There is much talk about the saving of lives that have been and are being done these days by the Chabadniks. They took convoys out of Ukraine, while others took care of their food, others still take care of food inside Ukraine, and others accept refugees throughout Europe and, of course, in the Holy Land.
The stories are moving and hair-raising, evoking admiration, pain, joy, cramping, and excitement all at once.
But I, the little one, was moved by another story, a story about a suitcase. What can I do like this, I'm moved by little things.
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Leah is a Jewish girl who lives alone with her Jewish friends in Kiev. When the bombings started, they came to my brother and sister-in-law's house in Kiev. Some just came and some just opened the door. Leah and her friends lived at my brother and sister-in-law's house for a few days. Her friends went to their parents' houses, each to their own place. Leah stayed.
Leah arrived with one suitcase, cramming her entire life into it.
On Shabbat night, she asked to join the first convoy that my brother and sister-in-law - Rabbi Pinchas and Dina Vishatsky - took out from Kiev, about two weeks ago. A check revealed that there was room in one of the convoy's vehicles for Leah, but there was no room for Leah's suitcase, and there wasn't much time to decide.
Leah got a grocery bag, put a few things in it, and got in the car for a twenty-hour drive to the border. And from the border, who knows how long and where. Just like that, just the way she is, with the clothes on.
The convoy crossed the border safely, thank God. A large portion of its passengers immigrated to Israel on a flight that left Romania the day after leaving Ukraine. Leah also boarded the flight, yes, with her grocery bag.
The next day, another rescue convoy left Kiev, this time the road was harder, more dangerous. This time my sister-in-law, the messenger Dina Wiszczy, who organized the convoy with her husband, knew that Leah had squeezed her life into the suitcase and had reserved a place for Leah's suitcase along the long and dangerous road, Leah didn't know.
Leah didn't know, but Dina, who stayed in Romania to take care of the many refugees who had left and were still leaving, was also taking care of Leah's suitcase.
Leah didn't know, but the next day, the suitcase arrived at her place of residence in the Holy Land with good and dedicated messengers.
A story about a suitcase. I was excited, that's how I am.
Good Saturday,
Rabbi Zalman Wisetzky
