In honor of the 18th of Elul – Chai Elul, the birthday of two great luminaries – the founder of the Chassidic movement, Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, and the founder of the Chabad movement, the Alter Rebbe, author of the Tanya and the Shulchan Aruch HaRav – a delegation of esteemed members of the Jewish Community of Dnipro traveled to Hadiach to visit the ohel of the founder of the Chabad movement, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe. At the resting place of the First Lubavitcher Rebbe, the representatives from Dnipro prayed on behalf of the entire Jewish community of the city, and also took part in a farbrengen dedicated to this special date on the Jewish calendar.
Visiting the ohel of a tzaddik holds a special place in Jewish tradition. It is an opportunity to turn to the Almighty in prayer at a holy site connected to the soul of a great righteous figure, to ask for blessing, to strengthen oneself in the observance of Torah and mitzvos, and to make good decisions for the future. Such a pilgrimage takes on special significance on days directly connected to the life and spiritual legacy of the tzaddik. Therefore, the opportunity to greet Chai Elul at the ohel of the Alter Rebbe was a deeply moving spiritual event for the representatives of the Jewish Community of Dnipro.
At the ohel of the Alter Rebbe, the members of the delegation prayed for the well-being of the Jews of Dnipro, for their families and loved ones, for those in need of help and support, and for the entire Jewish Community of Dnipro. This prayer was infused with a special sense of unity, stemming from the awareness that the community representatives had come to Hadiach not only on their own behalf: standing at the resting place of the founder of Chabad on his birthday, they felt themselves emissaries of the great Jewish family of Dnipro, turning to the Almighty with prayers and requests on its behalf.
An important part of the trip was the farbrengen, during which they spoke about the Alter Rebbe, his great spiritual legacy, and the Chabad teachings he founded, through which the deepest ideas of Chassidus are revealed through understanding and contemplation, becoming part of a person’s daily life. Chassidic niggunim were sung, and the participants shared reflections on the significance of Chai Elul and the responsibility that the Alter Rebbe’s legacy places on every person: to constantly increase in Torah and Chassidic study, in the observance of mitzvos, in love for one’s fellow, and in spreading the light of Yiddishkeit.
“It was very important for us, on Chai Elul, to gather together and come to Hadiach, to the ohel of the Alter Rebbe, to spend this special day in prayer, in the study of Chassidus, and in a true Chassidic farbrengen,” said Rafael Sapozhnikov, a respected member of the Jewish Community of Dnipro. “We came here not only with our own personal requests and hopes, but first and foremost as representatives of our community, to pray on behalf of the Jews of Dnipro, to ask for blessing, goodness, and success for them, and to feel even more strongly that we are all part of our beloved united and cohesive Jewish Community of Dnipro under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
