JDC volunteer delivering food packages and PPE to a needy Jewish woman in Kharkiv, Ukraine during the pandemic.
Photo courtesy of Michael Geller. Since 1991, Rabbi Meyer Stambler has worked as a Chabad emissary in Ukraine. Along with 200 emissary families, he provides services to the 200,000 Jews in the country. Even in the face of the Russian invasion, Chabad is planning to stay put to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish community.
“We feel that we are part of the community and leading it,” said Stambler, who serves as director of the Chabad Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine. “People are looking to us.”
Right now, they are focusing on getting food to over 30,000 Jewish homes throughout the whole country, including packages that will last families for up to a month if necessary. They are also setting up different shelters where people can go if they need to flee their homes and trying to secure 400 Jewish buildings and institutions.
“Some are missing a metal door, and some are missing video cameras,” Stambler said. “We need a real guard next to every Jewish community center.”
According to the rabbi, Jews are involved in every industry in the country and well integrated into the Ukrainian population. Since 2014, everyone, including the Jewish community, has become very patriotic, and they don’t want to flee.
“People who are here are staying here,” Stambler said. “We have felt very comfortable over here for the past 30 years.”
In addition to setting up a Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund, Chabad is working with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, another Jewish group helping on the ground.
In response to the invasion, the JDC has launched an emergency campaign to supply services to the nearly 40,000 needy Jews it supports in 1,000 locations throughout Ukraine.
“We do not know what the days ahead will bring, but JDC will remain a lifeline to these Jews and to Jewish communities” – Ariel Zwang
“We do not know what the days ahead will bring, but JDC will remain a lifeline to these Jews and to Jewish communities,” said JDC CEO Ariel Zwang in a statement.
The humanitarian organization provides necessities like homecare, medicine and food to the Jewish community, including 10,000 Holocaust survivors. It also runs METSUDA, a young adult leadership training program, supports six JCCs and manages programs for Jewish volunteers and teens.
Michael Geller, director of media relations at the JDC, said, “People could need extra food, medicine or other essentials and psychosocial support. They may be displaced. We’re planning for a variety [of situations].”
Because of the pandemic, the JDC already has infrastructure in place to supply remote care visa online platforms and send food to people who can’t leave their homes. They are mapping out where people live so that someone close by can help if there is an emergency as well.
Many of the Jews that the JDC helps are pensioners living on $2 or $3 a day who have been greatly impacted by not only the pandemic, but inflation as well. According to Geller, the cost of sugar has gone up 61%, sunflower oil has risen 57% and there is a 20 to 30% increase for utilities.
“Imports and exports aren’t running as well as they should,” he said. “Last year, even before the tension started, you had sunflower oil being restricted. Ukraine exports sunflower oil, and because they didn’t have a good crop year, prices went up.”
A number of other Jewish groups are also hosting emergency campaigns online, including the OU, which is donating 100% of proceeds to the cause.
“The Orthodox Union is establishing a Ukraine Crisis Fund that will support those heroic efforts on the ground.” – The OU
“At this critical time, we must all engage in tefillah (sincere prayer) for world peace, and for the safety and vitality of Acheinu Bnai Yisrael, the individuals and communities involved,” according to an OU statement. “The Orthodox Union is establishing a Ukraine Crisis Fund that will support those heroic efforts on the ground.”
In a letter from The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, President and CEO Rabbi Noah Farkas urged the Jewish community of LA to donate to the Ukrainian Jewish community.
“Our Federation is committed to being a part of the global Jewish response to this crisis and is immediately raising and sending funds to support our brothers and sisters in Ukraine.” – Noah Farkas
“Our Federation is committed to being a part of the global Jewish response to this crisis and is immediately raising and sending funds to support our brothers and sisters in Ukraine,” he said.
According to the letter, 100% of the proceeds will go towards JDC and Jewish Agency for Israel efforts, like transporting people out of conflict areas, bolstering security at Jewish institutions including JCCs and dispatching mobile medical units to send out supplies where needed.
Another group raising money for the JDC is UJA-Federation of New York, which approved up to $3 million in emergency grants to the JDC, the Jewish Agency for Israel and other grassroots partners to provide for the wellbeing and safety of the Jewish community.
ORT America, a global Jewish educational network with schools in Ukraine, is hoping to raise at least $500,000 to provide water, shelter, food and transport over the next few weeks and reinforce safety at ORT schools.
According to a statement from the group, ORT America is “working with our partners to coordinate efforts, but we need to act now to support ORT students, teachers and families. Immediate needs for emergency items include food with a long shelf-life, water, matches and lighters, batteries and portable chargers, bio-toilets, LED torches and walkie-talkies, first aid kits and essential medicines.”
Jews in Israel are assisting with the Ukrainian cause as well. On Friday, Feb. 25, the Israeli government pledged NIS 10 million, or $3.07 million, in aid to the Jewish community there. This happened after Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish.
The Diaspora Affairs Ministry said in a statement that the decision to pledge money for security, medicine, absorption of refugees, food and transportation “comes from the unique mandate of the State of Israel, and in particular, its Diaspora Ministry, as the nation-state of the Jewish people, to support Jewish individuals and communities in harm’s way.”
Israeli groups are stepping up to provide support too. The World Zionist Organization is placing about 1,000 new portable structures throughout rural areas of Israel to absorb new olim from Ukraine.
“The ongoing fighting in Ukraine and the uncertainty require the State of Israel to prepare in accordance with the absorption of immigrants from Ukraine,” said Chairman of the Settlement Division of the WZO Yishai Merling in a statement. “Israel needs to take responsibility for the Jewish communities living there. This is what Israel did in the past, and this is what the Jewish State should do today.”
IsraAID, Israel’s leading non-governmental humanitarian aid organization, is sending an emergency team to Moldova to focus on “urgent relief distributions and protection and mental health support for vulnerable, newly-arrived Ukrainian refugees,” according to a statement. “IsraAID’s team will also assess needs on the ground in Moldova and other Ukrainian border countries and provide additional support as needed.” IsraAID is working in Moldova because nearly 16,000 Ukrainians crossed into the country as of Feb. 25.
“For many years now, we have worked with refugees in Europe and around the world, and our focus will be on ensuring the most vulnerable Ukrainians seeking safety have access to urgent supplies and support,” said IsraAID’s CEO Yotam Polizer. “Our team will stay in Moldova for as long as we are needed and may deploy to other Ukrainian border countries as the situation develops.”
Photo courtesy of Meyer Stambler
Israeli EMS Organization United Hatzalah is also in Moldova to assist Ukrainian refugees. The organization is sending a delegation of 30 emergency medical volunteers and members of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit there. According to a statement, the delegation was formed at the request of the Chief Rabbi of Moldova Rabbi Pinchas Zaltzman and in partnership with Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
“Our team will be working in tandem with the larger Israeli team that is being sent to assist in Moldova,” said President and Founder of United Hatzalah Eli Beer. “United Hatzalah’s volunteers inside Ukraine will be continuing to assist their communities and those harmed by the conflict and will be continuing to provide first aid and medical coverage to those who need it.”
HIAS, a nonpartisan refugee protection organization based in Silver Spring, Maryland, is focusing on refugees’ needs at this time by working hand in hand with its partner, Right to Protection (R2P). HIAS is sending emergency funding to R2P and looking into providing assistance to refugees who are fleeing to Poland and Moldova.
“We call on the United States government and the international community to support NGOs in Ukraine and in the region that are best positioned to help people seeking safety,” said Melanie Nezer, HIAS senior vice president for Global Public Affairs, in a statement. “The world was aware this conflict was likely to happen; now that it has erupted, the time has come to act quickly and decisively to save lives and support the displaced.”
Photo courtesy of Meyer Stambler
Right now, Jewish groups want to ensure that Jews in Ukraine – especially those who are the most susceptible – are protected. For Chabad, that includes business owners who don’t want to abandon their livelihood or their employees and elderly, sick and poor Jews who have nowhere to go, according to Stambler. While the Jews are not a target, he said, “When there is a war, there is a lot of chaos, and unfortunately the Jews suffer.”
However, despite the turmoil, Stambler sees the positive in the situation. “Ukraine is being hugged by the whole world,” he said. “It’s nice to see.”
No matter what happens, Stambler is committed to taking action, along with fellow emissaries and Jewish groups, and remaining hopeful.
“We’re taking care of everything. We’re obligated to.”
– Rabbi Meyer Stambler
“We have our spiritual belief that this is a time for miracles,” he said. “This is the end of the galut hopefully, and this is exactly the right time for Moshiach to come. But we’re taking care of everything. We’re obligated to.”
To donate to these groups, visit their websites.
Chabad:
https://www.chabad.org/special/campaigns/ukraine/donate.htm
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee:
https://donate.jdc.org/give/393030
Orthodox Union:
https://www.ou.org/ukraine
The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles:
https://jewishla.org/donate/ukraine
HIAS:
https://act.hias.org/page/6048/donate/1
ORT America:
https://ortamerica.org
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