“While the war was just beginning, Chabad immediately saved people,” said German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a special visit to the Jewish Center in Berlin today (Monday), where 120 orphaned children from the Chabad orphanage in Odessa were received over the weekend.
“I am very excited to be here,” the president continued in his warm words, after two long hours in which he sat in the company of the children and with the city’s rabbi and Chabad emissary, Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel. “When I stand here next to the children who survived the war, I also see the people who committed acts immediately – the people who mobilized to save and help immediately. That’s a big thing. “
The President wished to thank the entire orphanage staff of the orphanage and wished to thank Rabbi Teichtel and Chabad in particular for their dedication to the operation.
The president was asked why, out of all the refugee centers, he chose to visit the orphans from the Chabad orphanage – and replied: “I was looking for a place that serves as an example for rescuing people. Here are people who immediately after the outbreak of the war acted to save the children. It moved me personally. “
The rescue mission – from Odessa to Berlin
They walked in silence for long hours, a long journey that lasted several days, during which they changed several vehicles and walked long miles on foot. In the Ukrainian cold under crossfire, more than 150 orphaned Jewish children and the accompanying staff fled from the Odessa orphanage to the border.
The children, who were sometimes gathered at birth by Chabad emissaries in Odessa, Rabbi Avraham Wolf and his wife Chaya, found a community and a home in the Chabad orphanage in Odessa. The messengers were their father and mother, and their friends brothers and sisters. Now, with the outbreak of hostilities, they have embarked on a new path again.
The rabbi of Berlin heard about the incident and mobilized together with members of the community to find a new home for these orphans. For several days he worked with the German authorities, to whom he was close and connected, until he arranged for them entry and residence permits.
“The authorities went out of their way to help in an extraordinary way,” the rabbi said.
Then, together with members of the developing community in the city, he made sure to arrange for them a decent place to stay, food, drink, clothing, textbooks and everything he would need from now on.
Rabbi Teichtel took care of proper places and tidy permits also for the staff of the orphanage who accompanied them throughout the journey. In addition, a large team of Ukrainian-speaking counselors and psychologists were waiting for the children as soon as they arrived and relieved them of the adjustment and difficulties.
“This is a complex and not simple event, which I am glad we succeeded in,” says Rabbi Teichtel. “I could not remain indifferent to the cry of the orphaned children and I understood that action should be taken in this matter.”