“We come from different places… different states, different countries… but when we sit together, we share one language — the language of compassion.”
One of the most moving parts of this journey is the community itself. Our group is not made of people from one town or one background. We come from different states, and even from different countries. Each of us carries our own story, our own accent, our own way of seeing the world.
And yet… when we gather for class, something remarkable happens. All these voices blend. All these paths converge. We realize that our differences are not obstacles but gifts. Each person adds a new color to the tapestry, a new note to the melody.
Sarah Bowen brings us together. She opens the door and creates a space where love for animals and love for people meet. And I feel blessed to sit among these companions — people who are not only kind to animals but, through that kindness, learn to understand human beings more deeply.
It reminds me of Torah. The people of Israel were gathered at Sinai — men and women, elders and children, leaders and strangers. Each heard the Divine voice in their own way… and yet it was one covenant. So too in our small circle: each of us hears and sees differently, but together we learn the same lesson of compassion.
The Talmud teaches: “All Israel is responsible for one another” — kol Yisrael arevim zeh la-zeh. And perhaps, in our time, this truth extends further: we are also responsible for the creatures who share the earth with us.
So I write these words with gratitude… for the many voices, the many journeys, the many hearts that come together. Different places. Different lives. And one shared path — the path of chaplaincy, the path of mercy.
Rabbi Moshe (Mikhail) Salita is a Brooklyn-based rabbi, legal scholar, and emerging animal chaplain whose work unites Jewish spirituality, international law, and compassion for all living beings.
He holds a Master’s in International Law (with honors) from the National University “Odesa Law Academy,” where he is currently a PhD student researching the restitution of unlawfully confiscated Jewish communal property in Soviet Ukraine. He also earned a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute (New York) and a Master’s in Education and Special Education from Touro University, with graduate certificates in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Bilingual Education.
Rabbi Salita is an ordained rabbi of the Jewish Spiritual Leaders Institute (JSLI), a Doctor of Ministry student in Jewish Spirituality at the Graduate Theological Foundation, and an Animal Chaplain-in-Training with the Compassion Consortium in New York. His mission is to weave together justice, mercy, and creation care into one sacred path of Tikkun Olam — healing the moral and spiritual wounds of the world.
He serves as Executive Director of the Salita Foundation, originally founded by his brother, Dmitriy Salita — former WBF World Champion boxer, and inductee of both the New York Boxing Hall of Fame and the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Today, Rabbi Salita leads the Foundation toward a broader vision — uniting humanitarian ethics, environmental awareness, and cultural restitution.
Through the Foundation, he has launched the “Eco-Kosher Initiative,” a global program encouraging support for businesses and individuals who respect the environment, animals, and their communities. For him, “eco-kosher” is not limited to food — it is a moral philosophy of living in balance with creation, where sustainability and holiness walk hand in hand.
He is also devoted to preserving and gaining international recognition for the rare Israeli cat breed Kanaani — a living symbol of harmony between Jewish heritage and the natural world.
A descendant of Sruel ben Aharon Lekhtman, a Ruzhiner Hasid and brick-factory owner in Kitai-Gorod, Kamianets-Podilskyi — once a spiritual heart of the Ruzhin Hasidic movement in Tsarist-era Ukraine — Rabbi Salita continues his ancestor’s legacy of faith, integrity, and bridge-building. Sruel Lekhtman served as a close friend and estate manager for Pan Dembitsky, a Polish landowner remembered with respect in both Jewish and Ukrainian memory. Their friendship, crossing lines of faith and culture, remains a profound symbol of coexistence — especially meaningful for Ukraine today.
Although Rabbi Salita received Reform rabbinic education in the spirit of Jewish Universalism, he maintains a deep spiritual connection with Chabad, whose living Hasidic tradition unites intellect, compassion, and joy.
Following the example of the prophets — from Adam, the first caretaker of creation, to King Solomon, who understood the language of animals, and to Rav Papa, the sage who spoke kindly of cats — Rabbi Salita teaches that true holiness is revealed through compassion for all living beings. His life’s work is to show that caring for animals and serving God are one and the same sacred breath.
