September 10^th was the first yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yossie Raichik (ob"m), the Director of Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl. 

On September 10th, as we celebrated the inspiring life of Yossie Raichik, we also celebrated the miraculous arrival of CCOC’s 88^th rescue mission.  We are thrilled to announce that, as a result of your generosity, another 14 children were rescued from the devastated region of Chernobyl!   

Yossie’s legacy lives on through the children.  Although he is no longer with us, his heroic mission continues.

While reminiscing about our dear Yossie, we realized an incredible numerological coincidence.  Yossie began the CCOC project in 1990 and worked on it for exactly 18 years.  18 symbolizes life, or chai, the Hebrew numerological equivalent of 18.  In those 18 years, Yossie was responsible for rescuing 81 flights of children.  Reversing the number 81 is, of course, 18.  Furthermore, on those 81 flights, there were exactly 2,547 children— if we add the digits 2, 5, 4, and 7, the sum total is 18.  Yossie brought life to 2,547 children.  No easy feat to do in any lifetime— he accomplished in 55 years what most of us do not accomplish in an entire lifetime.  His accomplishments certainly exceeded his years. 

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