Dear Shaare Family,
From the perspective of Jewish history, it is easy to frame the events unfolding between Russia and Ukraine as “a pox on both your houses.” After all, the oppression the Jews faced under both Czarist and Communist regimes in Russia was shocking in its scope and brutality. Under the Czars, Jews faced forced conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, and forced conscription into the Russian Army. Jewish expression was strictly regulated and suppressed, and Jews were barred from living in different places throughout the Czar’s Empire. Of course, under the Communists, Jewish religious expression was equally persecuted, with the punishment for religious instruction being exile in Siberia, torture or death- and often all three.
Across the border, in Ukraine, things were no better. Remember that it was the Ukrainians from whom the murderous Cossacks emerged, killing tens of thousands of Jews during the Chmielnicki Uprising and many more subsequent pogroms. Many of the instigators of these anti-Semitic events, including Bohdan Chmielnicki and Stepan Bandera, are still revered in the Ukraine today as national heroes, in whose honor massive monuments have been erected in prominent locations throughout the country. The Ukrainians were also willing and vicious collaborators with the Nazis (though there were also many Ukrainians that hid Jews). On September 29-30, 1941, the infamous Babi Yar massacre took place in the ravine by the same name outside of Kyiv, where approximately 33, 771 Jews were killed in two days. By the time the massacres were over, in November of 1943 (when Soviet forces liberated Kyiv), more than 100,000 Jews had been murdered. The initial Babi Yar massacre was perpetrated by the SS Einsatzgruppen with the enthusiastic cooperation of the Ukrainian Military Police.
But to turn our back on Russia and the Ukraine because of our blood stained past would be to forget the rich Jewish history that the region boasts. It is from Ukraine that the Chassidic movement emerged, at the end of the 18th century. It began in small towns surrounding Kyiv and spread like wildfire to Russia, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Perhaps the most famous Chassidic leader to emerge from Ukraine is Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of the Chassidic movement. His gravesite in Uman is still the site of pilgrimage, particularly annually on Rosh Hashanah, and aside from visitors, a community of Chassidim flourishes there year-round. Aside from Rebbe Nachman and Breslover Chassidim, other Chassidic groups have historic ties to Ukraine. Even Chabad, which originated in White Russia, has a connection to Dnipro, as Rav Levi Yitzchak Schneersohn , the father of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, was the city’s Chief Rabbi when it was known as Yekaterinoslav (present-day Dnipro is the site of what may be the largest Jewish building in the world ).
Aside from Chassidic history, Ukraine was also the place from which much secular Yiddish culture emerged, as it was the birthplace of the author Sholom Aleichem and the theater impresario Avrom Goldfaden. For more on Ukraine’s rich Jewish history, I direct your attention to an excellent article by Rabbi Lance Sussman from the Forward.
It is not only the region’s Jewish past that should be the reason for our concern- it is its Jewish present. Ukraine has around 100,000 Jews still living there, and Russia has approximately 170,000- the fourth and second largest Jewish communities in Europe, respectively. Much of organized Jewish life in Russia and Ukraine is under the auspices of Chabad, whose Rabbis serve as Chief Rabbis of many Russian and Ukrainian cities (Rabbi Berl Lazar, widely considered Russia’s Chief Rabbi, is a Chabad chassid who enjoys close relations with Vladimir Putin) and whose shluchim provide religious and social services under circumstances of extreme political and economic duress. The New York Times ran a piece about Jewish life in present-day Odessa under the leadership of Rabbi Avraham Wolff, who was quoted as saying that the current circumstances, and the worries he carries on his shoulders, are “why I am gray at 50.” In Russia, there is another paradox to contend with- while Vladimir Putin is a murderous despot, Jewish life has flourished under his leadership and Jews in Russia are more prosperous and powerful than they’ve ever been in that country.
More fundamentally, though, we eschew a world view that cares about events in the world only if they affect Jews. The prophet Jeremiah (29:7) tells us that we must
וְדִרְשׁ֞וּ אֶת־שְׁל֣וֹם הָעִ֗יר אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִגְלֵ֤יתִי אֶתְכֶם֙ שָׁ֔מָּה וְהִתְפַּֽלְל֥וּ בַעֲדָ֖הּ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֑ה כִּ֣י בִשְׁלוֹמָ֔הּ יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶ֖ם שָׁלֽוֹם׃
…seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity you shall prosper. Loss of life, human rights abuses, political instability and economic devastation anywhere should be a cause for our concern even if no Jews are directly affected by them (and especially when they are). On Shabbat morning, we will recite a special Mi Shebeirach for those in Ukraine, and for a peaceful resoliution to the conflict, composed by British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
Rabbi’s Recommendation
In a time of political instability caused by the agenda of one megalomaniacal ruler who holds two nations in his grasp, it is worth reviewing a passage from the Zohar, the mystical commentary on the Torah, on this week’s Torah portion of Vayakhel. You may find it familiar, because it is the text we say whenever we take the Torah out of the ark- the passage that begins with the words Brich Shmei (for more on this prayer, read here )
אַנְתְּ הוּא זָן לְכֹלָּא וּמְפַרְנֵס לְכֹלָּא, אַנְתְּ הוּא שַׁלִּיט עַל כֹּלָּא, אַנְתְּ הוּא דְשַׁלִּיט עַל מַלְכַיָּא, וּמַלְכוּתָא דִּילָךְ הִיא.
אֲנָא עַבְדָּא דְקֻדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא דְּסָגִידְנָא קַמֵּהּ וּמִקַּמֵּי דִּיקַר אוֹרַיְתֵהּ בְּכָל עִדָּן וְעִדָּן, לָא עַל אֱנָשׁ רָחִיצְנָא וְלָא עַל בַּר אֱלָהִין סָמִיכְנָא, אֶלָּא בֶּאֱלָהָא דִשְׁמַיָּא, דְּהוּא אֱלָהָא קְשׁוֹט וְאוֹרַיְתֵהּ קְשׁוֹט וּנְבִיאוֹהִי קְשׁוֹט, וּמַסְגֵּא לְמֶעְבַּד טַבְוָן וּקְשׁוֹט. בֵּהּ אֲנָא רָחִיץ, וְלִשְׁמֵהּ קַדִּישָׁא יַקִּירָא אֲנָא אֵמַר תֻּשְׁבְּחָן.
You are He Who nourishes all and maintains all; You are He Who rules over all; You are He Who rules over kings, and the kingdom is Yours. I am a servant of the Holy One, blessed is He, I bow before Him and before the honor of His Torah at all times. Not in man do I put my trust, nor do I rely on any angel; but only in the God of heaven, Who is the true God, Whose Torah is truth, Whose prophets are true, and Who performs many deeds of goodness and truth.
I highly recommend this iconic rendition of this prayer , from another son of the Ukraine- the legendary Chazzan Yossele Rosenblatt (1882-1933), who was born in Bila Tserkva, south of Kyiv, and grew up in Sadigora (Sadhora), near Chernivtsi (Czernovitz). Listen in particular to the poignant refrain- אנא עבדא דקודשא בריך הוא- I am a servant of the Holy One, Blessed is He.
Wishing everyone a peaceful, safe and warm Shabbat,
Rabbi Ariel Rackovsky
