Two Montreal rabbis who spent 48 hours in Poland near the Ukrainian border said they are shaken by the human suffering they had seen, but also heartened by the massive outpouring of generosity being shown by the Polish people to the hundreds of thousands of desperate people pouring into their country.
Speaking by video call from the Warsaw airport before their flight home, Rabbis Reuben Poupko of Congregation Beth Israel Beth Aaron and Mark Fishman of Congregation Beth Tikvah said the work of Israeli and Jewish aid organizations helping Ukrainian refugees, regardless of who they are, should give all Jews immense pride and spur them to do their part.
The sight of visibly Israeli and Jewish humanitarian efforts, dispensed to all in need, in lands where Jews experienced a long history of persecution and murder moved them to their very core, said the rabbis, who were in Poland from March 7 to 9.
Rabbi Poupko spoke of the former rabbinical seminary in Lublin that has been turned into a refugee centre by the State of Israel with the participation of Magen David Adom and Hatzolah. From there, constantly replenished drugs and medical supplies are being distributed.
“Every morning, despite the risk, a truck is loaded up and driven across the border into Ukraine to deliver them,” he said. “The heroism and compassion displayed is remarkable; every Jew should be proud.”
Rabbi Fishman was struck by the fact that a tent flying the Israeli flag is the first place where refugees, mostly women and children, are greeted. Many arrive on foot, bringing only what they can carry in backpacks, “their eyes full of fear and hopelessness.”
Rabbi Poupko became emotional recalling that only 80 years ago this region, the scene of “the worst chapter in Jewish history, has been transformed to one where our people are now in a position to be givers…We learned from the past and turned that into kindness and goodness.”
Rabbi Poupko’s mother was born in Ukraine, where his grandfather was a rabbi. The family fled in the 1920s after relatives were killed in a pogrom.
Rabbi Fishman added, “It is an incredible irony that the Jewish people who have suffered so much persecution in Ukraine and Poland are at the forefront of assistance.”
Rabbi Adam Scheier of Congregation Shaar Hashomayim was also on this brief mission and brought his teenaged daughter. They are staying on a few more days. Having ancestors who were themselves refugees from what is now Ukraine and who were driven out by antisemitism has made this personal too.
“To see history repeating itself, to see people so vulnerable, scared and in need of assistance from others, that’s certainly what has drawn me to this place,” he has said.
The three rabbis decided on their own initiative to travel to Poland. They hurriedly collected winter clothing, food and toys from their congregants and the wider community, which they distributed along with cash while there.
Their first stop was a refugee centre in Warsaw before making the five-hour journey to the border.
The rabbis are humble about what they could accomplish. “This will not make even a dent,” said Rabbi Fishman, but Judaism teaches that even to make a slight difference to a single human being is regarded as saving the entire world.
The point was to bear witness to this tragic historical moment and to bring back the message that everyone should do what they can, no matter how modest, including donating to the Jewish federations’ emergency fund for Ukraine, which will benefit the approximately 200,000 Jews living there.
Jews should also contribute to general relief, urged Rabbi Poupko, who says the Ukrainians of today are far different from those of the past.
The Canadian government, and the West as a whole, must make even greater efforts especially to receive refugees, something they expressed in a meeting with Canada’s ambassador to Poland, Leslie Scanlon.
Rabbi Poupko has been outspoken in his denunciation of Russia’s invasion and particularly of President Vladimir Putin whom he calls a “murderer.” The Russian invasion is not only a brutal assault on the Ukrainian people, but “a wake-up call to the world.”
“The Poles can’t handle this alone, the entire Western world has to step up.”
Montreal’s Federation CJA has raised close to $500,000 from more than a thousand donors toward the worldwide goal of US $20 million for the relief of Jews in Ukraine and neighbouring countries, CEO Yair Szlak reported on March 8.
He said preparations are also being made for the resettlement of any Ukrainian Jewish refugees who wish to come to Montreal. At this point, it is unknown how many that might be.
Other efforts in Montreal are on a smaller scale. Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom, for example, is selling hamantashen with all proceeds going to a Ukrainian relief fund set up by the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and is also auctioning a painting by Ukrainian-Jewish artist Alex Levin donated by Paul Yelle. Proceeds from the auction will go to Levin’s designated charity, Open Your Heart to Ukraine.