Mikhail's incredible journey to his faith

Mikhail's story goes back to the early 1990's, when Russia was a dangerous place, run by chaos and anarchy. As communism fell, many people were left unemployed. For some this meant looking into western style entrepreneurship to make a living, for others it meant stealing factories, companies or private people's money.

Mikhail's mother began working on her small private business. One day she was killed by evil people who wanted to steal her money. Mikhail was left an orphan at the age of seven.

Mikahil's grandfather, Mr. Ungar, was the only Jewish man in town who knew about kosher and how to assist a Jewish burial. He had in his apartment the only Sefer Torah in Ulyanovsk! (In the early 1990's he donated it to the synagogue in the nearby city of Samara) Some would call him the town Rabbi!

When Mikhail was eight days old, his grandfather gave him a bris. This made him one of the only Jews in Ulyanovsk to have a bris in the late 1980's.

After Mikhail's mother died, his father - a non Jew- took very good care of him. His circumstances were such that Mikhail never knew of the Jewish center.

This past year, with his father's encouragement, Mikhail traveled to Israel on a Birthright trip. After he returned, he looked for the address of the Jewish center and started attending the youth club and Kabbalat Shabbat services.

This week he took upon himself to put on Tefilin every day! He bought a pair of Tefilin which was subsidized by the Jewish community of Ulyanovsk.

After learning how to put on Tefilin, he decided to go home. As he stepped out of the Jewish Center, he saw the Mitzva Mobile that had arrived to Ulyanovsk for the day. He hopped onto the Mitzvah Mobile, where the young yeshivah students spoke to him about the mitzvah of mezuzah and offered to sell him one. Not only did Mikhail purchase the mezuzah, but he invited the boys to his home to affix the mezuzah on his door!