120 children arrived in Berlin from a Jewish orphanage
They come to Berlin from Odessa: On Friday morning, 120 children from a Jewish orphanage arrived in the German capital. The Jewish Education Center Chabad Lubawitsch Berlin, which organizes the campaign, said on Friday that the buses with children and carers had arrived in Charlottenburg.
“We were able to secure accommodation for the first week and, thanks to the great help from the community, we were able to collect enough donations in kind,” said Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal. »We welcomed the children with open arms.«
HELP Odessa is about 200 kilometers west of Cherson in southern Ukraine – according to reports, this large city has already been taken over by the Russian army. Taking in the orphans in Berlin is one aspect of Jewish aid to Ukrainian refugees, or to Jews and non-Jews staying in the country in the midst of war.
For example, the Central Welfare Office for Jews in Germany (ZWST) and its partner organization IsraAID Germany provide psychosocial support. On the day of the Russian attack, Aron Trieb from IsraAID Germany told the Jewish General that employees are mainly on the road in the east of the country and are not only there for Jews.
The president of the Union of Jewish Communities and Organizations of Ukraine, which has over 250 communities, Josef Zissels, told the Jewish General that they were preparing for different scenarios: telephone, internet and electricity failures, collapse of the banking system.
drug There are other reports that medicines are being made available to the Ukrainian army, Jews want to help defend their homeland, rabbis in Ukraine are urging a halt to the war, and Russia’s Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar is calling for peace and offering to mediate. In Poland, Jewish communities are taking in refugees, and aid is also underway in communities in Germany.
In addition, Jews in this country fear for relatives and friends. Because in the course of the collapse of the Soviet Union, immigrants came to Germany, many from Ukraine and Russia. The Central Council of Jews in Germany, citing statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, estimates the number of around 200,000 people of Jewish descent who have immigrated to Germany from the former Soviet Union since 1989.
In view of the situation, the Central Council recently published a letter signed by President Josef Schuster. It states that the Central Council is in talks with the federal government about admission modalities for Ukrainian Jews. Schuster also called for solidarity within the communities: “We must be able to discuss and argue about political views, but always respectfully and without the conflict driving a wedge between us.”
columns Churches themselves are also turning against possible divisions. For example, the chairwoman of the Israelite community in Freiburg, Irina Katz, said in an interview with this newspaper: “I don’t want things to happen in our community like during the first Ukraine war in 2014, when there was an internal community dispute between ‘Russians’. and ›Ukrainians‹.« Around 80 percent of the parishioners come from the Ukraine, others come from Russia. Katz emphasized: “We are all Jews” – regardless of origin.
Regardless of origin: Internationally, bombings near the Babyn Yar memorial in Kyiv in the course of an attack on the TV tower triggered strong criticism and outrage, above all from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who is himself a Jew. The memorial commemorates one of the largest German massacres of Jews in World War II in 1941 with more than 33,000 dead.
Back to Berlin, where the orphans have arrived near Chabad. “We have done everything in our power to make the hardships of the flight and the long journey more bearable,” emphasizes Rabbi Teichtal. yes / maybe