After Nine Months, Rabbi Kahn Says Jews Realize ‘We Are All One’

Rabbi Yanky Kahn exhaled deeply before he sat down on his living room couch and explained how he prepares for his nearly monthly humanitarian missions to Israel since Oct. 7.

Normally a vigorous, outgoing personality, he spoke slowly, deliberately. “The first step each time is finding out what is needed in Israel,” he said. “The second step is getting it.”

Before he explained in depth how Israeli needs have expanded and changed in the past nine months, he exhaled deeply, and gave a one-line summation: “Changes in the peoples’ needs, and in the land, have been drastic.”

Shortly before leaving with his wife, Rebbetzin Hindy Kahn, his four children, and friends (mostly from Chabad of the Valley) on a 15-person nonstop one-week mission, his sixth trip to Israel since Oct. 7, Rabbi Kahn admitted that bombings and related nonstop wartime disruptions across the state are “a little challenging. After all, it is Israel. 

One thing Kahn has learned is that someone may think they are connected with a country he knows as well as the Valley, but war changes everything. “A lot of the soldiers are in the reserves,” he said. “One time you are there, they are serving. Next visit, the situation is changing the whole time.”

The day before The Journal visited the Kahn family, they learned that 50% of the residents of Metula, a town of around 1,700 on the Lebanese border in the far north, “will not be going home ever again. That means that going up north is more dangerous than going to the southern part of Israel,” site, until recently, of the worst fighting. “That means half a city is not going back.”

What changed? “Rockets from Lebanon flying into homes.”

Most of the reporting of human and structural casualties in Israel has been dwarfed by coverage of Gaza. “I can tell you there is suffering in Israel, and that is the reason we are going back,” Kahn said. “Here is one of the highlights of our next mission: I want to give a big shout-out to Rabbi Chaim and Charna Mentz of Bel-Air. His words to me were ‘Yanky, we are going to go and make damage.’ What he meant to say was, ‘‘we are going to make a huge impact.’” Along with the Mentzes, Adina Finn, a major donor to the Israeli war cause, will join the Kahns. 

As the war’s nine-month anniversary approaches, help is en route for some of the war’s most tragic victims.

Rabbi Kahn and friends have been in contact with social workers in Israel. “We are going to take care of 35 widows, mostly younger women, many with infants,” the rabbi said. “We are going to help them financially, help them emotionally.  I can tell you every relationship that happens, each of these widows, each of these human beings, is an ongoing matter.”

“We are going to take care of 35 widows, mostly younger women, many with infants. We are going to help them financially, help them emotionally.  I can tell you every relationship that happens, each of these widows, each of these human beings, is an ongoing matter.”

It becomes quite personal. Many widows have babies under a year old, and Rabbi Kahn’s mother, Rachel, longtime resident of Jerusalem, has a list of many widows and their bank accounts. “Three times a year,” he said, “my mother sends each widow a bank transfer to help them through holidays.”

The rabbi said the nonstop missions are “having a ripple effect where the love continues to grow.”

On an earlier Kahn mission, they treated a group of children from displaced families in Kfar Maimon to a restaurant outing. “Thank God those families are home now,” Kahn said. “But as we speak, there is a lady in Israel who came on a previous trip — Tziporah Okavat — and she is continuing to take those children out to a restaurant.” Breaking into a smile, he said “every time we go somewhere and make friendships, it just expands and expands in helping other people.”

 The widows, he said, are “crying every day. Parents who lost soldiers are crying. I spoke to a parent today. This is why we are going — to really help, to make a difference for the people.” He offered two explanations why coverage of wartime Israeli seems light. “Unfortunately, yesterday’s news was old news. “Second,  when we hear, G-d forbid, about an injury or worse, we do a kvetch, we say ‘oy vey,’ and then we go on with our lives.”

The rabbi cited the loyalty of Jeff and Rita Weiss, Adina Finn (on her third mission) and others who prefer anonymity “for sticking with us every mission.” Many hometown Jews have told the rabbi: “We are going to have your back and make a difference. We go on with our lives every day, but so many people have not gone home. They suffer every day.”

Finn, who recently brought seven injured IDF fighters to Los Angeles to aid their recovery, estimated she has helped transfer $4 million in requested/needed equipment to Israel. Working with the nonprofit Maman, she has sent a vast amount of military supplies, only tactical equipment such as kneepads, boots, and tourniquets, “trying to supply them with practical equipment.”

Rabbi Kahn said “suffering among Israelis is really bad in the north, but there is suffering in Jerusalem, suffering in the south. There are families w sitting all alone. Kids going to sleep every night without their fathers. Many people have not been home since Oct. 7.” 

He noted at least 12,000 disabled soldiers won’t fight again.

“The people in Israel,” he said, “need our help more than you can imagine. This is a war like none we ever have fought. I think the Jewish people realize, after nine months, now we are all one.”

What does the rabbi learn on each new trip? “So many need help,” he said. “Importantly, you help one person and you say ‘I have done my mitzvah. The answer is no, you haven’t. It’s ongoing.”

Jewish Journal: Do you have any major unfulfilled goals?

Rabbi Kahn: Yes, many in Israel. I would like to do a lot more to help the widows and soldiers. In the Valley, I have many dreams, including a Bikur Cholim center for Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center. 

J.J.: How have the war trips altered family life when you are home?

Rabbi Kahn: My family is very involved. We discuss the individual soldiers and widows. It’s very much a joint collaboration.

J.J.: What are your favorite moments of the week?

Rabbi Kahn: Watching my wife and daughter light candles on Friday nights. And no cell phone for 25 hours.