Khmelnytskyi district in Ukraine celebrates the opening of a purification pool after a year and three months of massive construction, under fire and under an endless curfew | The dedication of the mikvah – 100 years after the previous mikvah went out of use District rabbi and Chabad emissary Rabbi Yosef Teitelbaum: “There was a fear of anarchy on the roads, robbery and impersonating police officers”
A holiday in Khmelnytskyi district in Ukraine: a mikveh was inaugurated in the last few days – after 100 years since the previous mikveh fell out of use. The construction of the mikvah, which was carried out relatively quickly, was conducted under the fire of the Russia-Ukraine war.
“Construction lasted a year and three months,” says Rabbi Yosef Teitelbaum, who serves as the district rabbi and Chabad emissary together with his rabbi wife, “the actual war accelerated the construction of the mikvah, because of the difficulty of the Jewish families traveling to another city, due to a curfew that begins in the early evening in the evening, And all this alongside the dangers on the road. We also had to deal with the surge in the price of construction materials.”
The first months of construction were difficult and challenging. “At the beginning of the war, there were Russian soldiers at the beginning of the district next to us,” adds the district rabbi to the book, “there was a fear of anarchy on the roads, robbery and impersonating the police. Everything was unstable. The very fact that we were able to finish the construction during the war is an incredible and unimaginable miracle. From the fundraising Until the actual construction, step by step.”
According to estimates, there are two thousand Jews living in the district, with approximately half of them Rabbi Teitelbaum is in contact. The Jews are scattered in the nine cities of the district: Spitovka, Izaslav, Netishin, Polnea, Kamnitz Podolsk, Donivtsi, Goroduk Strukonstantinov, Salvita and the central community in the capital of the district – the city of Khmelnytskyi. The mikvah is already used in practice by Jewish families and is used for purification in the city.
A Jewish Mikva, named after Mrs. Judith Teitelbaum, was built with the assistance of the Rohr family and Rabbi Moshe Kotlersky, Rabbi of Dnipro and Chabad emissary Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky, Chabad center in Ukraine JRNU, with the dedicated assistance of Rabbi David Mundschein and Rabbi Shlomo Peles, The Rabbinic Center of Europe, the Marumim Foundation, the Lubavitch Hope Builders Organization, the Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine and many donors from the circle of friends of the Chabad House in Khmelnytskyi. The construction of the mikvah was planned by Rabbi Shmuel Levin and supervised by Rabbi Haim Eliyahu Glochovsky. The casting is under the supervision of mikvah expert Rabbi Daniel Lanau.
The change in Khmelnitsky
The Jewish community in Khmelnytskyi experienced a real revival since the beginning of the war. Despite a wave of abandonment of residents to cities of refuge at the beginning of the war, many Jews from the city who chose to remain where they lived, began to make contact with the community and asked to be more involved in the life and activities of the community. In addition, most of the escapees and refugees returned to their city of residence a few months after the outbreak of the war.
“The activity has greatly improved compared to the period before the war,” says Rabbi Teitelbaum, “the community has grown, and the number of participants in educational and social activities and projects has increased significantly. The connection of the city’s Jews to the community has become very strong. Jews who we had never heard of, suddenly began to make contact in a surprising way. In the midst of the war, we see a jump in the life of our community, contrary to everything we thought. The synagogue is more active than ever, despite the war.” The rabbi reveals that “during the ten months of the war, we distributed close to 150 tons of humanitarian aid to the community.”
At Hanukkah this year, Rabbi Teitelbaum placed the large menorah in the courtyard of the Philharmonic building. “We asked for special permission from the head of the district to place the menorah in the courtyard of the building, which is located in a central place,” says the rabbi, “we initially thought of placing the menorah only at the first candle of Hanukkah, so a huge concert was held there, but the head of the district, who came herself to the candle lighting ceremony, herself suggested that we leave the Hanukkah until the end of the Hanukkah days. This is our private Hanukkah miracle.”
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer
Consecration of the mikvah
Photo: Courtesy of the photographer