Published: 3 September 2018
Last updated: 4 March 2024
In winter, frost could easily mean a broken hip for the twins. The risk of falling returns in summer, when the swampy earth turns to soft powder.
Asphalt is one of many basic amenities missing from this horsefly-infested village of 200. Its dilapidated houses lack electricity, running water, central heating, indoor toilets and a steady supply of cooking gas.
Some members of the greying population here are so poor that they still use horse-drawn vehicles and rely on backyard farming for sustenance.
But things are beginning to turn around for Prilashkevitch and her neighbours, because their village is the cradle and namesake of Chabad-Lubavitch — one of the largest and most influential Hasidic movements in Judaism.
FULL STORY A tiny Russian village of Chabad fame dreams of becoming Jewish pilgrimage site (Times of Israel)
Photo: Rabbi Jehoshua Raskin shares a ride with other visitors to Lyubavichi, Russia (Cnaan Liphshiz)
