In a rare communal event in the western Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr, six Jewish boys underwent circumcision one after another during a summer camp organized for Jewish children.
The ritual circumcisions, known in Hebrew as brit milah, were held as part of the Gan Israel YEKA summer camp and took place under medical supervision, according to local community leaders. Educators and members of the city’s Jewish community were also present.
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Members of the Jewish community in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, gather to celebrate after six boys underwent ritual circumcision during a summer camp program
The boys, all from Jewish families, are students at the Or Avner-Chabad Jewish school in Zhytomyr, which provides a framework for Jewish children, including those without family support.
Community leaders said circumcisions are performed periodically in Zhytomyr, but an event in which six boys undergo the ritual together is highly unusual.
“This was an extraordinary moment for us,” said Rabbi Shlomo Wilhelm, who has led the Zhytomyr Jewish community for three decades. “Six children in one day, in the heart of war-torn Ukraine, choosing circumcision — it is not something we take for granted. Each child felt a deep, personal connection to Judaism, and it came from their own initiative.”
The circumcisions marked the highlight of the summer camp, which was organized in cooperation with the Chabad-affiliated Jewish Relief Network Ukraine. The Zhytomyr camp is one of several Jewish summer programs operating across Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, drawing thousands of children and offering educational, cultural and religious activities despite the ongoing war.