Ha'aretz reports:

The Moscow district prosecutor has ordered an examination into the Shulhan Arukh -- a code of Jewish halakhic law compiled in the 16th century -- to ascertain whether it constitutes racist incitement and anti-Russian material.

The prosecutor ordered the probe against a Jewish umbrella organization in Russia for distributing a Russian translation of an abbreviation of the Shulhan Arukh. . . .

The inquiry was launched following a letter signed by 500 public figures, including some 20 members of the nationalist Rodina party, urging the district prosecutor to outlaw the Jewish religion and all the Jewish organizations operating in Russia. . . .