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Russian Strike Severely Damages Kherson Synagogue as Rabbi Escapes Minutes Earlier

The Jewish community says it will repair the 1895 building, which also serves as a humanitarian hub.

Overview

  • Local Chabad officials report a direct hit on Kherson’s central synagogue on Oct. 23, with the projectile tearing through the roof and sanctuary into the rabbi’s office.
  • No casualties were reported, though staff and a displaced resident were inside the building at the time of the strike.
  • Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Wolff had left the synagogue minutes earlier to help affix a mezuzah, a near miss he described as providential.
  • Images and accounts describe an approximately five‑foot tube resembling the cargo section of a Russian cluster munition, a detail not independently verified.
  • The synagogue doubles as Kherson’s Jewish community center and aid distribution site, and leaders say services and relief work will continue; separate reports note injuries in Kyiv and damage to the Podil synagogue, and Ukrainians claim a Kherson kindergarten building was also hit with 48 children evacuated.