Let’s Talk About Ukraine

TEMPLE ISRAEL put together a Help from Afar Fund, which will go directly to individuals and communities in Ukraine. Donate at www.temple-israel.org/form/ help-from-afar-ukraine.html.

YEVGENIYA GAZMAN @YGAZM

TOP: People from all over Metro Detroit gathered Downtown to show solidarity with Ukraine.

ON THE COVER

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CAMPAIGN FOR UKRAINE

In response to the crisis, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, working with the Jewish Federation of North America and their international partners, JDC, JAFI and World ORT, opened a Ukraine Emergency Fund campaign to provide rescue and relief for the 200,000 Jews in Ukraine.

The funds will be used to support temporary housing for those fleeing violence, care for homebound older adults, food, medication and supplies, security for Jewish institutions and other critical services. For Federation, it means a lot to help Ukrainian Jewry in the face of the crisis. “The Jewish Federation, through its Annual Campaign, has been taking care of our global

Let’s Talk About Ukraine

Cherry and Rabbi Ariel Markovitch and their children

My sister and her husband, Cherry and Rabbi Ariel Markovitch, are one of more than 30 Chabad emissaries in Kyiv and more than 200 in Ukraine. After three days of continuous attacks, they successfully escaped from Kyiv with their three children and crossed the border to Romania. They are currently living with my parents, the Chabad emissaries in Nice, France.

Since they landed in France last week, they are working around the clock helping members of their community to leave Ukraine. At the same time, they are working nonstop to get supplies and food to those who are still stranded and are under continuous curfew conditions with no access to food. The situation changes with every minute.

Rabbi Yisrael Pinson FAMILY TIES

I last visited Kyiv in 2019. My family roots there run deep.

My great-grandfather Nachum Pinson studied in the famous Chabad Yeshiva as a teenager in the town of Lubavitch under the guidance of the fifth and sixth Rebbes. He raised a beautiful family in the town of Charkov and made a living as a businessman.

In 1939 he was arrested by the KGB for the sin of giving his kids a Jewish education and living an observant Jewish life. He was sent to the gulags in Siberia where he perished from famine and exhaustion at the young age of 57. A cousin sent me a newly discovered KGB file about Nachum and his three friends that were arrested at the same time.

Jewish community — including vulnerable individuals in Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union — for many decades,” a Federation spokesman said.

“While this situation is extremely urgent and dire, our response is consistent with the work we have always been doing and will continue to do on behalf of Jews everywhere. We are fortunate to live in such a generous community that can make a meaningful difference during times of crisis, but as we say: ‘We can be there for Jews in Ukraine today because we were there for them yesterday.’”

Federation is in close contact with its partner agencies and will continue to be actively involved as long as the crisis continues.

To share and/or help, visit https://jewishdetroit.org/ ukraine.

SUPPORTING FAMILIES

Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit issued a statement Feb. 24 in response to the situation.

“We are disheartened by the current situation taking place in Ukraine. Many of our staff and clients are from Russia and Ukraine and have family and friends affected by this situation. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and everyone impacted by these tragic events. If the U.S. Department of State offers a refugee status to those affected, JFS will step up to help with these efforts and partner with refugee resettlement agencies in the community.”

Along with refugee resettle-

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YEVGENIYA GAZMAN @YGAZM

Children demonstrated in Downtown Detroit alongside their parents to show support for the people of Ukraine.

For the first time I saw a picture of him as an inmate. A haunting look of a man who was tortured and forced to shave his beard ... The Soviets succeeded in breaking Nachum, and he died alone away from his wife and kids. On the 22nd of Cheshvan we commemorate his yahrzeit, but we have no knowledge of the whereabouts of his final resting place.

As much as the picture of Nachum pained me beyond description, my visit to Ukraine infused me with infinite hope and joy. Inasmuch as my visit to Babi Yar reminded me of the cruelty of those who aspire to exterminate us, being there with my two nieces was a strong reminder that the Jewish people are stronger and more resilient than any of our haters. No bad news can change our optimism for a bright future for our people.

Four of Nachim’s children survived the war and went on to build families in the USA, Israel and Europe. My grandfather became one of the first emissaries of the Rebbe, opening Jewish schools in Morocco and Tunisia. In 2018, my sister Cherry (named after Nachum’s wife) and her family moved to Ukraine to open a branch of Chabad Young Professionals in Kyiv, the city from which they recently escaped.

We, at Chabad of Greater Downtown Detroit, are working with my sister and her husband to bring real-time updates on what is happening to the Jewish people in Ukraine to our local communities and identifying ways that we can help them.

Rabbi Pinson’s great-grandfather Nachum Pinson, who died in a Siberian gulag The Markovitch family is working from France to help the Ukrainian people.

Chabad has established a Ukrainian Relief Fund. Donate at www.chabad. org/special/campaigns/ukraine/donate. htm.