Gaining perspective on Ukrainian refugee crisis

A UJA-Federation of New York-sponsored trip in mid-March on which a pair of Five Towns rabbis were among 18 spiritual leaders who spent 48 hours in Poland, helping Ukrainian refugees, was an eye-opener.

“I wanted to go on the trip to see firsthand what was going on,” said Rabbi Elie Weinstock, 46, of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach. “The perspective is much more compelling, more real, than hearing the news.” He noted the Talmudic aphorism, “Hearing witness testimony should not be greater than actually seeing the moon” — in other words, seeing is believing.

Weinstock and Rabbi Shalom Axelrod, of Young Israel of Woodmere, and 16 other rabbis from synagogues across the metropolitan area began the trip — from March 13 to March 15 — in Warsaw, Poland’s capital. From there the group went to Przemysl, a major transit hub for Ukrainian refugees, as well as Lublin and Strodborow.

“The main motivation was to try to assess the needs and help, so I figured by going I’d have a better read on the overall situation and the community within the [Jewish] community,” said Axelrod, 52.

After he returned to the U.S., he organized a food drive at Young Israel on Sunday in conjunction with the UJA and the Orthodox Union. Shul members are also donating money to aid Ukrainian refugees.

On the whirlwind trip, the rabbis visited the Warsaw Jewish Community Center, which Weinstock said has been a refuge for displaced Ukrainians. He added that the Krakow JCC was serving a similar purpose.

“The Jewish community in Poland is pretty small, and all of a sudden they are turning to assist people who don’t know what their next stop is,” Weinstock said. “The Jewish Agency for Israel is helping people make aliyah to Israel.”

The idea of being refugees resonates with Jewish people, Axelrod said, who are preparing for Passover April 15-23. The holiday’s story recounts the ancient Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt, after which they wandered the desert for 40 years before settling in Canaan, the land that is now Israel.

“Hundreds of thousands of people need to be resettled as the Jewish people are planning for Passover,” Axelrod said, adding that the Ukrainian refugee situation has galvanized a variety of organizations, including Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union and the UJA.

Noting a more contemporary problem, Axelrod said that Jews on Long Island’s South Shore experienced Hurricane Sandy and “lost their property very quickly and had to adjust to a new reality.” The Ukrainian crisis adds another dimension because of the loss of life, the fact that many Ukrainians cannot travel and the uncertainty of their future.

Another obstacle, Axelrod said, is language. Few Ukrainians speak English. The majority speak Ukrainian, or Russian, or both.

“This is something I said when the war started that none of us have experienced in our lifetime: war in Europe,” Weinstock said. “The reverberations are personal; the impact is national. It’s different from Vietnam. This has an impact on everyone in ways we’ve never seen before. There is also a lot of good with people responding to overcome evil.”

Weinstock said that some of the refugees have incredible stories, including a 95-year-old man, a Holocaust survivor, whose son lives in Israel and was trying to get his father to the Jewish state.

“There are many stories from those who weren’t settled, people keep moving, refugees not staying in camps,” Weinstock said, “but people need a place to go. There are millions who are displaced.” As of press time, the United Nations said that more than 3.8 million have fled Ukraine.

An invasion of one sovereign nation by another was not what the world was expecting at this moment in history, Axelrod said.

“No one expected to see a war between two countries like Russia and Ukraine,” he said. “It is something we thought we were past. We were relying on relationships, and lived in relative safety and security. Now there is a potential for World War III, and it makes everyone nervous.”

President Biden announced last week that the U.S. would take in more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.

“The UJA began with its nonprofit partners to plan for the absorption and resettlement in New York,” UJA-Federation officials said.  “Yes, we know there are language issues, but New York has the largest Ukrainian community outside Ukraine, and we are working with our partners.”