#ujarabbinicmission

[rabbicreditor]

We're headed home, boarded and safe. For this short journey, we brought is no checked luggage. But, as my colleague Rabbi Jonathan Blake (@rabbiBlake) pointed out, we each are carrying just as much, if not more than, most refugees do. Their entire lives now fit into carry-on luggage. This was a difficult long short journey, which brings to mind a story the Talmudic sage Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya once shared: "One time I was walking along the path, and I saw a young boy sitting at the crossroads. And I said to him: On which path shall we walk in order to get to the city? He said to me: This path is short and long, and that path is long and short. I walked on the path that was short and long. When I approached the city I found that gardens and orchards surrounded it, and I did not know the trails leading through them to the city. I went back and met the young boy again and said to him: My child, didn’t you tell me that this way is short? He said to me: And didn’t I tell you that it is also long?" (Eiruvin 53b) We have a long way to go, friends. Let us be wise enough to follow the wisdom of the children. They know the way. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine https://www.instagram.com/p/CbH5gR6LLy5/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

We had the very complicated honor this morning of standing present and offering blessing (soulfully delivered by Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz) 40 Ukrainian refugees who are en route to Israel. When we arrived, the The Jewish Agency for Israel had beds for 4,000. As of this morning, the number is 7,000. The anticipated number necessary is 10,000. So far, 2,000 Jewish refugees have made Aliyah. The Israeli flags and chocolates we distributed cannot mask the pain we saw in the eyes of our sisters and brothers. These were women and children and older adults who left, at best, with a suitcase. But we also learned that many left with only the clothes they were wearing and the suitcases we saw were newly provided by others. Rabbi Rachel Ain and I noticed a teenage boy in a pink hoodie who could easily pass for either of our sons. I witnessed a tearful parting between what looked like a grown woman and her older mother. (I am speculating that the daughter decided to wait here in Poland in the hopes that her husband would be able to join her once he is able.) And, on the flight leaving now, is a grandchild and great-grandchild of a righteous gentile who saved Jews during the Shoah. (The granddaughter is pictured with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove.) Once, their ancestors saved us. Now it is our turn. Still, how can any of this be true? And again, I am at a loss for words. Perhaps these by Naftali Herz Imber fit: עין לציון צופיה עוד לא אבדה תקותנו To Zion, an eye looks Our hope will not be lost. @ujafedny @jewishagency #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at Warsaw, Poland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbHWWyeuD1p/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

A shared dinner with the 18 rabbis of the #UJARabbinicMission to #Poland and the Ukrainian Border and the national professional and lay leaders of Jewish Federations of North America - and the Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine and the Chief Rabbi of Moscow. Powerful testimony, deep Torah, and shared commitment to showing up in this moment of intense humanitarian crisis. @ujafedny #ukraine (at Warsaw, Poland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGquOftMep/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

I'm without words. We just stood at the border itself. Watched women and children make their ways into Poland. Countless charitable organizations have tents with hot things to drink, baby clothes... A Sikh television crew walked by. A German pastor shared a prayer. And, closest to the border, the Israeli flag at the Hatzalah rent, with Israeli paramedics serving as the first faces incoming refugees see. I'm reeling from all of this. It can't be true. It shouldn't be true. We just walked through a corridor of rehumanization, with the best of us serving, giving, helping, holding, saving. But my eyes are too full of what we've, and I know that what we saw pales in comparison to those stuck within the Ukrainian borders. These words are wholly inadequate. I'm not able to process this yet. But waiting to share, to amplify the images is not an option. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at Medyka) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbFcATuLfh5/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Visited a refugee camp in what was once a mall and then a train station which is now overflowing with huanb beings seeking safety and social services and food being offered for free, buses taking people to Denmark. In the refugess center in the mall, we were not allowed to take pictures of the masses of people, the children, the women, the elderly, for whom life was upended and devastated by way. Hundreds and hundreds of beds. An Israeli/Polish Red Cross medical clinic with volunteer doctors from Hadassah and elsewhere. Traveled with a #Natan volunteer from Israel, who helped us navigate the indescribable. I can't find my words. So I'll borrow some from our tradition: עַל־אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ אֲנִ֣י בוֹכִיָּ֗ה עֵינִ֤י ׀ עֵינִי֙ יֹ֣רְדָה מַּ֔יִם For these things do I weep, My eyes flow with tears. (Lam. 1.16) UJA-Federation of New York #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine https://www.instagram.com/p/CbFKZDJONEm/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

The famed Yeshivat Chochmei Lubin. The birthplace of Daf Yomi. It is now a hub for social services, including providing shelter and the distribution of basic supplies and job training. Our teacher, a dance instructor who grew up in the Jewish community of Lublin, volunteers every free hour to sustain this work. I shared a story of my teacher, Rabbi Morris Shapiro z"l, who attended this house of learning before survingnthe Shoah and service as Rabbi in Waco, Txy, and South Huntington, NY. He once invited Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to visit his shul in Texas. Heschel responded that he was too busy. Rabbi Shapiro wrote back, "לך רד, Get down of the mountain." Two biblical words with which God instructed Moshe to be where the people were, in their complicatedand all-too-real world. So too, today, that remains the mission we aim to fulfill on this intense mission. #UJARabbinicMission UJA-Federation of New York #Poland #Ukraine (at Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDxDs3vE3e/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

In a hostel that usually houses Jewish camp and activities, which now holds 50 refugees. Delivering medicine, socks, underwear, sanitary pads, baby supplies, and more. Meeting with the president of the #Warsaw Jewish community, which currently cares for 600 refugees. Some come for 3 days, some come for longer. 500 new refugees arrive every day. We are witnessing a powerful and pervasive readiness to build and mobilize inter-agency networks to provide basic human needs to countless people. But here is a huge truth that defies comprehension - 90% of Poles have been willing to take in refugees. The Polish government is following the amazing leadership of its citizens. So inspired. The need is immense. The response is holy. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at Śródborów) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDYbSGrtC7/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Sitting with refugees who ran from Ukraine for their lives, where the lucky ones got a seat on a wooden bench for a 28 hour train ride to Poland, with only a backpack. One mother from Kyiv took her young children and left her husband behind on this "Exodus of women and children," as it's being called by many. One son made it to Israel, but returned to rescue his 94 year old father in Kyiv, who was unable to hear the sirens warning of incoming missiles. Bread lines. No medical care. Multiple attempts to make it across the border. Standing on line for 24 hours in the freezing cold with no food, no water. The crush of humanity running for their lives. Dear God. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDMk43Lmgl/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Meeting with leaders of the @jewishagency who are caring for hundreds of refugees at the Novotel Hotel (and the new, makeshift Israeli consulate here for those seeking to make Aliyah to Israel - 2,000 already have in the last 2 werks). Passed by signs for emergency buses to Sweden for refugees. More arriving every hour. Surreal. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at Novotel Warszawa Centrum) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDKH6sr_hb/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Images from #JCCWarsaw #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at JCC Warszawa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDFvMKrQRi/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Learning from Rabbi Rabin Michael Schudrich at #JCCWarsaw of the radical shift in the last 2 weeks. For decades, the Jewish communal organizations were developed to support Polish refugees. Now, the Polish Jewish community has reoriented to support incoming refugees. Overwhelming information about the demographics of refugees who have left family members behind. Unfathomable - again. @ujafedny #UJARabbinicMission #Poland #Ukraine (at JCC Warszawa) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDErXGrY__/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

Rabbi Rachel Timoner blesses the @ujafedny Rabbinic Mission to #Poland / #Ukraine. #UJARabbinicMission https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDBb2ELLAz/?utm_medium=tumblr

[rabbicreditor]

We've arrived in Warsaw, and the world has already changed since we departed. We've brought emergency humanitarian/medical supplies to support Ukrainian refugees. We've brought our worried, broken hearts. Hinenu. We are here. #UJARabbinicMission #WhatRabbisDo #Poland #Ukraine (at Warsaw, Poland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CbDAxE2Lp5Q/?utm_medium=tumblr