Chabad Bot: New page: Shmuel Kaminezki, Chabad chief rabbi of Dnipro since 1990; sourced (Chabad-side and independent labelled)

2026-10-20T12:22:59Z

New page: Shmuel Kaminezki, Chabad chief rabbi of Dnipro since 1990; sourced (Chabad-side and independent labelled)

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{{short description|'''Israeli-born Chabad-Lubavitch emissary and chief rabbi of Dnipro, Ukraine, since 1990'''}}

{{Infobox person
| name = Shmuel Kaminezki
| native_name = Шмуэль Каминецкий
| other_names = Shmuel Kaminetsky, Kamenetzki, Kamenetzky
| birth_date = 1965
| birth_place = Kfar Chabad, Israel
| education = Yeshiva in Lod; Rabbinical College of America, Morristown, New Jersey; rabbinic ordination 1988 (770 Eastern Parkway)
| occupation = Rabbi; [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement|Chabad-Lubavitch]] emissary
| known_for = Chief rabbi of Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk region; rebuilding of the Dnipro Jewish community; the [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)|Menorah Centre]]
| spouse = Chana (Khana) Kaminezki, née Lipsker (married 1989)
| children = Six daughters and three sons (community biography)
| organisations = Dnipro Jewish Community (chairman of the board); [[Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine]]; [[Jewish Relief Network Ukraine]] (advisory committee)
}}

Rabbi '''Shmuel Kaminezki''' (also spelled '''Kaminetsky''', '''Kamenetzki''' and '''Kamenetzky'''; born 1965) is a [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement|Chabad-Lubavitch]] emissary. He has been the rabbi of Dnipro (Dnepropetrovsk until 2016) in Ukraine since 1990, and is chief rabbi of the city and region.<ref name="FJCUKaminezki"/><ref name="DJC2025"/> Under him the Dnipro community, backed by the [[PrivatBank]] owners [[Gennadiy Bogolyubov]] and [[Ihor Kolomoisky]], built the [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)|Menorah Centre]], which opened in 2012.<ref name="JTA2008Dnepr"/><ref name="JTA2014Menorah"/> Dnipro is the headquarters of the [[Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine]],<ref name="JTA2024Dnipro"/> and since 2022 the community he leads has been a hub for Chabad's wartime evacuations and relief.<ref name="Chabad2022Dnipro"/> In 2008 the Kyiv magazine ''Focus'' listed him among the 15 most "powerful foreigners" in Ukraine.<ref name="Forward2022Two"/>

== Early life ==
According to his biography on the [[Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine|federation's]] site, Kaminezki was born in Kfar Chabad, Israel, in 1965; his parents had come there from the Soviet Union in 1946 "due to religious persecution". He studied at the yeshiva in Lod, and in 1981 went to the United States "to study with the Lubavitcher Rebbe" ([[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]]). He graduated from the Rabbinical College of America in Morristown, New Jersey, and taught there and at the yeshiva in New Haven, Connecticut. He received rabbinic ordination in 1988 at the yeshiva at [[770 Eastern Parkway]] and married Khana (Chana) Lipsker in 1989 (Chabad-side).<ref name="FJCUKaminezki"/> In a 2021 interview he said that his family were "businessmen" and that he "should have been sitting on Brighton Beach today ... managing buildings where emigrants from Odesa live" (translated from Russian).<ref name="Kstati2021"/>

== Arrival in Dnepropetrovsk ==
In 1990 the Rebbe sent Kaminezki and his wife to Dnepropetrovsk as his emissaries.<ref name="FJCUKaminezki"/> The Dnipro community dates his arrival to June 1990.<ref name="DJC2025"/> The city has a special place in [[Chabad-Lubavitch movement|Chabad]] history: the Rebbe's father, Rabbi [[Levi Yitzchak Schneerson]], had been its chief rabbi until his arrest.<ref name="Chabad2009Dnepr"/> Kaminezki said in 2021 that the head of the community in 1990, Grigory Korol, had written to the Rebbe inviting him to take his father's post, and that the Rebbe chose the young couple instead (translated from Russian).<ref name="Kstati2021"/>

His accounts of the early years, all Chabad-side or his own:
* "The rabbi's first office was located in the only synagogue kept open during Communist rule", which the KGB "controlled" (Chabad.org, 2009).<ref name="Chabad2009Dnepr"/>
* The couple came on a humanitarian visa and lived in a hotel under KGB watch; "the KGB immediately began to follow us" and "even the Jews were afraid of us!" (2021 interview, translated from Russian).<ref name="Kstati2021"/>
* Zelig Brez, later the community's executive director, said Kaminezki invited him to his first Shabbat meal: "This was the first time that I saw the Shabbat candles, a kiddush and challah."<ref name="Chabad2009Dnepr"/>

== Building the Dnipro community ==
In 2008 [[Jewish Telegraphic Agency|JTA]] described Kaminezki, then 43, as "the Chabad emissary who spurred the first wave of growth here after his arrival in 1990". It reported that "Three of Ukraine's four richest men are members of the city's Jewish community and they have bankrolled a raft of construction projects", and that [[Gennadiy Bogolyubov|Bogolubov]] headed a community "parliament" with a "$7 million annual budget". He told JTA: "The idea is to identify who can do what the best way, and squeeze them out and use them up as maximum as possible, in a good way." He also said: "We give the rebbe all the credit because he sent me here and he gave me a plan, and he told me how to work and he gave us blessings."<ref name="JTA2008Dnepr"/>

In 2009 he told [[Chabad.org]] that the growth was "all locally supported", with Bogolubov as "president of the community's board of directors, a group of 70 leaders". He added: "Just 500 meters from the cell where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak sat in jail, we have a synagogue with a school called the Rabbi Levi Yitzchak School. On the street where he was arrested, we are building the largest community center in the world."<ref name="Chabad2009Dnepr"/> By 2021 the community said it owned 20 buildings, including schools, an old people's home and eight synagogues, and that its education system reached 2,500 children (translated from Russian).<ref name="Kstati2021"/>

'''The Menorah Centre.''' Kaminezki led the community that built the [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)|Menorah Centre]], funded by [[Gennadiy Bogolyubov]] and [[Ihor Kolomoisky]] and opened in October 2012.<ref name="Chabad2012Menorah"/><ref name="JMHUM"/> He told JTA in 2014 that it was meant as "a great beacon of light that tells the Jews of Ukraine: 'We are here. Come join us. The time for hiding is over'", and: "Those who didn't want the rebbe and other Jews here now have a 22-story building celebrating their tradition ... That's the story of Ukraine's Jews."<ref name="JTA2014Menorah"/>

== Titles and standing ==
* The community and federation call him chief rabbi of Dnipro and the Dnipropetrovsk region and chairman of the board of the Dnipro Jewish community.<ref name="FJCUKaminezki"/>
* JTA in 2014 called him "one of the Chabad movement's most senior envoys to Ukraine".<ref name="JTA2014Menorah"/>
* The ''Forward'' called him "the chief rabbi of Ukraine's Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community", and reported that ''Focus'' had named him and Rabbi [[Yaakov Dov Bleich]] among the 15 most "powerful foreigners" in Ukraine in 2008.<ref name="Forward2022Two"/>
* In 2020 the Ukrainian Jewish Encounter described him as "the head of the Council of Hasidic Rabbis of Ukraine and a recognized authority in the Chabad world".<ref name="UJE2020Rabbis"/>
* [[Jewish Relief Network Ukraine]], the US-registered Chabad relief network, lists him on its advisory committee of Ukrainian rabbis.<ref name="JRNU"/>
No source found shows him claiming the national title "chief rabbi of Ukraine". In 2003 the Dnipro community welcomed the [[Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine|federation]]'s election of [[Azrael Haikin|Azriel Haikin]] to that post as "a milestone in the history of the rebirth of Jewish life in Ukraine".<ref name="Forward2003Haikin"/> See [[Chabad and Ukraine]] for the dispute.

== Links to the Privat partners and their associates ==
Kaminezki's community has been funded by [[Gennadiy Bogolyubov]] and [[Ihor Kolomoisky]] since the 1990s; the community's site says Bogolyubov was elected its president in 1998.<ref name="DJCGuideline"/> In 2008 JTA reported that Kaminezki had recently spent a Shabbat at Bogolubov's "second, glatt kosher home" in Vienna.<ref name="JTA2008Dnepr"/>

[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|RFE/RL]] reported in 2020 that [[Mordechai Korf]] arrived in Dnipro in 1991, a year after Kaminezki, and [[Uriel Laber]] in 1994. In a 2002 book Laber said Kaminezki had introduced him to his "Russian partners": "Without [Kaminezki] saying that 'this is an honest person' we wouldn't have known."<ref name="RFERL2020"/> Korf and Laber were later named in US civil forfeiture complaints as associates of Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov; those complaints are allegations.<ref name="DOJ2020"/>

'''Legal status.''' No proceedings against Kaminezki himself were found. Kolomoisky and Bogolyubov have been held civilly liable in England for the misappropriation of [[PrivatBank]] funds (a civil judgment, not a conviction), and Kolomoisky is in pre-trial detention in Ukraine on criminal charges that have not led to a conviction as of October 2026.<ref name="EWCA2026"/><ref name="Guardian2023"/> Details, with each status kept separate, are on [[Chabad and Ukraine]] and [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)]].

:''Editor's note: RFE/RL's account of Laber's 2002 book is second-hand; the book itself was not seen. No source found says that Kaminezki knew of, or took part in, any of the transactions at issue in the PrivatBank cases.''

== Since 2022 ==
After the Russian invasion, [[Chabad.org]] wrote that it was "only natural" for Dnipro, "led by the city's chief rabbi and Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki", to become "the center of refugee and aid activities for the Jews of eastern Ukraine" (Chabad-side).<ref name="Chabad2022Dnipro"/> In 2024 JTA reported that the community had lost "many of the sources of income that allowed it to be fully self-sufficient before the conflict" but kept its schools, clinics and Menorah Centre running.<ref name="JTA2024Dnipro"/> In March 2025 the community marked his 60th birthday in the Menorah Centre.<ref name="DJC2025"/>

:''Editor's note: his exact date of birth was not found; the community's 60th-birthday celebration in March 2025 is consistent with a birth in 1965. The site spells his name "Kaminetsky"; Chabad.org and JTA use "Kaminezki" and "Kamenetzki".''

== Timeline ==
{| class="wikitable"
! Year !! Event
|-
| 1965 || Born in Kfar Chabad, Israel
|-
| 1981 || Goes to the United States to study
|-
| 1988 || Rabbinic ordination
|-
| 1989 || Marries Chana Lipsker
|-
| June 1990 || Arrives in Dnepropetrovsk as Chabad emissary
|-
| 2008 || ''Focus'' lists him among Ukraine's 15 most "powerful foreigners"
|-
| October 2012 || [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)|Menorah Centre]] opens
|-
| 2014 || Community shelters refugees from the Donbas
|-
| 2022 || Dnipro becomes a Chabad evacuation hub
|-
| March 2025 || Community marks his 60th birthday
|}

== See also ==
* [[Menorah Centre (Dnipro)]]
* [[Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine]]
* [[Chabad and Ukraine]]
* [[Chabad Lubavitch of Ukraine]]
* [[Moshe Reuven Azman]]

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="FJCUKaminezki">[https://www.fjc.org.ua/templates/articlecco_cdo/aid/1572348/jewish/Dnipro-Shmuel-Kaminetsky.htm "Dnipro: Shmuel Kaminetsky"], Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, consulted 20 October 2026. Chabad-side; self-published.</ref>
<ref name="DJC2025">[https://djc.com.ua/en/news/the-community-celebrates-the-anniversary-of-its-chief-rabbi/ "The community celebrates the anniversary of its Chief Rabbi!"], Dnipro Jewish Community, 16 March 2025. Chabad-side; self-published.</ref>
<ref name="DJCGuideline">[https://djc.com.ua/en/guideline/ "Guideline"], Dnipro Jewish Community, consulted 20 October 2026. Chabad-side; self-published.</ref>
<ref name="Kstati2021">[https://kstati.dp.ua/ru/obschestvo/ravvin-shmuel-kamineckiy-kogda-ya-priekhal-v-dnepropetrovsk-evrei-uvidev-menya "Раввин Шмуэль Каминецкий: «Когда я приехал в Днепропетровск, евреи, увидев меня, переходили на другую сторону улицы – боялись»"] (Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky: "When I came to Dnepropetrovsk, Jews crossed to the other side of the street when they saw me – they were afraid"), ''Kstati+'' (from ''Informator''), 17 March 2021. In Russian. Interview. Originals: "моя семья — бизнесмены"; "Я должен был сегодня сидеть на Брайтон-Бич на берегу океана и руководить домами, в которых живут эмигранты из Одессы"; "Глава общины в 1990 году Григорий Натанович Король написал Любавическому Ребе письмо"; "Мы с женой приехали по гуманитарной визе. КГБ сразу начал следить за нами"; "даже евреи нас боялись!"; "Сегодня в Днепре 20 принадлежащих общине зданий"; "Система еврейского образования охватывает 2,5 тыс. детей".</ref>
<ref name="Chabad2009Dnepr">Dini Harris, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/1012545/jewish/Ukraine-Community-Transformed.htm "Ukraine Community Transformed 20 Years After Leaders Arrive"], Chabad.org, 19 October 2009 (a version first appeared in ''Hamodia''). Chabad-side.</ref>
<ref name="JTA2008Dnepr">[https://www.jta.org/2008/09/25/global/ukraine-city-building-toward-prominence "Ukraine city building toward prominence"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', 25 September 2008.</ref>
<ref name="JTA2014Menorah">Cnaan Liphshiz, [https://www.jta.org/2014/10/01/global/giant-ukraine-jcc-provides-shelter-from-the-storm-in-style "Giant Ukraine JCC provides shelter from the storm – in style"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', 1 October 2014.</ref>
<ref name="Chabad2012Menorah">Tamar Runyan, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/1991671/jewish/Largest-Jewish-Center-Opens.htm "World's Largest Jewish Center Opens in Dnepropetrovsk"], Chabad.org, 17 October 2012. Chabad-side.</ref>
<ref name="JMHUM">[https://jmhum.org/en/about/history "Concept and history"], Museum "Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine", consulted 20 October 2026. Self-published by the museum.</ref>
<ref name="Chabad2022Dnipro">Mendel Super, [https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/5439708/jewish/Rocket-Attacks-on-Dnipro-Intensify-Jewish-Community-Evacuating-Hundreds-Daily.htm "Rocket Attacks on Dnipro Intensify, Jewish Community Evacuating Hundreds Daily"], Chabad.org, 15 March 2022. Chabad-side.</ref>
<ref name="JTA2024Dnipro">Marcel Gascón Barberá, [https://www.jta.org/2024/08/26/global/baking-matzah-and-defying-blackouts-dnipros-jews-press-on-despite-the-grind-of-russias-war-on-ukraine "Baking matzah and defying blackouts, Dnipro's Jews press on despite the grind of Russia's war on Ukraine"], ''Jewish Telegraphic Agency'', 26 August 2024.</ref>
<ref name="Forward2022Two">Jacob Kornbluh, [https://forward.com/news/483355/chief-rabbi-ukraine-yaakov-bleich-moshe-azman/ "Meet the two men who claim to be chief rabbi of Ukraine"], ''The Forward'', 3 March 2022.</ref>
<ref name="Forward2003Haikin">[https://forward.com/news/8168/rabbinical-election-stirs-confusion-in-ukraine/ "Rabbinical Election Stirs Confusion in Ukraine"], ''The Forward'', September 2003.</ref>
<ref name="UJE2020Rabbis">Shimon Briman, [https://ukrainianjewishencounter.org/en/the-spiritual-leaders-of-ukraines-jewish-community/ "The spiritual leaders of Ukraine's Jewish community"], Ukrainian Jewish Encounter, 28 May 2020.</ref>
<ref name="JRNU">[https://www.jrnu.org/ Jewish Relief Network Ukraine], home page (staff and advisory committee list), consulted 20 October 2026. Chabad-side; self-published.</ref>
<ref name="RFERL2020">Todd Prince, [https://www.rferl.org/a/how-two-us-religious-aid-workers-may-have-helped-a-ukrainian-tycoon-launder-millions/30791782.html "How Two U.S. Religious Aid Workers May Have Helped A Ukrainian Tycoon Launder Millions"], Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 19 August 2020. Critical.</ref>
<ref name="DOJ2020">[https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-seeks-forfeiture-two-commercial-properties-purchased-funds-misappropriated "Justice Department Seeks Forfeiture of Two Commercial Properties Purchased with Funds Misappropriated from PrivatBank in Ukraine"], US Department of Justice, 6 August 2020. Primary source (allegations).</ref>
<ref name="EWCA2026">''JSC Commercial Bank PrivatBank v Kolomoisky & Anor'' [2026] EWCA Civ 658 (22 May 2026). [https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2026/658.html BAILII]. Primary source.</ref>
<ref name="Guardian2023">[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/03/ukrainian-oligarch-ihor-kolomoisky-detained-on-suspicion-of-and-money-laundering "Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky detained on suspicion of fraud and money laundering"], ''The Guardian'', 3 September 2023.</ref>
</references>

[[Category:Chabad-Lubavitch|Kaminezki, Shmuel]]

Shmuel Kaminezki - Revision history

Chabad Bot: New page: Shmuel Kaminezki, Chabad chief rabbi of Dnipro since 1990; sourced (Chabad-side and independent labelled)