Rabbi Zvi Kogan, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary based in Abu Dhabi, disappeared from Dubai on Thursday afternoon.
Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—expressed deep concern for Kogan and said that Chabad officials are working closely with authorities as they investigate his disappearance. He asked the worldwide Jewish community to pray for Kogan.
The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Interior confirmed that it was investigating Kogan’s disappearance, and the office of the prime minister of Israel released a statement saying that information points to it being a terror-related incident. Israeli security agencies have joined Emirati officials in working to locate the Chabad rabbi.
Kogan, a dual Israeli-Moldovan citizen, has worked alongside Rabbi Levi Duchman, rabbi to the United Arab Emirates, and other Chabad emissaries for several years in establishing and expanding Jewish life in the Emirates. Among the many accomplishments has been the founding of the first Jewish education center in the Gulf, and making kosher food more available. In 2021, a Torah scroll being written in the UAE had a letter inscribed by the first sitting Israeli prime minister to visit the country. Kogan was joined by his wife, Rivky, after their marriage in 2022.
Please say chapters 20 and 29 of Psalms for Zvi HaKohen ben Etel, and increase in prayer, the study of Torah and the giving of charity in his merit.
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