Rabbi Ovadia Isakov makes the long trek every year from his home in Derbent, Dagestan, to Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., to participate in the annual International Conference of Chabad Lubavitch Emissaries. This year Isakov, who directs Chabad-Lubavitch of Derbent, feels particularly fortunate to attend: On July 24, 2013, the rabbi was shot and critically injured by Muslim extremists as he exited his car and prepared to enter his home.
“The scene replays itself in my head each day,” says Isakov. “It’s like a video.”
Isakov, who has served as the Chabad emissary in Dagestan for the past eight years, was airlifted to Israel for medical treatment shortly after the attack. Since being released in early August from Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, Israel, he has been recuperating in Tzfat, after being joined by his wife and co-director of Chabad of Derbent, Chaya Miriam, and their five children.
“My wife and I have been in contact with our community the whole time,” says Isakov. “There is a minyan taking place each day in the synagogue, and the mikvah and preschool are continuing to function, thank G‑d.”
Dagestan is a predominantly Muslim province the north Caucuses and has been a center of Islamic terrorist activity. July’s attack was not the first on Derbent’s Jewish community; a bomb was thrown into the synagogue’s courtyard in October of 2012, but did not injure anyone.
Strengthened by Colleagues’ Encouragement
In New York for the conference, Isakov says he feels strengthened by the encouragement from his fellow Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
“The first thing that every shliach that I meet here asks me is how I’m feeling,” he says. “The second thing they share is that since the attack, they’ve led their congregations around the world in praying for me and my family. I get an immense amount of strength from that.”
At the conference banquet on Nov. 3 at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal, Isakov was honored by his peers by leading the estimated 5,200 attendees in reading “the Rebbe’s psalm,” Psalm 112, which marks the number of years since the birth of the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory.
“When I come to New York, I feel like I am getting more strength and blessings from the Rebbe to continue in my work. To remain alive after what happened to me is a big miracle. It’s an even bigger miracle that I can be here with all of my fellow shluchim. I feel very privileged.”
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