Rabbis to Ukrainian Jews: "We remain by your side in difficult moments, we do not flee""

February 24, 2022   

After the outbreak of war: The rabbis of the 160 Jewish communities in Ukraine issued special instructions to the leaders of the communities in the country, asking them to follow all the instructions, to take care of all the Jews in their cities - and emphasized that they remain in the country, by their side. However, the rabbis announced that those who can leave Ukraine safely, it is better to do so via land crossings. The rabbis emphasized that although most of the rabbis and Chabad emissaries in the country have Israeli or American citizenship, they remained there to be by the side of their communities in these difficult moments, out of a heavy sense of responsibility and leadership. In the coming hours, the rabbis will hold an emergency meeting during which they will discuss whether to send women and children from the Jewish communities in the east to a safe place in the west of the country. In a message sent last week to the rabbis, by the Jewish Federation in Ukraine, among other things, instructions written by security personnel, as well as the Federation's Chief of Staff, were specified: "1. In the event of massive shooting in the direction of houses - turn off the lights, lie down and hide in rooms/passages without windows. 2. Be prepared to receive community members who may choose to flee to your home/synagogue/community school - in such situations, the first priority is to go down to the basement with everyone. 3. Be prepared with a quantity of water and dry food for several days, and the groceries should also be in an accessible place without interruption. In the approach, in order to prevent panic and injuries. 4. One must be prepared for the collapse of the communication/electricity/water and gas networks/shortage of fuel at the stations. 4. We remind you again that it is necessary to prepare a file with all documents/equipment for several days in case an evacuation is carried out." The Federation says: "We call on the Jews of the world to pray for peace and hope that this war will end without casualties. We are confident that we will soon be worthy of the biblical designation 'and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their plowshares into pruning shears.'".