(Twitter Screenshot)
Rabbi Zvi Kogan

In November, Rabbi Tzvi Kogan was found murdered in an act of antisemitic terrorism.

By Shula Rosen, United with Israel

Five months after the murder of Rabbi Tzvi Kogan in Dubai, his widow, Rivka, give birth to a girl during the intermediate days of Passover.

In November, Kogan, a 28-year-old dual dual citizen of Israel and Moldova who worked as an aide to Rabbi Levi Duchman, chief rabbi of the United Arab Emirates, was found murdered in an act of antisemitic terrorism.

He managed the Rimon kosher supermarket in Abu Dhabi and handled logistics at Duchman’s Chabad house.

Kogan met his wife, Rivky Spielman, a native of New York, in 1922, and the couple married soon after. Rivky is the niece of Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, who were murdered by Pakistani terrorists in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

On the afternoon of Thursday, November 21, 2024, terrorists kidnapped Kogan in Dubai and transported him in the direction of Oman. The Kogan family vehicle, which they seized during the abduction, was later found abandoned in Al Ain, a city located over an hour’s drive from Dubai.

After funeral services were held in Kfar Chabad, Israel, Kogan’s body was laid to rest on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

Following her husband’s murder, Rivky has continued her activities in the Jewish community of Abu Dhabi, leading a challah bake and representing the city at the International Convention in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for Lubavitch women emissaries.

In Kogan’s honor, the local Chabad community is building a “Beit Tzvi” Jewish center and establishing a tefillin project.

On the birth of the Kogans’ daughter, Duchman declared, “This precious baby is a special continuation of her beloved father, who was brutally murdered and whose life’s mission continues to inspire us all. May we share only simcha and bracha [joy and blessing], and may this young girl bring much joy, comfort and light to her family and to all Am Yisrael [the nation of Israel].”