Boy Killed in Accident Remembered For His Sacrifice in Kyiv

By COLlive reporter

The levaya of Yoel Dovid Lenau OBM, the 9-year-old child of Ukraine Shluchim who was killed in a terrible accident in Israel took place on Wednesday evening in Jerusalem. He was laid to rest at Har Hamenuchos.

The driver that hit the young boy is being questioned by the police and is suspected of reckless driving. He was released on house arrest after being questioned.

Yoel Dovid’s family has lived in Kyiv for the past 10 years, serving as Chabad Shluchim in various capacities. Yoel Dovid is the second child, his elder brother will be celebrating his Bar Mitzvah in the next few months.

In recent months, since Russia intensified its war on Ukraine, the Lenau family has been staying in Jerusalem. Rabbi Lenau served as a Rov and Posek in Kyiv and gives many shiurim. For Sukkos, he returned to Kyiv with his 2 older children – Yoel Dovid and his brother – to assist in his community.

A picture of Yoel Dovid and his father doing Mivtzoim over Sukkos went viral on social media. A video clip showed Yoel Dovid dancing with his father and others at a Simchas Beis Hashoeva event in Kyiv.

“Yoel Dovid was born into the world of Shlichus,” says Rabbi Mordechai Levenhartz, a Shliach in Kyiv and a close friend of the family, in a conversation with COLlive.com, following the accident.

“People always say that Hashem takes the best ones, and this is true in the case of Yoel Dovid. He was an incredible child, the best that I have encountered. All his teachers and all those that knew him loved him and spoke highly of him. He was well-behaved and intelligent. During this past Sukkos, he spent the entire time running around doing Mivtzoim and helping others to bentch Lulav and Esrog.”

Rabbi Levenhartz continued, “On Sukkos, he stayed with his family in the school building and would run to the shelter each time he heard a siren. The rest of us were already used to the sirens and did not run to the shelters, however, Yoel Dovid would run each time the siren blared.”

Rabbi Lenau was in Cyprus participating in welcoming a new Torah scroll dedicated by a friend of his, Rabbi Levenhartz said. Upon hearing about the accident, the father rushed to Israel.

“The entire Chabad family in Ukraine is shocked and mourning and feeling the pain during this time of tragedy,” Rabbi Levenhartz said. “We are here to support the family in any way we can.”

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