{"id":384846,"date":"2025-05-19T16:51:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T14:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/djc.com.ua\/news\/a-touching-lag-baomer-story-at-the-alter-shul-synagogue\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T17:00:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:00:36","slug":"a-touching-lag-baomer-story-at-the-alter-shul-synagogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djc.com.ua\/en\/news\/a-touching-lag-baomer-story-at-the-alter-shul-synagogue\/","title":{"rendered":"A Touching Lag BaOmer Story at the \u201cAlter Shul\u201d Synagogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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This year\u2019s Lag BaOmer celebration became truly extraordinary for 59-year-old Chaim Yisroel \u2014 a man with three past convictions, no home, and no close relatives, seemingly destined for a lonely old age. Like many others, it was the Jewish Community of Dnipro that saved his life and became his family. For five years, Chaim Yisroel lived on the streets \u2014 until he found a new life at the \u201cGood Future\u201d Center, established by the Jewish Community of Dnipro for people like him, in the historic \u201cAlter Shul\u201d synagogue building. <\/p>

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Together with other participants of the \u201cGood Future\u201d program and congregants of the \u201cAlter Shul,\u201d Chaim Yisroel joined a Lag BaOmer outing outside the city. The celebration turned out to be one of the brightest and most inspiring days of his life. Rabbi Adam Smiliansky, leader of the \u201cAlter Shul\u201d and one of the Lubavitcher Rebbe\u2019s emissaries in Dnipro, once again helped the congregants \u2014 many of whom have experienced great hardship \u2014 to put on tefillin and organized a joyful outdoor celebration in nature. The picnic brought together relaxation from everyday worries with deep spiritual meaning \u2014 learning about the history and themes of Lag BaOmer, enjoying archery, fishing, dancing, and heartfelt conversation.
The day\u2019s highlight was a real Chassidic farbrengen, with food cooked over an open fire by the participants themselves \u2014 one of the cherished traditions of Lag BaOmer. <\/p>

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\u201cOur congregants can only live full and meaningful lives thanks to the Jewish Community of Dnipro and the tireless care of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki,\u201d shared Rabbi Adam Smiliansky. \u201cTake Chaim Yisroel, for example \u2014 his story says it all. He gave up drugs, had a bris, now participates in daily prayers, wears tefillin, studies Torah, and is actively rejoining society. Not long ago, he was on the brink of death \u2014 his health ruined, with no future and no hope. What saved him? Maybe it was the childhood memory of his mother pointing at a synagogue and saying, \u2018Our G-d lives here\u2019? That memory showed him the way \u2014 but it was the Jewish Community of Dnipro that saved his life, by opening the \u2018Good Future\u2019 center and giving him a home in one of the city\u2019s most beautiful and historic synagogues \u2014 the renowned \u2018Alter Shul\u2019 on Kotsyubynskoho Street.\u201d <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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This year\u2019s Lag BaOmer celebration became truly extraordinary for 59-year-old Chaim Yisroel \u2014 a man with three past convictions, no home, and no close relatives, seemingly destined for a lonely old age. Like many others, it was the Jewish Community of Dnipro that saved his life and became his family. For five years, Chaim Yisroel … A Touching Lag BaOmer Story at the \u201cAlter Shul\u201d Synagogue<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":384781,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Touching Lag BaOmer Story at the \u201cAlter Shul\u201d Synagogue - DJC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/djc.com.ua\/en\/news\/a-touching-lag-baomer-story-at-the-alter-shul-synagogue\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Touching Lag BaOmer Story at the \u201cAlter Shul\u201d Synagogue - DJC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This year\u2019s Lag BaOmer celebration became truly extraordinary for 59-year-old Chaim Yisroel \u2014 a man with three past convictions, no home, and no close relatives, seemingly destined for a lonely old age. 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