Mrs. Rivky Kogan, nee Spielman, the Chabad Shlucha in the United Arab Emirates, welcomed a baby girl during Chol Hamoed, offering a moment of joy in the midst of a deeply painful year.
Just five months ago, her husband, Rabbi Zvi Kogan Hy”d, fell victim to a vicious act of terror. In November 2024, Arab terrorists kidnapped and savagely murdered him.
Rabbi Kogan, 28, was running the Rimon kosher grocery store in Dubai when the attack occurred. The perpetrators—three Muslim men from Uzbekistan—were apprehended and ultimately sentenced to death and executed. A fourth individual involved received a life sentence.
Originally from Yerushalayim , Rabbi Kogan was educated in Litvishe yeshivos before serving in the IDF. He married Rivky in 2022. She hails from Crown Heights and is the niece of Rabbi Gabi Holtzberg Hy”d, the Chabad Shliach who was murdered during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.
This baby girl is the couple’s first child, born posthumously to Rabbi Kogan. She is a source of comfort to her grandparents: R’ Shmuel and Devorah Spielman in Crown Heights, and Rabbi Alexander Sender and Etel Kogan in Yerushalayim.
Chief Rabbi of the UAE Rabbi Levi Duchman  expressed his sentiments in a public statement: “We extend a heartfelt Mazal Tov to Rivky Kogan on the birth of her baby girl. We join the Kogan and Spielman families and all Am Yisroel in celebrating this special moment of simcha. This precious baby is a special continuation of her beloved father, who was brutally murdered, Reb Zvi Hakohen Kogan Hy”d, and whose life’s mission continues to inspire us all. May we share only simcha and bracha, and may this young girl bring much joy, comfort, and light to her family and to all Am Yisroel.”
{Matzav.com}