Rejuvenating Jewish Life
Rabbi Shmuel and Chana Kaminetski are the Lubavitcher Rebbe's emissaries to Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. In the 20 years since they arrived in that city, together with the other couples that they have brought to Dnepropetrovsk, they have established an empire religious, social, educational, cultural and humanitarian organizations that serve the needs of the Jews of Dnepropetrovsk and its suburbs.

The Kaminetskis are part of a network of hundreds of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries in the former Soviet Union serving Jewish communities throughout the 15 countries of the CIS.

On their website (www.djc.com.ua) the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish Community lists as their founder Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, the father of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was the Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk from 1907 to 1939. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak's outstanding scholarship, piety, and tireless efforts on behalf of the Jewish community were so renown that he was asked to be Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. But Rabbi Levi Yitzchak and his wife Rebbetzin Chana chose to remain in Dnepropetrovsk and lead the Jewish community there.

In 1939, the USSR census population took place. By that time, Communism had such a strong hold that Jews were afraid to state on the questionnaire that they were Jewish and many listed "none" as their religion. When Rabbi Levi Yitzchak learned about this he gave an inspired speech at the synagogue and persuaded Jews not to conceal their faith. The head of the Dnepropetrovsk NKVD heard about this and ordered Rabbi Levi Yitzchak to come to him and confirm that there was no discrimination in the city. The rabbi refused to lie after which it was resolved to arrest Rabbi Levi Yitzchak for "disseminating active anti-Soviet propaganda, and anti-Soviet agitation of slanderous and defeatist nature." Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was arrested the following day, an act that so shocked the Jewish community that two members of the synagogue board passed away suddenly.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was released but re-arrested eight months later. He was sentenced by a special tribunal to five years of exile in Kazakhstan. He lived in the impoverished village of Tzili, bereft of community, family and even the most basic human needs. Two years later, Rebbetzin Chana joined him.

In April of 1944 the Schneersons were given permission to move to Almaty, a village with slightly better conditions than Tzili. But the hard life of exile had taken its toll. Four months later, during the night of 20 Av, 1944, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak awoke and asked for some water to wash his hands. When the water was brought to him, he said: "It's time to move to the other side..." These were his last words.

Fast forward five decades from Reb Levi Yitzchak's arrest and the slow-down and eventually demise of Jewish life in Dnepropetrovsk. In June 1990, Rabbi Shmuel and Chana Kaminetski were sent to the city by the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Starting from that moment, the renaissance of Jewish life in Dnepropetrovsk took off at a remarkable rate. In 1991 the Ohr Avner Levi Yitzchak Jewish day school, which quickly became the largest Jewish school in Europe, was opened. Charitable foundations and cultural organizations were opened that year, as well. In 1992, over 5,000 Jews took part in a grand Chanuka concert at the Meteor Ice Palace. A close relationship with the Jewish community of Boston was established, allowing for the opening of a women's clinic and a children's clinic in Dnepropetrovsk. The following years saw the establishment of: fund for loans to Jewish businesswomen; Big Sister/Big Brother program for children from single-parent families; a program for special needs children; Beit Baruch Assisted Living Facility for Seniors; the reconstruction of the Golden Rose Central Synagogue; the Beit Tzindlikht Children's Educational Center; Boys and Girls Children's Homes for orphans or children from dysfunctional homes; Soup kitchens and food pantries regularly aiding 6,000 needy families and elderly; Beit Chana Teacher's College... and this is a partial list! Today, construction is underway on the Menorah Center which, at 40,000 square meters will be the largest Jewish Community center in the world!


 

Adapted and reprinted with the permission of Sichos In English
Pictures are  by Zalmen Kleinman