From Algemeiner:
“Kyiv Rabbi Offers Synagogue
for Shelter as Hundreds of Jews Struggle to Flee”
Kyiv chief rabbi Jonathan
Markovitch is offering shelter and goods at his synagogue, he revealed
Thursday, after the Jewish community in Ukraine’s capital woke to an invasion
of Russian forces. Rabbi Markovitch, 54, and his wife Inna, 52 — who have been
emissaries of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement for more than two decades after living
in Israel — have stockpiled six tons of food and 50 mattresses at the Kiev
Jewish Center (KJC), they told journalists during a virtual briefing.
“We woke up today at 5 am hearing
a siren. It was very frightening because there is no infrastructure here, no
bomb shelters, no organized information, or help from the government as
unfortunately we are used in Israel,” recounted Inna. “The idea is that people
could come here. There is no bomb shelter anywhere but at least we are together
and we can feed them.”
The two noted that although many
Jews have joined those leaving the city, there are still hundreds of community
members stuck in the capital, lacking the financial means or physical ability
to leave. Those who did not leave the city before 6:30 am this morning found it
almost impossible to get out and flee to the border as the roads were highly
congested, and some gave up and came back to Kyiv.
According to the Markovitches,
whose family of seven children and grandchildren live in Kyiv’s city center,
the streets of the capital were deserted when they left their house this
morning. They echoed reports from other witnesses on the ground of hundreds of
cars waiting for gas at stations and people lining up at supermarkets. “We have
Israeli passports, and we could have left but we decided to stay here. Not
because we are careless but on the contrary, we have a flourishing community of
2,500 Jews here that depend on us,” said Inna.
“Currently we have 50 people here with us coming with children. We can
be here for a week.”
Inna said that one of the ladies
she visits regularly to provide her with food parcels is a 104-year-old
survivor of the Nazi regime. “She was holding my hands crying: please don’t
abandon us,” Inna said. “She is not the only reason we stay, but we have 200
like her who are bedridden, needy people … who depend on us for hot meals.” The
pair also works with a Jewish school and a kindergarten for children with
autism.
Jonathan and his wife Inna, who
also translated his remarks during the briefing, said that they now saw an
urgent need to find a security company to guard the synagogue. “We are worried
that the escalating situation may lead to looting and riots that may arise on
the Ukrainian side, similar to what happened in 2014,” Jonathan Markovitch said. “We are afraid
about an antisemitic attack because now we don’t know what will happen when
there is chaos. If, for example, the police collapse, bad people will feel free
to take whatever is not theirs.”
^ A 104 year old Ukrainian Holocaust
Survivor is just as afraid of Putin inside Ukraine as she was of Hitler inside
Ukraine. That speaks volumes. It’s also amazing that the Rabbi and his wife
stayed in Kyiv despite the bombings and war to help people. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.