The Young Rabbis Choosing to Live on Ukraine’s Frontlines
By Motti Wilhelm / Chabad.org
ALL TOGETHER
One aspect all four of the young rabbis find remarkable is the number of “unaffiliated” Jews who have come closer to Judaism since the war began.
“We have full Torah classes that began after the war started, where every single participant had never set foot in a synagogue before,” Wolff says. “Some came initially for humanitarian aid and only later developed an interest in Judaism. Others didn’t need our material support but felt a deep need to connect to G-d during these difficult times. The common thread is that they had never come before and now they are active members of our community.”
It’s like that in Dnipro as well, where despite a significant portion of their established community leaving early on, they’ve seen an increase in overall numbers.
“There are people I knew, but who didn’t come on a regular basis, and now they show up every day to don tefillin,” Kaminezki says. “Others attend events in numbers we’ve never seen before. For example, this past Rosh Hashanah, we had several hundred people attend the holiday meal—far more than any time before the war.”
Remarkably, despite the immense challenges they endure, Ukrainian Jews maintain a profound connection to their Jewish brothers and sisters worldwide, empathizing with their struggles. When asked about the message Ukrainian Jews wish to share with their brethren around the world, Levenharts reflects on the shifting dynamics since the war began. “When the war started, the world rallied to help, with significant funds sent to Ukraine,” he says. “But naturally, as time passed and other crises arose, Ukraine has been somewhat forgotten.”
This loss of attention has made their efforts increasingly difficult. “The situation hasn’t improved since the war began; it’s only gotten harder with new threats emerging,” Levenharts explains. ”
Still, he offers a hopeful perspective. “Despite everything, we believe, with G-d’s help, this war will end. We hope and pray that there will be no more casualties and that all can live in peace.”
The other rabbis echo this sense of optimism. “No matter what situation we’re in, we are ready to face any challenge,” Wolff says. “In the end, we are sure it will turn out for the good. As Chassidut teaches, it is specifically from the lowest points that one can reach the greatest heights.”
NO MATTER WHAT THE WORLD THROWS OUR WAY
Halfway across the country, in Odessa, a city under near-constant shelling, Rabbi Itamar Wolff and his wife, Mussie, returned to serve alongside his father, Chief Rabbi Avrohom Wolff, who has remained in the city throughout the war to direct Chabad of Odessa.
Initially, each offered support for their hometown communities from afar, coordinating evacuations and organizing shipments of essential supplies to Ukraine. As the war dragged on, each began making the challenging journey back for Jewish holidays and other occasions to assist their parents and communities directly.
In the nearly three years since, all three, together with their wives, made the independent decision to return to their hometowns and join their parents as emissaries.
What motivates a young couple to begin their life in a war-torn country, where sirens, missile strikes and danger are part of daily reality? For Rabbi Itamar Wolff, the answer is straightforward. “There are Jews here. Just as we’re there for them in good times, we need to be there for them in hard times,” he states.
In their respective cities, the three new rabbis quickly immersed themselves in the core work of Chabad emissaries worldwide—helping their fellow Jews connect with their heritage through mitzvot, synagogue visits, Torah classes, holiday programs and countless other initiatives.
In Ukraine, however, the role of shluchim has an added dimension. Alongside spiritual guidance, rabbis are increasingly relied on to provide vital humanitarian aid—distributing food, medicine and generators, and assisting community members with basic needs. While a part of Chabad work in the former Soviet Union since the 1990s, the war has made these efforts more urgent than ever.
Rabbi Simcha Levenharts of Chabad of Kyiv is the coordinator of the Jewish Relief Network Ukraine (JRNU), the largest boots-on-the-ground Jewish humanitarian aid organization in Ukraine while also working at Kyiv’s Simcha Jewish Day School. He and his wife, Malka, who were married in 2020, are both second-generation emissaries in Ukraine.
Rabbi Reuven Kaminezki is no stranger to Ukraine. Born and raised in Dnipro, Reuven has returned home many times since the war broke out in 2022 to support the Jewish community’s critical humanitarian and spiritual missions.
So when, together with his wife Esther Hadassah, a native of Lyon, France, he made the bold decision to settle permanently in his hometown as the newest Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in the city, he was fully aware of the risks and uncertainties of life in a war-torn nation.
“It wasn’t a question of whether or not we would move, it was a matter of when,” the young rabbi says. Today, he and his wife are an important part of the team at Chabad of Dnipro, which his parents Rabbi Shmuel and Chani Kaminezki established in 1990 at the behest of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The Kaminezkis’ story is extraordinary, but not without parallel. Across Ukraine, numerous native-born Chabad rabbis have returned home with their young families to strengthen the efforts of their parents and fellow emissaries in the face of the ongoing war.
In battle-scarred Kharkiv, Rabbi Sholom Ber Moskovitz, likewise born in the city, joined the ranks of shluchim there six months ago alongside his wife, Chava, and their newborn son, Menachem Mendel. Even before their marriage, the couple had resolved to serve in Ukraine.
