In the shadow of the war in Ukraine: about 18 Chabad yeshiva students from around the world will fly to Ukraine in the coming days, where they will connect with Chabad representatives and the rabbis of the cities – and help them in the busy activity during the holiday month with the Jews of the communities.
The yeshiva students travel is carried out according to an orderly procedure of the ‘Educational Affairs Center’ – Chabad’s world mission headquarters in New York, and is part of the ‘Mission Center’ project founded by the Lubavitcher Rebbe about 80 years ago, within the framework of which yeshiva students travel during the ‘between times’ periods to help To Chabad branches in the countries of the world or to remote destinations where there is no permanent messenger.
In preparation for their trip, Rabbi Moshe Kotlersky – who heads the activity array of Chabad branches in the world, met the yeshiva students for a special preparatory meeting.
Rabbi Kotlersky guided the students according to the instructions received at the time from the Rebbe, and asked them to write a report every day that would be sent directly to the Rebbe’s grade.
Later, the students were presented with a broad picture of the security situation in Ukraine these days, and the security guidelines were explained to them.
The students of the yeshiva will work alongside Chabad branches, among others in the cities: Odessa, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Nikolaev, Zaporozhye, Cherkasy and Uzhgorod.
It should be noted that all Chabad emissaries in Ukraine continue to lead the Jewish communities even during the holidays, despite the difficult situation.
As part of the unique promotion of the Itamar Wolf Center, yeshiva students will take with them special kits for the month of Tishrei, including various items related to the holidays, alongside thousands of fancy mezuzahs, which they will install during the days of the month in Jewish homes.
The challenging situation does not loosen the hands of the rabbis of the communities: during the holiday month, an unprecedented activity of the Chabad emissaries is expected, when in addition to an array of prayers on the terrible days and Torah lessons, the emissaries will hold a huge distribution of food and medicine to the needy.
The activity of the Chabad emissaries in Ukraine, in the complex conditions of the war days, makes it possible to actually preserve the Jewish communities that were built with great effort, even in these difficult days.