(Courtesy of Bris Avrohom) A group of ladies from Moldova, Kishinev, under the leadership of Mushky Axelrod, came for the holiday of Lag B’Omer to visit Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights and to pray at the Ohel of the Rebbe.

One of the stops on their itinerary was to see a beautiful, state-of-the-art modern mikvah. They contacted Rebbetzin Shterney Kanelsky, who gave them a tour of the Bat Sheva Chaya Esther Mikvah in Hillside, and treated them to dinner in her house. The guests had the privilege to hear unique and inspiring stories of mesiras nefesh, sacrifices made by the extraordinary woman for whom the mikvah is named. Rebbetzin Kanelsky regaled them with more stories of how she introduced people here in America to the great mitzvah of mikvah. They heard about the mission the Rebbe gave to Bris Avrohom of making gala weddings, which take place every year. In that merit, there have been over 950 couples who have had chuppah v’kedushin according to Jewish law up until today.

For dessert Rabbi Mordechai Kanelsky, founder and director of Bris Avrohom, shared with the guests personal experiences of his and his parents’ mesiras nefesh in Russia. He then recounted the story of the miraculous departure from Russia in 1970, which had occurred through the blessing of the Rebbe. The people undertook different mitzvos in honor of the special day of Lag B’Omer.