KRIVOY Rog, Ukraine – In the Ukrainian city of Krivoy Rog, the Ohr Avner Chabad Day School hosted a celebration to mark the opening of a dormitory for children from impoverished families. The new institution, appropriately named “Planet of Childhood”, will accommodate 12 children for now and that number may rise in future.
Chatzkel the tailor wanders into a small flophouse late one cold and stormy night. “Quite full,” says the innkeeper. “Let’s see . . . we’ve got a Cossack in one of the rooms up on the top floor. You can climb into the bed beside him.”
Thankfully accepting the offer, the wanderer climbs the stairs to the upper floor, but not before asking the innkeeper to wake him well before dawn. “Got a train to catch,” he says importantly.
Before he knows it, there’s a hand shaking him awake. “It’s well before dawn,” says a voice; “your train.”
He dresses hurriedly in the dark and rushes to the train station. On the way he passes a large mirror in an ornate frame. A Cossack in uniform looks back at him. “That idiot innkeeper!” he exclaims in dismay. “He woke up the Cossack instead of Chatzkel the tailor. I’ll never make it back in time to wake myself up and catch my train!”
Picture description: the Rebbe at a Farbrengen Yud Beis Tamuz 1974. Special Thanks Rabbi Mordechai Kirschenbaum. Click here to see previous weeks pictures.
