Since the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Rabbi Hillel Cohen has organized no less than 17 circumcisions, or brit milah, but his latest few were extra special since they were done for Jewish soldiers in the Ukrainian army.
It all began when Andrey Sukoltsky — a Ukrainian soldier of Jewish descent — contacted the rabbi and told him he wanted to join the covenant of Abraham.
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Ukrainian soldier Andrey Sukoltsky and Rabbi Hillel Cohen
(Photo: Courtesy of Besht Kinder)
"The fact I help Ukrainian soldiers spreads by word of mouth," Cohen said.
"I've arranged everything. I flew in the mohel (circumciser) Aharon Kramer from Beitar Illit. He arrived here through Romania and left through Krakow, Poland. I covered all the expenses."
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Sukoltsky (lying down) and his commander Binyamin Hamra
(Photo: Courtesy of Besht Kinder)
Sukoltsky was circumcised in a designated brit milah room near the gravesite of the founder of Hasidic Judaism, the Baal Shem Tov, in Medzhybizh. After the completion of the ceremony, Sukoltsky embraced his Jewish commander Binyamin Hamra.
A day earlier, Kramer also performed four more brit milahs on Jewish refugees from eastern Ukraine, but after Sukoltsky's brit, the flood gates opened.
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Sukoltsky and Hamra embrace after the former's brit milah
(Photo: Courtesy of Besht Kinder)
"I called my mohel brother Naftali who already performed a brit in Odesa in the first week of the war," says Rabbi Cohen.
"I am privileged to have organized around 1,000 brits for Jews across Ukraine over the years. This is a great mitzvah.
Today, I am approached by refugees and soldiers for whom the war has done something and brought them close to Judaism. They seek religious services and I care for them."