A Tearful Reunion in Ukraine For an Elderly Congregant and His Rabbi

by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org

As the door to the modest Kharkov apartment opened, an elderly man stood in the doorway. When he took in the sight of his visitor, Aizik opened his arms, and crying “Rabbi, Oy,” pulled his visitor in for a hug.

It was the first time that Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz had seen Aizik in more than two years. A regular at the Chabad Choral Synagogue, he was isolated first by the COVID-19 pandemic and then by the war that has seen missiles raining down on their city.

But on Wednesday, they were reunited.

“Aizik would come every Shabbat to shul in Kharkov and sing as loud as he could two Jewish songs, ‘Haderes V’heamunah,’ and ‘Hu Elokeinu’. For two years since corona began and another three months of the war he has been alone at home,” the rabbi’s wife, Miriam Moskovitz, told Chabad.org.

And, so on Wednesday, in Aizik’s living room, as Rabbi Moskovitz helped the older man wrap tefillin, they sang the songs Aizik knows well. But Aizik was not content to just sit and sing, he reached for his rabbi and danced.

Visiting Aizik, who has received care packages of food and supplies throughout the pandemic and the war, and other elderly Jews is just one of the things done since Rabbi Moskovitz and two of his children—Sholom Ber, 22, and Sheina, 16—returned to their home after fleeing from bombardment.

The Moskovitzes have served as co-directors of Chabad-Lubavitch of Kharkov since 1990 after the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory—gave his blessing to the young couple to move to Ukraine, at the time still the Soviet Union, to serve the Jews of Kharkov and the community at large.

A Visit From Kharkov’s Mayor

On Tuesday, Igor Terechov, the mayor of Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, came to the Choral Synagogue to meet with Rabbi Moskovitz and see the relief efforts that the Chabad community has been spearheading.

“When he met my husband, the mayor gave him a hug; he was just so happy to see him,” said Miriam Moskovitz, noting that the men reminisced about some happier occasions, including Chanukah celebrations and the wedding of one of the Moskovitzes’ daughters.

The mayor also told the rabbi that he was glad to see him “physically” though he knows the rabbi was always there “spiritually” helping everyone who needed it.

During the visit, Terechov met with people who have been helping with that relief effort, including the cook and the volunteer drivers.

Among them was Mark, who used to work in the kosher store, but since the start of the war has been running the evacuation buses, an effort that is still ongoing. Mark explained to the mayor how he has been living in the shul for the last three months.

The mayor told Moskovitz and the volunteers that “everyone knows what the shul is doing” to help others.