Israeli ultra-Orthodox emissaries stick with Jewish communities in Ukraine
Israeli Chabad emissaries in Ukraine and neighboring countries feel responsible for the safety and well-being of their Jewish communities.
Two weeks ago, we had a chance to speak with Rabbi Moshe Weber of Israel, who runs the Chabad Hassidic movement’s Menora Center in Dnipro, Ukraine. At the time, he told Al-Monitor that he was worried, but not because of the tense situation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “If anything, the problem that really worries me is how I will get matzos for Passover?” he wondered.
Much has changed in the last two weeks. Weber sounds very different now. We caught up with him on a train approaching the Romanian town of Iasi, near the border with Moldova. His plan is to fly back to Israel from there.
He left Dnipro a day earlier, after spending the last 20 years there. “It has become a ghost town," he told Al-Monitor. “There is no one in the street. A general curfew has been declared, starting at 8 p.m. It is just too dangerous to be out in the street after that. … What happened to Roman Brodsky [an Israeli citizen killed while fleeing Ukraine] made us realize how dangerous the situation really is.”
That incident was a watershed moment for Chabad’s emissaries still in Ukraine. When the fighting broke out, they had announced that they would stay put. “My community needs me,” Weber said. “Even if my family leaves, I’m staying. Our Rebbe [leader] taught us that a captain does not abandon his ship.”
