Arutz Sheva-Israel National News and the Gesher Leadership Institute, in collaboration with the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Ami, teamed up to create a video series titled "Jewish-Share," an initiative aimed at helping Israelis connect with their fellow Jews in the Diaspora.
In this episode, Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, the Chief Rabbi of Kharkiv, Ukraine, is joined by Rabbi Chaim Markovitz, the Rabbi of the Galgal community in Maale Adumim and head of the Gush Etzion Kashrut Department.
Speaking from the battle front in Ukraine, Rabbi Moskowitz explains: "We are on the border with Russia. From the first day of the war, we have always been getting missiles, and everything falls on us." He relates the fear at the beginning of the war that the community's Jews would leave the city, which would cause the synagogue to close and the community to fall apart. However, many remained, for various reasons.
"Suddenly, you see that community that until now only dealt with prayers and studying, is suddenly helping people, fixing broken windows, caring for food, suddenly, everything is much more public-oriented," says Rabbi Moscowitz, who notes that despite those who left, there were those who even joined the community. While sometimes, the reason for joining is to receive humanitarian aid, which requires the community to ensure that they are indeed Jewish, in the end, it caused the community to be renewed.
Rabbi Markovitz spoke about the special connection between Israel and the Jewish communities in Ukraine, as both countries face war. "It is indeed a special time in the life of the Israeli people and our special connection with the Jewish communities in Ukraine, as we all experience the same experience of war. But there's a big difference: here, there's a feeling that it's our war, both on a general level and personally, and we are all enlisted and fighting for our homeland. In Ukraine, the Jews feel like part of the Ukrainian people, but on a personal level, it's different.
“The challenges are in some ways similar and in others very different,” says the rabbi, emphasizing the sense of solidarity in a city that is entirely Jewish, where — in order to receive support and assistance related to the war — there is no need to gather in synagogues or community institutions. Instead, regular national systems are already in place.
Regarding the synagogue's role in the community, Rabbi Moskovitz describes a situation where a Jew from Kharkov arrives at the community and knows that at the synagogue he can find a joint Passover seder and other events. In Israel, on the other hand, holiday events happen at home, a totally different reality.
He also talks about how the Jews of Ukraine worry about the situation in Israel during the war: "We are all worried, and even though we have a war here and missiles fall, everyone prays for the situation in Israel. We understand that in Israel, there is a promise from G-d that His eyes are always upon the Land, from the beginning of the year to the end. There is security in the Holy Land, but here, there is danger, missiles fall in the center of town, and we feel the sense of mission since when the (Chabad) emissaries, leave town, there is no synagogue, no Shabbat, no Kosher food, no prayers, nothing, and there is no humanitarian assistance." This is in contrast to other places, where if there is no rabbi, the worst thing that could happen is that there is no sermon on Shabbat. "The responsibility is very great in the former Soviet Union."
Regarding the correct way to strengthen the ties with communities in the diaspora, Rabbi Markovitz says that the first step is raising awareness. "We need to remember that nearly half of our brethren are abroad, and they face difficult challenges, some tied to their daily lives and others are spiritual challenges, challenges of antisemitism, and those who live in Israel have a moral obligation because we are all brothers to feel their pain and give them support.
"There are those who will need help with their integration here if they want to make aliyah, there are those who chose to make aliyah and may need financial support, but mostly they need the feeling that they have support, the understanding that G-d supports the Jewish people and initiates tremendous processes throughout the entire world. Antisemitism today has a lot of historical significance in many places in the world regarding Jewish history. We need to tell a Jew who decided to continue living there, be it in Paris, New York, or Kharkiv: you are part of something huge that is happening here. You need to hold on to your identity and stand up for the fact that you are Jewish, the son of G-d, the son of a great and giant nation, a nation with morals and a mission in the world, and even when it's difficult, you must know how to contend with your surroundings, not to hide, and not to run. We are here to lead the process that G-d wants to lead in the world."
Rabbi Markovitz calls for raising awareness of all this in various Torah and educational institutions and within diverse communities. From this, more and more ideas will emerge, enabling each person to find their unique way to assist and connect with Jewish communities around the world—something that has become much easier in our time, the era of the “global village,” in which media tools provide everyone with access to everyone.
Rabbi Moskowitz, on his part, adds that the mutual prayers by the Jews of Israel and the Jews of the diaspora for each other, along with the mutual thoughts about each other, cause the community to feel that it is not alone. "When missiles start falling and you're in a closed place with the family and children, it's not nice, but beyond you're belief in G-d, you feel that you're not alone, that there are Jews in Israel who are with you and want to help the Jews who chose to stay here."
The need for this connection, says Rabbi Moskovitz, is getting stronger as the interest in Ukraine decreases and is no longer as it was at the beginning of the war. The special initiative that connects communities creates that special connection, which is getting stronger, encourages, and gives a lot to the rabbis of the communities and the communities themselves.
Rabbi Markovitz describes a kind of mirror image in the form of an initiative he founded, which brings together community rabbis from around the world who mobilize to support IDF soldiers during wartime. In their encounters with the soldiers, the message conveyed is that these rabbis are not speaking on their own behalf, but representing the spirit of their communities—thousands of Jews from across the globe. “The soldiers tell us, ‘You have no idea how much strength this gives us,’” he shares.
Hebrew interview: