A new synagogue was opened in Kiev this week, becoming the first-ever synagogue to be built in the southern part of the city. The prayer center was built in honor of fallen IDF naval commando Yochanan Avraham Hielberg, a member of the elite 13 unit.

The synagogue was funded by Aryeh Shwartz, a former elite IDF soldier who served with Hielberg and was his good friend. Shwartz has funded many other projects in Hielberg's memory, often by working with the Chabad chassidic movement in southern Kiev.

Shwartz's efforts to commemorate his fallen friend were not initially coordinated with Hielberg's family. However, they were noticed by two friends of both Shwartz and Hielberg, who mentioned to Hielberg's parents that they had seen a memorial for their son in the Carpathian mountains.

The parents wished to meet the donor and eventually found Shwartz, who told them about the synagogue being built in Kiev and invited them to the dedication ceremony.

Rabbi Shmuel Hielberg, Yochanan's father, was given the honor of affixing a mezuzah to the synagogues' entrance. A friend of Yochanan's from his days as a yeshiva student, Rabbi Yitzchak Nerya, who now heads the Or Etzion yeshiva, was present as well.

A Torah scroll was brought to the new synagogue, and was lovingly accompanied to its place of honor by hundreds of local Jews, who held a procession in the streets despite the freezing cold. The scroll was donated by Yisrael Hirsch Charbenenko, a supporter of Chabad in Kiev.

Via israelnn.com