Joyous Bar Mitzvah Celebrated in Sukkah in Kharkov, Ukraine
by Faygie Levy Holt – chabad.org
Perhaps nowhere in Ukraine was Sukkot more widely celebrated this year than in Kharkov, the country’s second-largest city. There, in the eastern part of the country, close to the border with Russia, that Yisroel Moskovitz became a bar mitzvah during Chol Hamoed, the intermediate days of Sukkot.
Yisroel is the son of Rabbi Moshe and Miriam Moskovitz, who have directed Chabad of Kharkov for more than 30 years. Despite a more than 18-month conflict with Moscow, his parents were determined to celebrate his milestone with their community.
“He was so worried last year when the war broke out that he wouldn’t be able to have his bar mitzvah in Kharkov,” said his mother, noting that her son was born in the city and that his bris was held in the Choral Synagogue.
She said the theme of the bar mitzvah was being happy, and how being happy can help you rise above challenges and make the world a better place. “We showed a film about how Yisroel was born during Sukkot, which is a joyous festival, and how he’s always been a happy child, and how even now he always tries to keep up everyone’s spirits and give them a reason to smile.”
More than 250 people came to celebrate with the family. While most of the attendees were members of the Kharkov Jewish community, several government officials and fellow Chabad emissaries attended the milestone event.
However, it was the arrival of several Ukrainian refugees who have been living in Hungary and Austria and traveled for two days to join the festivities that really impacted people.
“It was so special to see everyone together, united and praying together that we should have better times,” said Moskovitz.
“What we’ve been hearing from people is that last night was the happiest event, happiest occasion in all the 33 years we’ve been here,” she said. “I’m not sure if that is because of the war or despite the war, but sharing the music and dancing, despite what’s going on, really shows Am Yisroel Chai, that we are able to continue to celebrate.”
The Moskovitzes are no strangers to making simchas in stressful situations. Less than a month before the onset of the war in early 2022, they hosted 500 guests at the wedding of their daughter Bracha to Mendy Katan of Kfar Chabad, Israel.
This year, with attacks ongoing in the city only 25 miles from the Russian border, “we weren’t sure about making a bar mitzvah event and building a larger sukkah than usual in Kharkov,” Moskovitz told Chabad.org. “But we decided as with all the other holidays—Passover, Purim, Chanukah—that it is extremely important for people, especially in this time of war, to be together and continue our traditions.”
To accommodate their guests and community members, the Moskovitzes built a 150-square-meter sukkah in front of the city’s famed Choral Synagogue. Usually, the synagogue’s sukkah is built on the side of the building. The new one took more than a week to assemble, and given the Choral Synagogue’s location on the main Pushkinska Street, is visible to anyone walking along the road.
Indeed, throughout the bar mitzvah celebration people walking along the street could hear the music blasting and see the dancing that was taking place with men on one side and women on the other.
The bar mitzvah was just one part of the celebration, as there were lulavs and etrogs available for anyone to use. Throughout the holiday, representatives from Chabad are fanning out in the city so that people can have the mitzvah of shaking the “Four Species” or “Four Kinds.”
The challenge for Jews in Kharkov are the night activities, such as those associated with the upcoming holiday of Simchat Torah, since the city remains under a curfew that begins at 11 pm.
“We are starting things as early as possible and making them as joyous as we can,” said Moskovitz.
