From Our CEO
The Not-Forgotten Jews of Ukraine
August 22nd, 2014

Amid the ongoing critical crisis in Israel, including the recently resumed rocket attacks from Gaza, less attention has been focused on the continuing plight of the Jews of Ukraine, where for nearly nine months now, tens of thousands of Jews, many of them poor and elderly, have been suffering.

Only a year ago, I was in Ukraine and saw the incredible work we make possible there. There was no hint of the current unrest. On the outskirts of Kiev, not far from the mass graves of Babi Yar — site of among the most horrific events in modern Jewish history — I visited the Jewish Agency for Israel’s summer camps, where hundreds of Ukrainian children were learning exactly the same Israeli songs and dances as my daughters learned at their camps in North America. Some of the group traveling with me kept referring excitedly to the “camps, the camps,” and it was initially jarring: when I hear of “camps” in Ukraine, the first thought that comes to mind is not of summer camps, but the death camps.

So it was truly extraordinary to witness, after 70 years of complete Soviet repression, the transformation of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union, with thousands of Jewish children now attending Jewish schools, camps, and community centers supported by UJA-Federation of New York.

Sadly, for many the situation has changed dramatically in the past several months, particularly in Eastern Ukraine, as highlighted by the new violent clashes reported between Russian military and Ukrainian forces. Just a few examples:

Donetsk, a city only recently home to more than 10,000 Jews, has been under constant shelling and bombing. A number of the Jews there have fled, but approximately 3,000 Jews — many of them elderly and disabled — still remain. Lugansk, a city with more than 7,000 Jews, has seen massive bombing with days of no water, electricity, or cellular service.

The staffs of the Jewish Agency and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee — our overseas partners — have worked heroically and in the face of significant personal risk to care for those unable to leave the conflict zones, providing food and shelter for thousands of newly displaced Jews scattered across Ukraine and beyond, and helping those who want to make aliyah. And while it is still summer in Ukraine, winter comes early there, with temperatures frequently below zero, and planning is well underway to address anticipated shortages of both cooking and heating gas.

These are difficult and troubling times for our people. War in Israel, spiking anti-Semitism across Europe, displaced and suffering Jews in Ukraine. But if there is any positive news in all this, it’s that we’re there — in Israel, Europe, and Ukraine. We stand together to support each other wherever Jews face challenges. And we’ll continue to be there until the crises end.

Please G-d, may that be soon.

Shabbat shalom.