it is withdrawn: that record is our proof that consent existed.

Once the period is over the data is destroyed or depersonalised.

• the site works over HTTPS only;
• passwords are stored as irreversible hashes;
• access to the administrative area is granted through separate accounts with limited rights, and administrators’ actions are logged;
• forms are protected against automated submissions;
• database backups are made regularly and stored securely.

No website can promise absolute protection. Should a breach occur, we will notify Roskomnadzor within the deadlines set by part 3.1 of article 21 of 152-FZ and tell the people affected.

• to be told exactly what data we hold about you and where it came from;
• to have inaccurate or outdated details corrected — some of them you can fix yourself in your profile;
• to have your account and its data deleted;
• to withdraw your consent to the processing of your data;
• to unsubscribe from the newsletter;
• to complain to Roskomnadzor or to a court if you believe we have breached your rights.

Write to batmelekh@yandex.com or to 117545, Russia, Moscow, Podolskikh Kursantov street 6, building 3, flat 83. We answer within thirty days; requests about the processing itself are answered within ten working days, as article 20 of 152-FZ requires.

The site is meant for adults. We do not register users under eighteen without the consent of a legal representative and we do not deliberately collect data about children. If it turns out that an account was created by a child without such consent, we will delete it and all related data — write to us at batmelekh@yandex.com.

We may change this policy — for instance if a new service appears or the law changes. The current version always lives at batmeleh.com/en/legal/privacy/ and the date is shown at the top of the page. This version was approved on 5 September 2026.

We will flag significant changes with a notice on the site. By continuing to use the site after a new version is published you accept it.

This is a translation of the Russian original. In case of any discrepancy the Russian text prevails.