I had the pleasure of hosting Dan Makogon, originally from Dnipro now living in Israel. Dan is seen by many as an angel who is literally dedicating his life to helping others. Together with a team of 30 staff, he ran an emergency call center in Dnipro when war broke out, trying to ensure that all members of the Jewish community — some 6,000 people — are evacuated from the city.

"Every day, as early as 5 or 6 a.m., we got panic-stricken calls from people throughout Ukraine asking for help," he says.

According to Makogon, now Dnipro is relatively quiet apart from the air raid sirens, which force the population to seek out air raid shelters.

Together with other Jewish organizations, they have managed to get some 7,000 Ukrainian Jews across the border to Moldova, Poland, Hungary, and Romania. The JDC has managed to collect $30 million in donations for Ukraine in the last few weeks.

"The idea of giving and helping is really at the base of Judaism," explains us at our studio in Jerusalem.

Dan was inspired as a young man by the Chabad emissary Rabbi Kaminezky who runs the Menorah Center in Dnipro to become observant and worked side by side with Chabad helping those who need help. "In Jewish teaching, it is requested that you give 10% of your monthly salary to help other people."

Dan moved with his family, his wife Rada, and their three daughters to Israel to set up a center designed for all those Ukrainian refugees who managed to escape and now have to start a new life in Israel. The main center is in Bat Yam and they hope to open soon branches all over Israel. ' We want to build a little Dnipro here in Israel and help our people feel a little bit at home here".

Dan is overwhelmed by the number of calls he receives with requests for help, SLT his organization which he started in Dnipro and stands for Shiurim Torah Lubavitch will continue here in Israel in the same way it was set up originally in Dnipro, through this they assist families in their daily needs, young kids, teenagers, helping them integrate into the Israeli school system, and in general their way of living in a new country for them.

Dan and his wife both miss Dnipro and the life they had there before the war, Dan with shining eyes told us what an incredible Jewish life they had in Ukraine before war broke out. The Menorah center which is the biggest Jewish center in the world and run by Chabad was their second home and Rabbi Kaminezy, who is Dan's rabbi, never left Ukraine and stayed put in his place in Dnipro helping those who didn't manage to escape and tried to inspire and give strength during those harsh months praying that soon war will be over and life can start again like before.

Dan shows me on his phone a video of a big Purim party taking place at the Menorah center in Dnipro, full of people, all dressed up, with food and happiness. Life seems to be going on at full speed in Dnipro even though sirens sometimes brake the normalcy of the day. It is still not safe for women and children to be there but those who live there try as much as they can to live every day to the fullest.

Dan is here in Israel and doesn't stop working for those Ukrainians who were forced to move here, he is their "angel" and is totally devoted to making their life here as good as he can despite their yearning for wanting to go back to their homes and to their lives back to what they call home.