For the first time since the war began, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Bar, visited Jewish communities in Ukraine. Shluchim welcomed him at the Menorah Center, the world’s largest Jewish community complex, located in Dnipro, home to the largest Jewish community in Ukraine.

The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Kalman Bar, and the outgoing Minister for Religious Services, Rabbi Michael Malchieli, returned to Israel after a special visit of chizuk to Jewish communities in Ukraine. This was the first visit to Ukraine by the holder of Israel’s highest official rabbinic post since the outbreak of the difficult war more than three and a half years ago. Accompanying them were Rabbi Pinchas Altahoyz, among the prominent Chabad rabbanim in Israel, as well as their personal aides Netanel Levy and Chofi Akiva.

The visit lasted several days and spanned a number of communities across the vast country. The central event took place in the city of Dnipro in the east, considered the “capital of Ukrainian Jewry,” home to the largest organized Jewish community, as well as the Menorah Center – the world’s largest Jewish community complex.

During his meetings in the city, the Chief Rabbi met community leaders and patrons together with the heads of the city and the region, expressing his admiration for the extensive activity on behalf of the tens of thousands of Jews living in the city in particular and throughout Ukraine in general. The city’s rabbi and shliach, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky, honored the Chief Rabbi and Minister Malchieli with writing the first letter in a special Sefer Torah donated by a local Jew, to be dedicated in the merit of Rabbi Kalman Bar and in the merit of his wife, Rebbetzin Dafna.

Rabbi Kaminetsky said that the Jews of Ukraine greatly appreciate the Chief Rabbi’s arrival to strengthen them during these days and to rouse them with words of Torah and halacha, despite the damaged roads and the heavy bombardments on Ukrainian cities. For his part, the Chief Rabbi expressed tremendous admiration for the educational institutions, synagogues, batei medrash, and the community’s welfare and chesed institutions in the city under Rabbi Kaminetsky’s leadership, and he said that he left the visit strengthened – far more than he had come to strengthen.

A special highlight of the visit to Dnipro – which was accompanied throughout by the Chabad shliach Rabbi Moshe Weber, a senior figure in the city’s Jewish community, whose home, as is known, was struck by a Russian missile about a month ago – was a meeting with the Governor of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and head of the military administration, Serhii Lysak. Taking part as well were the head of the local Jewish community Zelig Brez, and the principal of the Jewish school Rachel Milman together with her husband Reuven. The Ukrainian officials emphasized that Ukraine and Israel share common values and aspirations, bravely defend their independence, and strive to establish a lasting peace that will strengthen their identity.

The governor also praised the city’s Jewish community, saying it makes a significant and important contribution to the development of the region. He took pride that the Menorah Center is one of the symbols of the city, and he praised Dnipro’s rabbi, Rabbi Kaminetsky, for his broad activity on behalf of the city’s Jews and all its residents. Rabbi Bar blessed the participants and expressed confidence that Israeli–Ukrainian cooperation will develop successfully, especially in an area where the Jewish community is so strong and united.

The chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU), Rabbi Meir Stambler, welcomed the Chief Rabbi’s arrival and said that this is a very important visit for the Jews of Ukraine on the one hand and for the Ukrainian government on the other, at a time when Ukraine is fighting for its life. He noted that Ukraine continues to seek international support in the face of the war forced upon it, and that such support from the Chief Rabbi of Israel – who represents Judaism and the values of justice and integrity – and from the Minister of Religious Services, is something blessed and of the utmost importance.