Posted on 08/08/25
| News Source: Arutz-7
A historic synagogue in Odessa, Ukraine, sustained significant damage following a Russian drone strike this week, one of several Jewish sites caught up in intense bombardments this summer.
The Nachlas Eliezer Synagogue in the Peresyp district of Odessa, which was built in 1898 and served the Jewish community until it was closed in the 1920s under Soviet rule, was struck Monday evening by a Russian suicide drone.
The strike caused a large fire in the building, which had already partially collapsed in 1992, according to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine. No injuries were reported.
“This sacred building, constructed at the end of the 19th century, served as a place of prayer, hope, and spiritual strength for the Jewish community of Odesa,” wrote Rabbi Moshe Azman, a leading rabbi in Ukraine, in a post on X. “Today, once again, we have witnessed how war affects not only people but also holy sites and our historical memory.”
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, the exiled chief rabbi of Moscow and the president of the Conference of European Rabbis, urged European leaders to “speak out and condemn this assault on faith and history” in a post on X.
The strike on the historic synagogue marks the latest attack on Ukrainian Jewish community spaces as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues after nearly three and a half years, with this summer bringing some of the heaviest, and deadliest, bombardments yet.