[PHOTOS BY JDN IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

It was a modest, yet impressive affair not far from the city of Zhitomir in Western Ukraine. On Tuesday, the cornerstone was laid for the new and spacious “Ohr Avner Educational Village”.

The new campus will include special guest houses for the many visitors who arrive throughout the year.

The “Ohr Avner Educational Village of Western Ukraine” is home to various Jewish educational institutions; including an orphanage, a central shul, mikvahs, as well as many Jewish families who live in the area.

The village is located between the famous cities of Mezhibush and Berditchev, whose names are so familiar to Jews from all walks of life. Centrally situated among the many holy kvarim in Western Ukraine, it services the throngs of visitors with transportation, catering and lodging of the highest caliber, all in an inimitable, Chassidic atmosphere.

Rabbi Shlomo Wilhelm, Shliach of the Rebbe and Chief Rabbi to Zhitomir and Western Ukraine spoke emotionally about the great zchus of having received a special stone from the wall of the Alter Rebbe’s Ohel in Haditch to use for the groundbreaking of this new village.

Rabbi Wilhelm, as well as the institution’s administrator Rabbi Zalman Bukiet, were honored with casting of the stone, followed by l’chaims and warm wishes from the crowd. May this building be completed with lots of hatzlocha!

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)