New Shluchim Head to Historic Chassidishe Town of Homel

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Kot and his family are preparing to move to Homel, Belarus, where they will join and expand the Jewish activity already taking place in the city.

Their departure was marked this week with a Tzeischem Leshalom farbrengen in Moscow, led by Rosh Kollel Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Marzel. Members of the kollel gathered to wish farewell to Rabbi Kot, who had been learning with them before leaving for his new shlichus.

Homel holds a particularly prominent place in Chabad history. For decades, the city was led by the renowned chossid Rabbi Yitzchak Aizik Epstein, known throughout Chabad as Reb Aizik Homiler, one of the outstanding Chassidim of the Alter Rebbe, Mitteler Rebbe and Tzemach Tzedek. He served as rav of Homel for more than fifty years, and the city developed into a major center of Chassidic life and learning.

In later generations, Homel was home to a large community of Chassidim, and a branch of Tomchei Temimim continued operating there under Communist rule. Among those connected with the yeshiva were prominent Chassidim who later played important roles in preserving and rebuilding Chabad life under Soviet persecution.

Rabbi Kot comes from a family steeped in shlichus. His father, Rabbi Shmuel Kot, serves as Chief Rabbi of Estonia and the Rebbe’s shliach there, while his father-in-law, Rabbi Moshe Marinovsky, serves as a shliach in Kfar Daniel, Eretz Yisroel.

Chief Rabbi of Russia Rabbi Berel Lazar, who has been involved in developing Jewish communities across the region, spoke about the new shlichus and Homel’s distinguished Chassidic past. He noted that Jewish activity is already taking place in the city under the leadership of local community president Yosef Zholdov, who welcomed the Kot family and their arrival.

The new shluchim will work together with the existing community leadership to broaden Jewish programming and strengthen the city’s Chassidic life, beginning as they arrive ahead of the busy month of Tishrei.

Photos: Community spokesperson