Heroic Graduates Open the School Year in Odessa

Jewish school graduates from Odessa who fought on the frontlines and were injured in Gaza and Ukraine opened the new school year at Or Avner Chabad with a recital of Tehillim.

Two Jewish soldiers whose legs were injured—one on the Ukrainian front and the other on the Gaza front—started the school year at the Jewish school in Odessa with a chapter of Tehillim. In dozens of ‘Or Avner – Chabad’ schools across the former Soviet Union, the “first bell” marked the start of the new year with a prayer for a peaceful and quiet year amidst the intensifying war.

It was a touching moment. Viktor Kubechik, a Ukrainian-Jewish soldier who was severely wounded on the Ukrainian front, hobbled with crutches towards the stage at the opening ceremony of the school year at the Jewish school in Odessa, assisted by his rabbi and teacher, Rabbi Avraham Wolf, who serves as the rabbi of Southern Ukraine. Viktor, whose legs are completely paralyzed and whose life was saved by a great miracle, took the microphone and began to recite Chapter 20 of Tehillim slowly and clearly, praying for the healing of all the wounded and for a new, healthy, and peaceful year.

Viktor is a graduate of the Jewish school in Odessa, which this week celebrated a quarter-century of nurturing generations of Jews since it first opened. Viktor’s prayer was a clear sign marking the beginning of another school year amid the ongoing and escalating war in the country.

Immediately after Viktor, on the screen appeared Yossef Yitzchak Tudoron, a Jewish soldier, also a graduate of the school, who was injured on the Gaza front. Live on air, he recited a chapter of Tehillim for Israel’s victory in the war. The eyes of the parents, staff, and all the attendees were filled with tears of emotion.

Alongside Odessa, dozens of ‘Or Avner’ schools opened across many countries of the former Soviet Union; in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries. Large schools are located in cities such as Rostov, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv. In Kyiv, they were shocked to discover on the first day of school that just hours earlier, missile fragments had landed within the school compound.

The opening of the Jewish schools was marked by moving celebrations, with some schools presenting the students with new tzitzis. Chabad shluchim spoke to the parents, strengthening their sense of Jewish pride and the great merit of their children being educated in Jewish institutions.

A range of educational tools and special aids were launched by the ‘Or Avner’ educational team in preparation for the new school year, including a well-designed ‘Student’s Journal,’ which incorporates the Jewish calendar, holidays, special dates, and Chassidic events.

Amid the war, thousands of students in Ukrainian schools received a special gift on the first day of school from the Chabad JRNU network—special reflective bands that wrap around the wrist. These bands are designed to help cope with the frequent power outages that have become routine in the war-torn country. Every evening, complete darkness falls on the streets due to the power cuts, posing a serious danger to pedestrians.