Little Oleg was only nine years old and already had three strikes against him. He was an orphan. He was sickly. And he was Jewish. At the state-run orphanage where Oleg lived, being taunted and sucker punched by his fellow orphans became Oleg’s daily routine. As a nine-year-old Jewish orphan, the likelihood of being adopted by a kind couple was virtually zero. Prospective adoptive parents prefer infants and toddlers.

Aside from the physical jeopardy Oleg faced at the state orphanage, his spiritual prospects were dim, too. He was given no Jewish education, no Bar Mitzvah preparation, no sense of community, no feel for his heritage.

By the time the Tzivos Hashem social workers reached Oleg, he was all skin and bones and massive bruises. Today, Oleg is a strong, strapping, and socially adapted teen – a natural leader living in the Esther and William Benenson and Family Home for Boys. More importantly, he is a literate young Jew, who chanted beautifully at his Bar Mitzvah and understood every word. Now Oleg is practicing his growing Hebrew vocabulary in preparation for an eventual move to Israel.