It was the second time in two months that the shul has been hit by Russian munitions. A bomb landed metres away from the building in January, injuring a different security guard.
A still from the footage in the aftermath of the strike showing a man sweeping broken glass around a door of the Tikva synagogue[Missing Credit]
Tikva’s CEO Refael Kruskal said: “The attack by Russians on a vibrant and active Jewish synagogue which was closed for 80 years during the communist era is a second attempt by the Russians – once through communism and this time through bombing and terror to force Jewish life in Odesa to discontinue.
“The Russians were unsuccessful the first time and we promise they will be unsuccessful again. We pledge to rebuild Odesa to become even bigger and stronger than before the attack.”
Odesa, a port city located 275 miles south of Kyiv, is currently home to between 40,000 and 45,000 Jews, Tikva estimates. It also continues to support over 1,000 refugees who have fled to Bucharest since the outbreak of war in 2022.
Tikva’s UK CEO Karen Bodenstein said: “This news is devastating. The synagogue is not just a place of worship, it is a hub of support, resilience, and community gathering.”
Referencing the previous attack in January, she said that “to see it damaged again, and essential food supplies destroyed, is heartbreaking”.
“Despite this, our commitment remains unwavering,” she continued. “We will rebuild, restock, and continue our vital work.”
A still from the footage in the aftermath of the strike showing a window broken above the food packages ready to be distributed around the community[Missing Credit]
Currently in Odesa, Tikva is responsible for serving nearly 5,000 hot kosher meals daily, teaching more than 200 children enrolled in its schools, and caring for more than 1,000 elderly people in the community.
Long before the current war, Odesa had a thriving Jewish community in the 19th century. In 1897, Jews were estimated to comprise 37 per cent of its population.
However, more than 80 per cent of the city’s 210,000-strong pre-war Jewish community was murdered by the Romanian authorities under Nazi occupation during the Shoah.
Tikva was founded by Rabbi Shlomo Baksht when he rescued six Jewish children from a state orphanage in Odesa in 1993 and opened a children’s home, which has stayed at the core of its operations.
Before the current war began in 2022, there were more than 300 children’s homes open under the Tikva umbrella in Odesa.
