A Russian missile struck the Jewish cemetery in the city of Pervomaisk, located in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, on Tuesday afternoon. Footage from the site shows multiple fires erupting across various areas within the cemetery following the attack.
The strike hit the Bohopol cemetery, the largest of Pervomaisk’s five Jewish burial grounds. The cemetery is named after the town of Bohopol, which was eventually incorporated as a neighborhood within Pervomaisk. Before the devastation of the Holocaust, the area was home to an estimated 30,000 Jews.
Among those interred at Bohopol are several prominent rabbonim, including Rav Yisrael HaKadosh of Bohopol and Rav Mordechai of Tolna. At this stage, it remains uncertain whether their graves sustained any damage in the strike.
In 2004, Chabad Rabbi Levi-Yitzchak and Rebbetzin Hannah Perlstein arrived in Pervomaisk, reopening the synagogue and working to rebuild the local Jewish community. Today, the Jewish population in the city is roughly 2,000, and a mikveh is scheduled to be inaugurated there next month.
Rabbi Perlstein commented on the situation, saying: “Firefighters recently arrived at the cemetery to put out several fires that broke out there and caused extensive damage to the tombstones. We are trying to assess the damage with the aim of treating the sanctity of the deceased. We are here on behalf of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and nothing will deter us and our brothers who are sent forth with dedication throughout the country.”
Rabbi Meir Stambler, chairman of the Jewish communities in Ukraine, condemned the attack, stating: “This is the fourth attack on the Jewish community in Ukraine in a month. As you may recall, just last week the synagogue in Odessa was hit, about three weeks ago the house of Rabbi Moshe Weber, a Chabad emissary, was hit in Dnipro, and a few days earlier the car of Rabbi Yossi Wolf, the rabbi of Kherson, was hit by a direct hit from a drone. Thank God, in all the cases I mentioned, by great miracles, there were no physical injuries. It is necessary to put an end to Russian terrorism, which is causing loss of life and great damage throughout Ukraine. We pray for peace and redemption.”
{Matzav.com}
