Dear brothers and sisters,
Yom Kippur has ended. The candles have burned down, the melodies of Kol Nidrei and Ne’ilah still echo in our souls, and we return to life—renewed, cleansed, and united.
For us, the Jewish people, Yom Kippur is not only a personal reckoning but also a collective return. Our tradition teaches that when the Torah was given at Sinai, all Jewish souls were present—those who once lived, those alive today, and even those yet to be born. We are bound across time: one people, one neshamah (soul), one Shekhinah (Divine Presence).
These words are not merely poetic. In Kabbalah (Arizal, Sha’ar HaGilgulim), it is taught that all of Israel originates from one root-soul, divided into countless sparks. And the Zohar explains that the Shekhinah is the collective soul of Israel—suffering and rejoicing together with the people. Thus, when we say “one soul, one Shekhinah,” we affirm a spiritual reality: the Jewish people and the Divine Presence are inseparable.
Today we stand in the year 5786. Through thousands of years we have endured exiles and trials: pogroms, the Inquisition, the Holocaust. We have suffered deeply, yet every Yom Kippur reminds us: we do not live for pain, but for light.
This year brought a special convergence: immediately after the fast we recited Kiddush Levanah—the blessing of the moon.
Why the moon? In our tradition, the moon has always symbolized Israel. We live by the lunar calendar, our festivals and fasts follow its cycles. The moon disappears in darkness, then is reborn, grows, shines in fullness, and later wanes. So it is with our people: at times it seemed we vanished into the darkness of history, yet we always returned and rose again.
The Talmud teaches: “Israel is like the moon—diminished, yet renewed” (Sukkah 29a). The Psalms compare the covenant of David to the eternal moon. And in the Zohar, the moon embodies the Shekhinah—the Divine Presence that reflects the Creator’s light, just as Israel reflects God’s light into the world.
So too with us: through exiles, destruction, pogroms, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust—we have always returned, and we will return again, until the coming of Mashiach, when the light will be full.
Just as we once stood together at Sinai, so too will we one day stand together to welcome the Mashiach.
And as the gates of Yom Kippur closed and the light of the moon shone upon the sky, I pray that each of us be inscribed and sealed in the Book of Life—for goodness, for health, for joy, and for light.
Gmar Chatimah Tovah.
Amen.
Rabbi Moshe ben Israel Salita
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.
