Moldova is about to inaugurate a chief rabbi after 12 years of the role being unfilled, Rabbi Zushe Abelsky, head Chabad shliach in Moldova, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Axelrod has been chief rabbi of the country in an unofficial capacity for the last decade. Most of his children have been born in the country, and Abelsky said he is a “very well-known figure in the community” who “everybody likes.”
Axelrod was elected by all streams of Judaism in Moldova. After the ceremony on Wednesday, August 12, he will represent the country’s community in an international and legal capacity.
The last person in the Moldovan chief rabbi post was Abelsky’s father, who was sent to the European nation by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in 1990 to reestablish Jewish life there. Rabbi Zalman Abelsky served as the chief rabbi until his death in 2014.
During his tenure, Rabbi Zalman Abelsky built a Jewish ecosystem from zero: kosher food, Jewish education, and religious services.
After his father died, Abelsky stepped in to coordinate Jewish life in the country.
Chabad has played an instrumental role for Moldova's Jewish community
Today, there are five Chabad shluchim families in the country, split across two cities: Chisinau and Bender. There are two Chabad synagogues – one in each of those two cities – but the shluchim are responsible for Jews in over 18 cities, some of which have a community of just 10 Jews.
There are also non-Chabad communities and temples, but Abelsky said Chabad is the most dominant religious group in the country. While some official estimates say there are 10,000-15,000 Jews in the country, Abelsky said it is more likely to be 5,000-7,000.
Moldova also receives about 10,000 Jewish pilgrims a year on their way to Uman in Ukraine, with around 5,000 coming around Rosh Hashanah.
Chabad has played an instrumental role in Moldova since the outbreak of war in neighboring Ukraine in 2022, providing support for refugees, coordinating travel, and, in general, providing a base for those without one.
Following the Russian invasion, the Moldovan Jewish community absorbed thousands of refugees, though the number has since reduced. To start with, people were arriving in Chisinau with just a suitcase, having left everything behind, Abelsky told the Post.
“Some nights, we had 600, 700 people staying with us,” he said. “They would come from Ukraine, stop in the synagogue, eat something. Usually they stayed there a week or two, and they left, and we got new people.
“We had to help some people with clothing, some people with mental issues and stress. We had to make sure that they were in the right place before leaving us.”
Chabad brings Jewish connection to remote communities
Abelsky stressed that no community is too small to be of importance to Chabad.
“From the 18 communities we serve, only four of them are substantial communities. The rest are just a few Jews. Some of them have a synagogue and open it once a year. Some of them have nothing.
“The only real connection to Yiddishkeit is when we come to visit them. It’s beautiful, and that’s why it’s so important. I feel that that’s the biggest thing we do here. It’s hessed shel emet [kindness shown to someone who cannot repay the act]. If you don’t remind people that it’s Rosh Hashanah soon, they’re not going to remember.”
On Passover, for example, Chabad distributed 1,000 shmurah matzah boxes to Jews in the country.
“It’s incredible, you give them hope,” Abelsky said. “They feel connected.”
The community is also expanding. Last year, it opened its first ritual bath for women – Mikveh Liel – and there are now plans to build a Jewish campus next to the synagogue. Abelsky hopes it will feature a restaurant, classrooms, and other important facilities.
The central theme of Chabad Jewish life in the country is continuity. Abelsky said the community is being built for generations to come, with a sense of permanence and belonging.
“I once heard from a smart man that in every country where there’s an ambassador, they are limited [in tenure] to eight years. Why? Because they’re scared that the person might integrate in the place he’s going to. He might get married to someone over there. Share secrets. After eight years, you want him back. So the only one who had trust in these people, who told them ‘go ahead,’ was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. He told them to move to a country. ‘You stay there till your last day. Till Mashiach comes. And you should adapt their customs and work according to their customs.
“‘I’m not scared that you’ll become a part of them,’ the Rebbe said. ‘I know that you’ll make them a part of us.’
“We are connected to the community. We give them our emotions. They give us our emotions. And that’s the beautiful part,” Abelsky said.