Like many of our congregants, the Wise temple and school staff watched in horror as Russian forces invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine last week.
For many, it brought back echoes of 1938, when Adolf Hitler annexed the Sudetenland under a similar pretense; as well, many of us remembered our own family members fleeing the region amidst fear and terror.
Many of you have reached out wondering what we can do. We have created a resource page for those in our community looking to help our fellow Jews and others in Ukraine, for those looking to learn more about the crisis, and for parents who want to find the right way to discuss these events with their children. If you have family currently in the region, we hope you will reach out to our clergy for pastoral and other support; we keep them in our prayers for peace and safety.
In addition, Rabbi Yoshi will be facilitating two upcoming webinars with experts in international relations and the Russia-Ukraine relationship. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions.
Conversations About Ukraine: Special Wise Webinars Rabbi Yoshi will be facilitating two upcoming webinars with experts in international relations and the Russia-Ukraine relationship.
WEBINAR: Conversations About Ukraine: Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and the Honorable Ambassador Gary Grappo Thursday, March 3 at 6 p.m. | Register Former Ambassador Gary Grappo served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor of the United States Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before a posting as the United States Ambassador to Oman. He is currently the Vice President in Charge of External Relations Vice Presidency Unit for the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
WEBINAR: Conversations About Ukraine: Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Professor Kathryn Stoner, Ph.D. Wednesday, March 9 at 5:30 p.m. | Register A senior fellow at the Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Kathryn Stoner is also the Mosbacher Director of Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. With a long history of published scholarship on both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, she has served on the faculty of Princeton and Columbia. Her books include “Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia” (2006) and “Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order” (2017). For those of you with family in the region, please reach out to us at letsconnect@wisela.org if we can be of pastoral or other support.
IsraAID is an international non-governmental humanitarian aid organization based in Israel. It is deploying an emergency team to Moldova, which saw more than 15,800 Ukrainian refugees crossing the countries’ shared border within the first 24 hours after the Russian invasion. IsraAID’s team will provide urgent relief, psychological first aid, and conduct ongoing assessments to prepare for additional responses as the situation evolves.
IsraAID has extensive experience working with refugees all around the globe. extensively with refugees and displaced populations, working in emergency and long-term development settings in more than 50 countries around the globe since it was founded in 2001.
Any funds not utilized as part of this response will be used as part of IsraAID’s Emergency Response Fund. DONATE TO ISRAAID
Assisting Refugees
HIAS, which is the oldest refugee resettlement organization in the United States, is accepting emergency donations that can be made as either one-time or recurring gifts. HIAS is responding to the crisis with emergency humanitarian assistance to the thousands displaced by the Russian invasion.
The Jewish Community Center of Krakow is actively housing Ukrainians fleeing the war. JCC Krakow is also providing food, clothing, medicine, sanitary products, psychological counseling, and legal aid to those escaping to Poland.
Our Wise community includes not just our temple families, but our students, as well as the teens in our youth programs. On this page, you will find helpful resources on how to talk to your children about war and conflict, and about what is happening in Ukraine.
Although institutional change can be slow, Jewish organizations fighting antisemitism have made progress…Critics may have some legitimate concerns about mission drift — but this is solved with accountability, not defunding.
The transmission of these bureka recipes from generation to generation is a way of retaining heritage and history in Sephardic communities around the world.
Israelis must become King David Jews, fighting when necessary while building a glittering Zion. Diaspora Jews must become Queen Esther Jews. Fit in. Prosper. Decipher your foreign lands’ cultural codes. But be literate, proud, brave Jews.
No one should underestimate the difficulty of the past few years. But what will define us is not the level or nature of the problem but how we deal with it.
His message of love — hopeful, expansive, humane — inspired genuine moral progress. It fostered hope that humanity might ultimately converge toward those ideals. In too many parts of the world, that expectation collided with societies that did not share those assumptions.
Just as the Torah concludes with the people about to enter the Promised Land, leaders are successful when the connections we make reveal within us the humility to encounter the Infinite.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.
Ways to Help the Ukraine from Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Stephen Wise Temple
Lisa Ellen Niver
From Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Stephen Wise Temple:
Like many of our congregants, the Wise temple and school staff watched in horror as Russian forces invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine last week.
For many, it brought back echoes of 1938, when Adolf Hitler annexed the Sudetenland under a similar pretense; as well, many of us remembered our own family members fleeing the region amidst fear and terror.
Many of you have reached out wondering what we can do. We have created a resource page for those in our community looking to help our fellow Jews and others in Ukraine, for those looking to learn more about the crisis, and for parents who want to find the right way to discuss these events with their children. If you have family currently in the region, we hope you will reach out to our clergy for pastoral and other support; we keep them in our prayers for peace and safety.
In addition, Rabbi Yoshi will be facilitating two upcoming webinars with experts in international relations and the Russia-Ukraine relationship. Participants will have the opportunity to submit questions.
Conversations About Ukraine: Special Wise Webinars Rabbi Yoshi will be facilitating two upcoming webinars with experts in international relations and the Russia-Ukraine relationship.
WEBINAR: Conversations About Ukraine: Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and the Honorable Ambassador Gary Grappo Thursday, March 3 at 6 p.m. | Register Former Ambassador Gary Grappo served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister Counselor of the United States Mission in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before a posting as the United States Ambassador to Oman. He is currently the Vice President in Charge of External Relations Vice Presidency Unit for the Global Bank Disaster Risk Reduction and Reconstruction Fund, and is an adjunct faculty member at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
WEBINAR: Conversations About Ukraine: Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback and Professor Kathryn Stoner, Ph.D. Wednesday, March 9 at 5:30 p.m. | Register A senior fellow at the Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Kathryn Stoner is also the Mosbacher Director of Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. With a long history of published scholarship on both Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, she has served on the faculty of Princeton and Columbia. Her books include “Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia” (2006) and “Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order” (2017). For those of you with family in the region, please reach out to us at letsconnect@wisela.org if we can be of pastoral or other support.
Read Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback‘s article in The Forward: “Jewish history is repeating itself in Ukraine. This time, we must fight Putin back“
Ways to help
IsraAID Emergency Response Team
IsraAID is an international non-governmental humanitarian aid organization based in Israel. It is deploying an emergency team to Moldova, which saw more than 15,800 Ukrainian refugees crossing the countries’ shared border within the first 24 hours after the Russian invasion. IsraAID’s team will provide urgent relief, psychological first aid, and conduct ongoing assessments to prepare for additional responses as the situation evolves.
IsraAID has extensive experience working with refugees all around the globe. extensively with refugees and displaced populations, working in emergency and long-term development settings in more than 50 countries around the globe since it was founded in 2001.
Any funds not utilized as part of this response will be used as part of IsraAID’s Emergency Response Fund. DONATE TO ISRAAID
Assisting Refugees
HIAS, which is the oldest refugee resettlement organization in the United States, is accepting emergency donations that can be made as either one-time or recurring gifts. HIAS is responding to the crisis with emergency humanitarian assistance to the thousands displaced by the Russian invasion.
DONATE TO HIAS
JCC Krakow
The Jewish Community Center of Krakow is actively housing Ukrainians fleeing the war. JCC Krakow is also providing food, clothing, medicine, sanitary products, psychological counseling, and legal aid to those escaping to Poland.
FRIENDS OF JCC KRAKOW
Resources for Learners
Our Wise community includes not just our temple families, but our students, as well as the teens in our youth programs. On this page, you will find helpful resources on how to talk to your children about war and conflict, and about what is happening in Ukraine.
How to Talk With Students About the Russia-Ukraine War
How to Talk To Your Kids About the Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Resources for Educators, Families to Discuss the Invasion of Ukraine with Students
Kids Britannica – All About Ukraine
Kids Briannica – All About Russia
Promoting Compassion and Acceptance in Crisis
Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
Editor's Picks
Israel and the Internet Wars – A Professional Social Media Review
The Invisible Student: A Tale of Homelessness at UCLA and USC
What Ever Happened to the LA Times?
Who Are the Jews On Joe Biden’s Cabinet?
You’re Not a Bad Jewish Mom If Your Kid Wants Santa Claus to Come to Your House
No Labels: The Group Fighting for the Political Center
Latest Articles
The Holy See Who Won’t See
Rabbis of LA | For Rabbi Guzik, Being a Rabbi and a Therapist ‘Are the Same Thing’
Jay Ruderman: Meaningful Activism – Not Intimidation – Makes Change Possible
It’s Good to Be a Jew
Are We Ready for Human Connection Through Glasses?
The Israel Independence Day Test: Can You Rejoice That Israel Is?
I Am the Afflicted – A poem for Parsha Tazria Metzora
Who am I who has never given birth
BagelFest West at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Yom HaShoah at Pan Pacific Park
Notable people and events in the Jewish LA community.
A Bisl Torah — But It’s True!
Even if the information is true, one who speaks disparagingly about another is guilty of lashon hara, evil speech.
A Moment in Time: Rooted in Time
Pioneers of Jewish Alien Fire
Print Issue: We the Israelites | April 17, 2026
What will define the Jewish future is not antisemitism but how we respond to it. Embracing our Maccabean spirit would be a good start.
Cerf’s Up!
As the publisher and co-founder of Random House, Bennett Cerf was one of the most important figures in 20th-century culture and literature.
‘Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe’
As Matti Friedman demonstrates in his riveting new book, one of Israel’s greatest legends is also riddled with mysteries and open questions.
Family Ties Center ‘This Is Not About Us’
The book is not a single narrative but a novel of interconnected stories, each laced with irony, poignancy, and hilarity.
‘The Kid Officer’: Recalling an Extraordinary Life
Are We Still Comfortably Numb?
Forgiving someone on behalf of a community that is not yours is not forgiveness. It is opportunism dressed up as virtue.
Don’t Dismantle the Watchdogs — Pluralism Is Still Our Best Defense
Although institutional change can be slow, Jewish organizations fighting antisemitism have made progress…Critics may have some legitimate concerns about mission drift — but this is solved with accountability, not defunding.
A Sephardic Love Story–Eggplant Burekas
The transmission of these bureka recipes from generation to generation is a way of retaining heritage and history in Sephardic communities around the world.
National Picnic Day
There is nothing like spreading a soft blanket out in the shade and enjoying some delicious food with friends and family.
Table for Five: Tazria Metzora
Spiritual Purification
Israelis Are Winning Their War for Survival … But Are American Jews Losing It?
Israelis must become King David Jews, fighting when necessary while building a glittering Zion. Diaspora Jews must become Queen Esther Jews. Fit in. Prosper. Decipher your foreign lands’ cultural codes. But be literate, proud, brave Jews.
We, the Israelites: Embracing Our Maccabean Spirit
No one should underestimate the difficulty of the past few years. But what will define us is not the level or nature of the problem but how we deal with it.
Rosner’s Domain | Imagine There’s No Enemy …
Before Israel’s week of Remembrance and Independence, it is proper to reflect on the inherent tension between dreams and their realization.
John Lennon’s Dream – And Where It Fell Short
His message of love — hopeful, expansive, humane — inspired genuine moral progress. It fostered hope that humanity might ultimately converge toward those ideals. In too many parts of the world, that expectation collided with societies that did not share those assumptions.
Journeys to the Promised Land
Just as the Torah concludes with the people about to enter the Promised Land, leaders are successful when the connections we make reveal within us the humility to encounter the Infinite.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.