Many Jews Worldwide Pitch in to help Ukrainian Jews in Need

By Yehudit Garmaise

“We were slated to make a siyum on Seder Moed for Daf Yomi in the great yeshiva of the Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin, Poland, but Chochmei Lublin is today housing refugees from a massive deportation of Jews from Ukraine,” said Tzvi Sperber, the founder and director of the Orthodox Union’s JRoots, which typically brings Jews to travel through Europe, but in the face of Russia’s invasion, Sperber has pivoted his work to join the rescue teams who are helping the more than 600,000 Ukrainians who have fled to Moldova, Romania, and Poland.

Sperber has helped to bus more than 1,000 Ukrainian Jews to hotel rooms in Romania so they have places to stay, food, medical supplies, and soon classes and davening will start for the schoolchildren, he reported on a Zoom call the OU hosted.

Rebbetzin Miriam Moskovitz, said she and her husband, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, as Karkhov Chabad shluchim, have shifted from worrying about Jews’ spiritual needs and secondarily on their physical needs to focusing only on keeping Jews alive, fed, and safe: with the help of many volunteers. Today, Mrs. Moskovitz also arranged a funeral for a Jewish lady who was killed by a rocket that was shot into her home.

“The situation is very dire, and everyone’s encouragement and tefillos from around the world makes us feel less alone. That we have the support to do what we are doing is very encouraging,” said Rebbetzin Moskovitz, who said she and her husband are using their shul as a bomb shelter for anyone who needs protection.

Photo by: Flickr