Honoring Rabbi Zvi Kogan’s Legacy One Year After His Murder

by Yossi Reicher – chabad.org

On a cool Jerusalem evening this past Monday, nearly 400 people made their way up the Mount of Olives, united by a common bond: they had all been touched by the life of Rabbi Zvi Kogan. The evening and the next day, 20 Cheshvan on the Jewish calendar, marked one year since the 28-year-old Chabad-Lubavitch emissary to the United Arab Emirates was brutally murdered by terrorists in Dubai.

The diversity of those who came to honor his memory told its own story. There were friends from Kogan’s IDF service, Russian-Jewish emigres whose lives he had transformed, classmates from the non-Chassidic yeshivahs where he’d studied, his Chabad colleagues from the UAE, and Jews of all backgrounds who had lived or visited the UAE in various capacities. Each carried their own memories of a man whose magnetic warmth had drawn them closer to their Jewish heritage.

Rabbi Sholom Duchman, executive director of Colel Chabad, spoke at the gravesite, linking Kogan’s first yahrzeit to the weekly Torah portion. “Real life is impact,” he told the assembled crowd. “This past year has revealed the tremendous influence Zvi had in his short life, the impact in our own lives, and the impact on thousands of lives across the globe.”

After visiting Kogan’s resting place, the group made its way to King David’s Tomb for an informal gathering of prayer, singing and commemoration. During his lifetime, Kogan had loved such events, often opening his home in Abu Dhabi to host gatherings where songs and stories flowed freely, where strangers became friends, and where many took their first steps back to Judaism. Now, the many who loved him gathered to sing and recall his memory, their voices carrying across the ancient stones of Jerusalem.

The evening continued with a dinner nearby, where personal testimonies painted a portrait of a life lived with extraordinary purpose. One businessman shared how a chance meeting with Kogan during a trip to Dubai led him to begin keeping Shabbat. Another spoke of receiving the weekly Dvar Malchut that Rabbi Kogan would have shipped to Abu Dhabi, which inspired him to begin studying Chitas daily. Each story revealed another dimension of Kogan’s impact.

The speeches soon gave way to lively music and dancing. It was a celebration of his life, a defiant declaration that the light he had kindled continued to burn bright. Many in attendance took on personal resolutions in his honor, concrete commitments reflecting his life’s work of bringing Jews closer to their heritage.

A Man Who Found Jews Everywhere

Rabbi Zvi Kogan grew up in Israel and became close with Chabad during his teenage years. In 2020, after COVID forced him to cancel planned travels through Asia following his IDF service, he joined his brother in the UAE. The timing was providential. The Abraham Accords had just opened unprecedented opportunities for Jewish life in the region, and Kogan arrived ready to help.

What made him unique was his approach. He presented himself simply as the manager of Rimon Kosher Supermarket, the store he helped establish and lead, with an unassuming demeanor that put people at ease. But behind that approachable exterior was a passionate Chabad emissary who saw every interaction as an opportunity to connect another Jew to their heritage.

“Zvi was never pretentious and didn’t flaunt that he was a rabbi,” recalled Rabbi Levi Duchman, who serves as regional director of Chabad in the UAE. “He was so humbled that he got to be an emissary of the Rebbe, [Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory], and he took it very seriously. He and his wife Rivky had an unbelievable amount of love for people, and their home was always open.”

Avi Batito still remembers his first encounter with Rabbi Kogan in late 2020. The businessman had just arrived in Dubai when a young rabbi appeared in his hotel lobby with a wide smile. Zvi had heard there was a Jewish guy staying there and that was all it took. They wrapped tefillin together that day, beginning a friendship that would bring Batito into the heart of Dubai’s Jewish community.

On November 21, 2024, just one week before he was to attend the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries in New York, Kogan was abducted and murdered by terrorists. The Jewish community endured days of agonizing uncertainty before learning he had been killed.

The days that followed were a blur of grief and logistics. The entire Chabad of the UAE team attended their slain colleague’s funeral in Israel, where Duchman vowed that Kogan’s work would continue and be brought to new heights. The emissaries then flew to New York for the conference, carrying a Torah scroll dedicated in Kogan’s memory. At the closing banquet, they placed it in his designated seat.

“Going back, even at the funeral, we knew it was what we had to do,” one of his fellow emissaries recall. “We had to continue Zvi’s work for his neshama, and for the community he gave his life to build.”

A Wave of Memorial Initiatives

The year since Kogan’s passing has seen an extraordinary outpouring of initiatives that transform grief into action.

Still during the shiva mourning period, Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky of Merkos 302 announced seed funding for 100 new centers in underserved communities worldwide would be made available in Zvi’s memory. The project included new locations in Southern Portugal, Andorra, and Tatarstan, with 50 new Chabad emissaries already announced across CKids, CTeen, Chabad Young Professionals, and Chabad on Campus programming.

Zvi’s Tefillin stands as perhaps the most direct reflection of his personal mission. The project established 110 tefillin stations throughout the UAE and neighboring countries, with 60 stations across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Ras Al Khaimah, and additional pairs sent to other Gulf states. Each set comes in a leather bag featuring a photo of Kogan wrapping tefillin, and the initiative has expanded globally, with Jews around the world putting on tefillin in his honor—many for the first time.

Two complete Torah scrolls were written in Kogan’s memory. The first began at his parents’ home in Jerusalem during the shiva mourning period, with 853 friends and family members sponsoring it together. The second scroll was commissioned by the Scheiner family, who shared a close bond with Kogan.

The TorahGram program has grown into a vibrant weekly program where 30 to 70 participants gather every Thursday night to study Torah, featuring prominent speakers on topics from Jewish mysticism to finding purpose in modern times. Spearheaded originally by Kogan, today it takes place in his memory. The Jewish Birthday Club, launched on Kogan’s Jewish birthday (26 Av), invites community members to celebrate their Jewish birthdays meaningfully, receiving annual reminders and encouragement to mark the day with a mitzvah.

Special Shabbat candle-lighting kits were created to inspire Jewish women worldwide. CTeen lounges were dedicated in his memory. Renowned Jewish music composer Yossi Green released ‘Dim’oh’, a heartfelt song written after his encounter with Kogan during a Shabbat in Dubai. A memorial was established in Yad Labanim Park in Petah Tikva. Over 40,000 mitzvos have been performed in his honor, with many people committing to honor his work in bringing kosher food to farflung areas by keeping kosher themselves.

Kogan’s most enduring legacy, his daughter, was born months after his murder.

As the first anniversary of his tragic passing concluded, the message was unmistakable: Rabbi Zvi Kogan’s legacy lives not on stone or monument, but in the tefillin wrapped daily across the UAE, at the Shabbat tables of those he touched around the world, in the Torah learning that echoes his name each week, and in the countless mitzvahs performed by those who are forever impacted by his too short time on earth.