Malnourished Siblings Saved by Odesa’s Mishpacha Orphanage

Suffering from malnutrition, and moments before being taken into welfare, two young siblings from Kyiv were admitted to the Mishpacha Jewish orphanage in Odesa under Rabbi Avraham Wolff.

The “Mishpacha” Children’s Home and Orphanage in Odesa welcomed two new Jewish children this week, who joined the 125 children already residing in the orphanage.

The two children, a brother and sister aged three and a half and one and a half, arrived at the orphanage in a severely malnourished condition. Their mother, a single parent, had raised them alone since their birth.

Due to the harsh war, the children’s health deteriorated, and just before the Ministry of Welfare removed the children from their mother’s custody, thanks to the intervention of one of the Chabad emissaries in Kyiv, the children were placed in the “Mishpacha” orphanage.

“The mother was truly in a dire state,” explained Rabbi Avraham Wolff, Chabad emissary and Chief Rabbi of Odesa and Southern Ukraine, who heads the orphanage along with his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya. “One of the children is in very poor health, which led us to the decision to assign him a medical nurse until noticeable improvement is seen.”

The children of the “Mishpacha” orphanage fled at the beginning of the war, two years ago, from Odesa to Germany, in a miraculous rescue journey. Only after a year and a half did they return home to Odesa where they participated in the inauguration of a new and spacious building at 15 Italian Boulevard – in the city center. The new building will host the children’s educational system, alongside enrichment educational programs throughout the day.

Mr. Igor Shatkhin, Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Southern Ukraine, said, “Following the war, we continue to admit more and more children to “Mishpacha” and provide them with a warm home. It is impossible to imagine their future without the orphanage.”