In Kishinev, various celebrations were held in honor of Yud and Yud Aleph Shevat, the anniversaries of the passing of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneerson, and the beginning of the leadership of the present Lubavitcher Rebbe.
This year, Chabad of Moldova, run by shliach and Chief Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, organized a broad range of Chanukah activities for local residents, as well as for Israeli students learning at university in the capital city, Kishinev.
Below is a roundup of highlights from Chanukah in Moldova:
Today, we went into the Kedem Center, and in the lobby we found a very excited Jew, who asked us in Hebrew for Chanukah candles. … “I’m from Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said. “I know the Chabad Rabbi Shlomo Ben Tolila,” who is the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s shliach there.
In honor of Chai Elul (18th Elul), a special evening was held to launch the publication of a new book about the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the founder of Chabad Chassidism. The book was written by shliach Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, Chief Rabbi of Moldova.
In the city of Balti, the tomb of the great Rabbi Yisrael Yoffe, who lived in the city hundreds of years ago, has been renovated.
Groups of young people from the Jewish Youth Club in Kishinev have started attending lectures on Judaism and observing practical laws. The Chabad House in Kishinev, run by shliach Rabbi Zalman Abelsky, has teaching the young people and putting on tefillin with them.
Jewish researchers from the United States visited the Jewish community in Kishinev in order to document Jewish life in Bessarabia-Moldova.
The Universal Peace Federation (UPF), which is run under the auspices of the United Nations, held a very impressive meeting recently on cooperation and human rights. Present at the meeting, which was held in Moldova, were many important figures and representatives of international organizations.
A delegation from the Joint Distribution Committee visited last week with Moldova’s chief rabbi and Shliach Rabbi Zalman Abelsky to inquire about the Moldovan Jewish community.
A delegation from the Joint Distribution Committee visited last week with Moldova’s chief rabbi and Shliach Rabbi Zalman Abelsky to inquire about the Moldovan Jewish community.
The delegation consisted of Rabbi Meir Schlesinger, Professor Aharon Weiss from Jerusalem and Micky Katzif, the Joint’s representative in Moldova, and a close friend of Chabad.
During the days leading up to the seventieth anniversary of the death of Rabbi Yehuda Leib Tzirelson, former Chief Rabbi of Bessarabia (Moldova today), visitors were taken on guided tours of the ruins of Rabbi Tzirelson’s former yeshiva.
