A baby girl was born this morning (Thursday) to Rivky Kogan, the widow of Rabbi Zvi Kogan z”l, the Chabad emissary who was murdered in Dubai in November 2024. For four years, the couple led Chabad activities in the United Arab Emirates, where Rabbi Kogan was also known for distributing challah ahead of Shabbat and helping to run the country’s only kosher grocery store.
“He was just going about his regular routine—he didn’t think anything was about to happen,” said Rabbi Sholom Duchman, father of Rabbi Levi Duchman, who heads Chabad’s operations in the Emirates and was Kogan’s brother-in-law. Rabbi Kogan’s body was brought to Israel and buried at the end of March.
Disappeared During a Routine Day—Found Lifeless
On the morning of November 21, Rabbi Kogan left his home, passed the kosher store, and exchanged messages with a friend he planned to meet later that day. After that, he disappeared. At first he was listed as missing, but later it emerged that he had been kidnapped—apparently as part of an attempt to smuggle him into Oman. The plan failed, and his body was discovered within the territory of the UAE.
Justice in the Emirates: “This is how you fight terror”
Rabbi Kogan had told friends in the past that he did not feel threatened living in an Arab country. Nevertheless, the local Jewish community had been advised to act cautiously, in light of online protests that arose against its presence—though there were no reported incidents of physical violence.
Last month, a court in the UAE sentenced the three suspects in the murder to death. Following the verdict, MK Oded Forer, chairman of the Yisrael Beiteinu faction, called on Israel to adopt the same standard by applying the death penalty to terrorists. “This is how you fight terror—capital punishment,” he said.
In a post on his X account, Forer wrote: “This is how you fight terror—in the Emirates, murderers get the death penalty. And here? Bibi keeps dragging his feet. This so-called right-wing government has been blocking the death penalty bill I advanced in its preliminary reading—for more than two years.”
And in the midst of pain—new joy: a daughter is born to Rabbi Kogan z”l, new life born from tragedy.
