BH

Ukraine-Israel Update – March 8th, 2022

Ukraine:

• All the Chabad Shluchim and their families – except for a few – have been able to get out of Ukraine. It took several days to travel via different countries to reach their final destination. Some are still traveling, but all are safe.

• Shluchim, who have remained, are assisting people in their communities to find refuge outside the battle zones and trying to provide scarce essentials to those stranded in the war zone.

• All Chabad orphanages have been safely evacuated from Ukraine.

o Yesterday, the orphanage in Zhitomir, with 90 children (ages 2 – 12) and 50 staff, arrived safely in Israel. After first fleeing the Russian onslaught and bombs and finding refuge in the Carpathian Mountains for over a week, they were evacuated to Romania.

o Chabad of Romania arranged for all their needs and assisted them with housing. After much work and, with G-d’s help, and the untiring efforts of many (including Israeli government agencies), a plane was secured, and they arrived safely in Israel.

o They were greeted at Ben Gurion airport by Israeli Prime Minister Bennet, who said: “For a week-and-a-half, they have been moving on the roads, fleeing battles and shelling, without parents, but with the wonderful and dedicated Chabad emissaries who have accompanied them here. …thank you to all those involved in the sacred mitzvah of saving lives…”

o The Chabad orphanage in Odessa with 120 children (ages six weeks – 17 years) finally arrived in Berlin, after fleeing Odessa on March 2 and going to Moldovia. They continued to Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia before they arrived in Germany.

o Yesterday, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier – who was personally involved and instrumental in the children’s evacuation from Odessa – came with his wife to the Chabad House in Berlin to greet the children and stayed to have lunch with them. He told the children that he stood by them and that they should find peace in Germany and be able to process the ordeal they had just experienced.

Israel:

• As the flow of refugees coming to Israel keeps rising, the number of calls and requests to us for help is growing at an even faster pace. Despite newspaper articles and ads, TV and radio reports, and even government agencies’ recommendations advising the refugees of our services, the most significant number of calls we’re getting are coming from the earlier Ukraine arrivals telling their friends to go to Chabad.

o This has produced an overwhelming number of calls for help. We are using all our resources to meet the needs of the Jewish refugees, many of whom have come with the shirt on their back and nothing else.

• As you can well imagine, a humanitarian mission of this size created in less than 48 hours will suffer glitches and hiccups. We are grateful to so many companies and individuals who have come forward to help us overcome all the challenges and difficulties we are facing.

• Despite all these challenges, we have been able to help and assist all the Ukrainian Jewish refugees who have contacted us with their immediate needs. The most important has been lodging. We are happy to tell you we have found housing for all of them and matched refugees with people who have volunteered to lodge them in their homes.

o Chabad Shluchim throughout Israel have offered their homes and Chabad Houses to the refugees. As of yesterday, refugees are staying with Chabad in Afula, Eilat, Netanya, and Haifa. This will expand as the number of refugees grows, expected to be in the thousands.

We will keep you updated as the situation continues.

We wish to especially recognize the celebrated Israeli Tech Industry who assisted us when all our systems were overwhelmed by the calls for help. They built – and still are building – a system to handle our needs and the needs of the refugees.

Once again, we are grateful to all the individuals, companies, and organizations who have volunteered their help and services. We thank them all and pray that their goodness and kindness will be reciprocated with goodness and kindness in their own lives and that of their loved ones. Thank you all for your care and concern.

We hope and pray the hostilities in Ukraine and the world over will come to an end and that all weapons of destruction will, as our prophets tell us, “…be beat into plowshares…nation shall not lift their sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”