A call for solidarity at the Seder with those who can’t attend one Six weeks into the bloody war in Ukraine, and Passover—the season of freedom—is on everyone’s minds. While Ukraine Jews hope and pray for a speedy resolution to the war (and the world along with them), Passover preparations in Ukraine are in full […]

Young volunteer continues his work despite death,destruction and a shortage of supplies The following was written by Daniel, a 21-year-old staffer at the Chabad-Lubavitch Jewish community in eastern Kiev, who has been devoting night and day to caring for the elderly and other vulnerable people in Kiev’s eastern flank, known as the “Left Bank.” He […]

Chabad secures a variety of venues for community Seders Growing up in the early 1990s in Kiev, capital of the newly independent Ukraine, Esther Koronskaya didn’t celebrate Passover. Seventy years of Communist repression had done its job on her family, and the Jewish traditions of their ancestors had been all but forgotten. Now 34 years […]

In 1986 a nuclear reactor in the Ukrainian city of Chernobyl exploded. Deadly clouds spewed across Belarus and Ukraine, leaving radioactive fallout that brought radiation sickness, cancer, and in the years to come, a sharp rise in birth defects. Growing up in the shadow of the disaster, Gennadiy Simanovich saw his friends grow sick with […]

How an Orthodox Jewish non-profit airlifted hundreds of Judges and former US employees from the Taliban’s Afghanistan. When the Taliban started sending him death threats, Fazel Malek* had to leave his wife and daughter behind in Kabul, Afghanistan. After a team of Chabad rabbis arranged his family’s rescue, he’s now living at a Chabad Jewish […]

1,210 new institutions mark a renewed commitment to the Rebbe’s vision Shimmy Borgen, a young father in the Kew Gardens Hills area of Queens, N.Y., will be taking his family to visit the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory. He’ll also be taking one day each week to […]

Rabbi Chaim Gurevitch’s final act was to give shmurah matzah to a Jewish family Rabbi Chaim Gurevitch was a man on a mission, to share shmurah matzah with as many Jewish people as possible. It didn’t matter if the recipient was so far from Jewish observance that he or she would not attend a Passover […]

50,000 Seder kids with matzah and other holiday necessities are on the way They will be in shelters, private homes, refugee camps, synagogues and military bases. But come what may, when night falls on Passover eve on April 15, the Jews of Ukraine will pause to eat matzah and bitter herbs, drink four cups of […]

A baffling plea for help reached Rabbi Mendy and Esther Harlig on March 7th. A member of their Chino Hills, California community asked if the Harligs could help rescue her cousins in Kharkiv, Ukraine.  Rabbi Harlig said he had hosted this community member for Shabbat meals and he knew she had moved to California from […]