29 September 2026

A Hasidic man who was drafted after Rosh Hashanah was assigned to serve in Odessa

(ILLUSTRATION: Intent/AI)

Israeli Hasidic Jew Yonatan Karlinsky, who was drafted in Ukraine after traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah, will serve as a military doctor in Odesa. He will not be sent to combat operations near Kharkiv.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the move to Odesa was facilitated by Avraham Wolf, the Chief Rabbi of Odesa and southern Ukraine. He reached an agreement with Ukrainian officials to assign Karlinsky to serve in Odesa. The medical facility where the Hasidic rabbi will serve is located near the Jewish community.

Under the agreement, Karlinsky will receive spiritual and practical support to maintain his ultra-Orthodox lifestyle. The Jewish community will provide him with kosher food, as well as access to a synagogue, a mikvah, and other community services.

The story of the Hasid’s mobilization began when he was traveling by bus from Uman, where he celebrated Rosh Hashanah every year at the grave of Tzadik Nachman. At the“Orlivka–Isakcha” border crossing in the Odesa region, border guards suspected that the man held Ukrainian citizenship because he was speaking Ukrainian, and his Israeli passport listed his place of birth as the USSR.

Karlinsky was removed from the bus, and his wife later learned that he had been taken to Odesa.

The State Border Guard Service reported that the pilgrim was wanted. He was handed over to the police and later mobilized. The man spent some time at a military unit in southern Ukraine.

As Intent previously reported, a court ruled that the orders to mobilize and enlist the man—who had an outstanding criminal conviction for a crime against national security—were unlawful. The law explicitly prohibits the conscription of such individuals during mobilization.

Ірина Глухова

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