Chabad emissary makes full recovery
Rabbi Ovadia Isakov, who was shot about three months ago in Dagestan, attends annual Chabad conference in Brooklyn. 'I found rabbis from around the world telling me I was inspiring them,' he says
Sherif Akhmedov, who was suspected of shooting Isakov, was hunted down by Russian security forces and killed in late September. According to suspicions, he opened fire on Isakov on July 24 at the entrance to his home in the city of Derbent, near the Chechnya border.
Isakov was evacuated to a local hospital and was later flown to Israel and treated at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva.
Rabbi Ovadia Isakov during hospitalization (Photo: Yaron Kelner)
Isakov (L) standing on both feet (Photo: Y. Belinko, Chabad On Line website)
“My doctor thought it would be a good idea to (attend the Chabad event) after hearing how inspiring it was for me,” Isakov told the New York Post at the gathering in Sunset Park near Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood, which draws thousands of Orthodox rabbis.
“Thank God I can say that I’m doing very well,” Isakov said. “If I strain myself too much, I have pain. But I rest as much as I can.”
Isakov said he had attended the pilgrimage to Brooklyn many times before, but that this year he was surprised to find that he himself was a source of encouragement for many of the 5,000 Chabad emissaries arriving at the event.
“I came to gain inspiration from them,” he told the New York Post about the other attendees. “But I found that rabbis from around the world were putting their arms on my shoulder and telling me I was inspiring them — something I never expected.”
