Diaspora Jewry
“While we pray for a peaceful resolution to this conflict, we are working around the clock to ensure tens of thousands of Ukraine’s neediest Jews have the critical care and support they need to survive these terrible events. We do not know what the days ahead will bring, but JDC will remain a lifeline to these Jews and to Jewish communities,” said JDC CEO Ariel Zwang.
Rabbis decide to stay with their communities, report shortages of basic goods. Rabbi rules that in current crisis, Jewish Ukrainians may leave cell phones on during Shabbat.
“The consequences of the crisis, in its diplomatic, economic and security aspects, were reviewed in the discussion,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich told JNS that the Jews “are part of the general community. What’s good for Ukraine is good for the Jews of Ukraine. What’s bad for Ukraine is bad for the Jews of Ukraine.”
Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Aryeh Schwartz says Donetsk’s 5,000-strong Jewish community is trying to remain calm, despite the tense situation.
“We are very happy to have the opportunity to live in Israel,” said new immigrant Yana Koblenko.
On the positive side, nine “adoptions and endorsements” of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of anti-Semitism were recorded.
“The clear inference is that some shadowy Zionist/Jewish cabal is operating in the Dutch university system. This reeks of anti-Semitism,” said Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs.
El Al is adding additional flights to and from Kyiv • The Jewish Agency plans to return educational emissaries to Israel.
A total of 2,255 incidents of Jew-hatred were recorded last year in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, up from the 1,684 the previous year.
Zvi Magen, a former Israeli ambassador to both Ukraine and Russia, and currently a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, said the Russian president’s main ambition is “to make Russia a global superpower.” That has implications for Israel.
Moreover, some 32 percent of parents say their children have been the target of anti-Semitic insults, with 18 percent say their children have been physically attacked in 2021.
