Jewish refugees from Ukraine have been slowly rebuilding their lives in Montreal
Coming home from her shift at a dollar store, physically exhausted, Vlada Bronz wondered whether she had made the right decision in settling in Montreal and not staying in Romania where she had fled soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trained as a lawyer and an experienced teacher of English as a second language, Bronz […]
Ukrainian Jews celebrated Sukkot 2022 in Montreal—but they also watched anxiously as the war was showing no end
Marianna Lasinska can only watch helplessly as her city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine comes under renewed Russian attack. She and her 15-year-old daughter Martina, her only child, managed to flee Mykolaiv last spring and settle in Montreal this summer, leaving behind her husband, a doctor, who has been in the thick of the Ukrainian […]
Hearts and homes are being opened to Ukrainians arriving in Toronto
Over the last few months, Ukrainians fleeing their country in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion have begun to enter Canada. And many of them are finding gracious hosts in the Canadian Jewish community. Rabbi Jarrod Grover, of Toronto’s Beth Tikvah Synagogue, and his family are hosting a young Ukrainian couple named Vova Saykov and Sofia […]
Forgotten cemeteries and synagogues are featured in a Toronto photo exhibit of Jewish landmarks in Ukraine
Russia’s war in Ukraine has probably destroyed or damaged many of the country’s historical landmarks, including Jewish sites. The destruction is a major loss. But it’s relatively minor when measured against the suffering of the Ukrainians, says David Kaufman. There are hundreds of Jewish heritage sites throughout Ukraine, and in 2016 Kaufman was able to […]
How opinions about the war in Ukraine are dividing Jewish friends and families in Canada
It started in 2014. As thousands of protestors took to the streets in Ukrainian cities in what became known as the Maidan Revolution that overthrew the pro-Kremlin Yanukovich regime, Ukraine made its fledgling steps toward democracy and Europe. Around this time, Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula and began funding Russian separatist […]
Canadian March of the Living is cancelled for the third year in a row—this time it’s due to war in Ukraine
Canadians will not participate in the March of The Living, an annual trip that takes high school students to Poland and Israel this year, the third consecutive year that the program has been cancelled. The war in Ukraine and the pressures it has placed on neighbouring Poland, which is housing tens of thousands of refugees, […]
Conservative synagogues in Vancouver and beyond are helping the Jews who are fleeing Ukraine
In February, while Russian tanks were massing at Ukraine’s northeastern border, another significant event was taking place in Kyiv, some 500 km away in the nation’s capital. Kyiv’s only Conservative congregation was about to celebrate its first Shabbat in its newly purchased home. The religious organizations, Schechter Institutes and Masorti Olami had spent more than […]
Ukraine on my mind: Tina Grimberg, who’s now a rabbi in Toronto, reflects on growing up in Kyiv
In my childhood memory I lean into her full Ukrainian breast. I play with Raya Golub’s necklace. It is made of amber, a stone of an ancient sap that captured in its tear—a twig, a leaf, an insect and even me. In the last four weeks of this ugly war (and all wars are ugly) […]
How Winnipeg’s Jewish community welcomed this Ukrainian refugee after her escape from the Russian invasion
After surviving Russian bombs and a 1,000-kilometre journey to safety, a widowed Ukrainian refugee with ties to the Jewish community has arrived safely in Winnipeg. Valentyna Agapova reached Canada on March 8, where her worried family lives. They had been frantically begging her to leave Ukraine once the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. “We […]
Three Montreal rabbis are now reflecting on the tragedy and humanity they witnessed at the Ukrainian-Poland border—and they urge Canadians to do more
Some might say there was no need for three Canadian rabbis to leave the comfort of our congregations and the safety of Canada to travel to the Polish-Ukrainian border, but we felt an obligation to provide whatever aid and support we could to the refugees fleeing war. We simply could not sit back while preaching […]
