Tchernobyl Hasid Killed in Moldova Car Crash at Age 29

A 29-year-old Tchernobyl Hasid, Rabbi Akiva Rand, was killed today in a single-car accident in Chisinau, Moldova, while traveling with fellow Hasidim to visit the grave of Rabbi Yechiel Heshel of Krilovitz on his yahrzeit, the 9th of Tammuz. The group had gone to pray at the site, which Tchernobyl Hasidim had recently restored. The Tchernobyl rebbe had been expected to fly there two years ago, but the trip was canceled because of the war, and he did not come this year either because he was feeling weak.

According to the report, Rand was driving when the car fell into a ditch. The other passengers were injured and taken to a local hospital, while police continue to investigate the serious crash. ZAKA is working to bring his body to Israel for burial as quickly as possible.

Rand was born in London to Rabbi Mordechai David Rand, a prominent Tchernobyl Hasid, and his mother, a member of the Feldman family. As a young man he studied at the Tchernobyl yeshiva and was close to its rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Binyamin Yona Zev Rechnitzer, and one of his regular students. After marrying the daughter of Rabbi Yosef Mordechai Weiss of Zurich, a grandson of Rabbi Yonatan Binyamin Weiss of Montreal, he settled in Jerusalem.

There he learned in the Nahlat Akiva kollel and later studied afternoons with students at the Kokhav Yaakov Tchebin yeshiva. He also served as one of the gabbaim of the Tchernobyl beit midrash on Tuval Street in Jerusalem. After five childless years, he and his wife were blessed with two children. Friends described him as gentle, a Torah scholar, and God-fearing. He leaves behind his parents, his wife, and two young children.