Charson in the Ukraine
The Jewish communities throughout Ukraine have united to recite Perek 130 in Tehillim every morning in a plea before Hashem for peace between nations, that no blood be shed. This is in answer to the growing tension between Russia and the Ukraine lest war break out between them.
In an interview with Yated Ne'eman, the chief rabbi of Ukraine, HaRav Yaakov Bleich, explains that the growing unease is hardly felt in the country. He claims that the subject is more noticeable in the streets of Boro Park and other chareidi enclaves like Bnei Brak and Yerushalayim: "Last week, our Kehilla in Kiev gathered in order to update its members to the situation, to prepare necessary needs and especially to be aroused in prayer that 'no nation shall lift a sword against one another and would not learn warfare.'"
But to his surprise, many of the members of the congregation asked to what danger he was referring! They were altogether ignorant of the threatening political situation.
"The involvement among the countries of the West is very obsessive since the dissension involves the West and Russia," Rabbi Bleich claims. "Ukraine is only a pawn in a much broader struggle between the West and Russia."
The members of the Jewish community in Kiev hardly feel the tension, and no warning of an imminent war is felt in the snow-covered streets of Ukraine. The reality is altogether different: there are no long lines in the supermarkets and no hoarding of food.
The public is mainly indifferent and people hardly believe that Putin intends to invade. In the worst scenario, they assume, he will make a restricted foray on the eastern part of Ukraine and declare sovereignty over the districts of Dontzak and Lugansk, which separated from Ukraine with Russian support in 1914.
President Putin's moves are unpredictable, and in the West they try to predict his procedure in the light of Russian behavior. It seems that the only thing that really worries the Ukrainians are the media reports on the decisions arrived at this past Monday by the U.S. and Great Britain to begin immediately evacuating the families of the secondary level of diplomats and employees from the country for fear of a surprise attack.
The Ukrainian government is notifying the religious heads in the country to implement security measures. Rabbi Bleich even notes the special briefing which the Jewish community received from the government, alongside the rallying of all Jewish communities for prayers for peace between nations.
Rabbi Bleich notes that in the areas like Dontzak and Lugansk, which will probably revert to Russian rule since its residents are ethnic Russians who already suggested in the past that they would like to secede from Ukraine, the Jewish population has dwindled considerably. "Most of the members of the communities in those regions have moved towards the center of Ukraine or relocated to Israel. It is easy to see that the bulk of immigration from the Ukraine comes from those two areas."
Aside from prayers, the Jewish communities are also preparing for developments in their locations, in the supposition that Putin may seek to expand his territorial rule between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which will afford him several possibilities of controlling Dontzak and Lugansk from the side of the Sea on the other side of the peninsula, thus creating hermetic control over the sea ports surrounding it.
An additional possibility is a land invasion via the southeast of Ukraine to establish rule over the city of Harson which borders on the Crimean peninsula, alongside a more alarming option of seizing power over Odessa.
These two last mentioned are large cities with considerable Jewish populations and they are preparing themselves accordingly.
Rabbi Yosef Wolf, rabbi of Charson, noted in a talk with Yated Ne'eman that the local community is blossoming religiously. Many of its members attend prayers and shiurim, and a rousing spirit is being felt as a result of the situation. Their hope is averting a military clash with bloodshed and that peace be restored.
In response to the possibility of a Russian invasion, a meeting was held this past Monday with representatives of the government and Jewish organization to feel out the level of threat expected for the Jewish communities in the Ukraine. Jewish organizations estimate that in the event of an invasion, Israel will be expected to absorb thousands of Ukrainian Jews seeking to flee from the site of danger and find sanctuary in Israel.
The briefing session included representatives from the Israel Prime Minister's office, the Foreign Ministry, the Defense, Transportation and Diaspora ministries, the Jewish Agency and of Netiv, a semi-secret government organization responsible for contact between Israel and Jews in the former Soviet Union, as was reported in "Ha'aretz".
Even though there is no significant immigration of Jews from Ukraine, it is possible that if war breaks out, the Jewish communities will be in danger and thousands of Jews will seek immigration.
Jewish organizations assume that regions in east Ukraine, the large cities of Odessa, Chagov, Dniepro and their surroundings, where some 75,000 Ukrainian citizens live who are eligible to obtain Israeli citizenship by the Law of Return, there is also the supposition that many gentiles will use this opportunity to slip in as well in the commotion.
Concurrently, Israel and Jewish organizations are cementing contact with the Russian and Ukrainian governments, both of which are loathe to admit the impression that the Jewish communities are not safe. Still, since the eighties, when Russia allowed large numbers of Jews to emigrate, there exist many plans of airlifting Jews if the necessity arises. These were already updated but it seems that it may not even be possible in the event of a hot war in the area.
