Dear Bayit Family,
After a long and full day in Poland on our UJA Federation of NY rabbinic mission, I am grateful to be able to reflect and process what we saw and experienced by way of sharing it with you in some small way. Even this long message captures only a taste of what we did, and I look forward to sharing more when I return.
The overwhelming sense we heard from the people we met might be summed up in the two words that characterize the Purim story from Megillat Esther 9:1, ונהפוך הוא (“v’nahafoch hu”): and it - the previous plan, the prior reality - was turned on its head. Life in the last two and a half weeks - even for the Polish people - suddenly became something completely different than it had been at all times prior.
We heard it first from our tour guide, Agnes. Soon after departing the airport on our tour bus, with our close to 20 huge medical supply duffels (which we will deliver to the border tomorrow) and a similar number of duffels packed with humanitarian aid supplies from our communities (most of which we delivered to various refugee centers today - more on that below), Agnes said to us (I’m paraphrasing), “I have guided many groups of all kinds and all backgrounds, but I never imagined I would be guiding a group coming to support refugees flooding our country fleeing a Russian invasion of Ukraine.” Much of the city felt “normal” to the outside, but one could feel the change just by looking at the central transit hub in Warsaw which had a huge area filled with tents offering food, supplies and resources. Agnes told us, as many others did, that these efforts were spearheaded by the Polish people. Only over time has the government been able to build a more coordinated response. It was the spontaneous kindness and leadership of “ordinary” people that has led the way in this crisis.
We heard the theme of “v’nahafoch hu” when we arrived at the Warsaw JCC and met Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich who said, “The Jews of Poland have no historical experience welcoming refugees. We only have experience being refugees.” But in an instant, that changed. He described to us calling hotel owners as the invasion seemed more likely and asking them to prepare to close to the public and instead open their beds to refugees, and receiving emphatic affirmation from each one he asked. I gave Rabbi Schudrich over $2000 from our community to be used for Matanot L’Evyonim on Purim day. We dropped some of our suitcases of supplies at the JCC, which, while being a hub for Jewish community activity and kosher food in Warsaw, was preparing to repurpose some of its facility and open a day care for refugee children starting tomorrow morning.
The Warsaw Jewish community is housing many hundreds of refugees at any time now, almost all Jewish, although all who turn to them for help are served, of course. The refugees often find them through a hotline system Rabbi Schudrich set up as the invasion began and by word of mouth. There have already been multiple waves of refugees, as many people we met today explained. The first wave had more resources and stability and was going usually to family across Europe and beyond. They stayed in the makeshift refugee centers for just a night perhaps before moving on. The current wave is those with more limited means, many of who have no contacts in Poland or beyond and have never been there. They may not know where they are going next nor have means to provide much for themselves. Some may stay in the refugee centers for weeks, or longer.
Of course we heard the story of "v'nahafoch hu" most from the refugees we were able to meet with today. One of the striking images of the day for me was walking into the Novotel Centrum Hotel in Warsaw, a lovely hotel and conference center which is currently housing many refugees and also houses in one of its conference rooms the newly stood-up Israeli Consulate which is working around the clock through the Jewish Agency, JAFI, to arrange aliyah for Ukrainian refugees, having already sent over 2,000 to Israel in the last two weeks. The hotel had almost a twilight zone feel - everything was just not quite right. Families were huddled together or sitting and playing in the lobby, people were charging cell phones with bags of food around them, and you could see worry in people’s faces.
We sat and listened to the stories of a number of Ukrainian Jewish refugees planning to make aliyah in the coming week. Their stories of being crammed into trains with little food or water, some without bathrooms, of waiting for days on foot to cross the border, mostly women and children and older men, were horrible to hear. And their sense of “v’nahafoch hu” - their hometowns a shell of themselves, not knowing if or when they will see the men in their families again, were overwhelming to hear. Their lives were overturned in an instant.
What could we offer them alongside our compassionate ears and our presence? One rabbi on our trip spoke Russian, and was able to communicate from us a message of support and hope and solidarity - from us and from all of our communities, tens of thousands strong. I found myself repeatedly putting my hands upon my heart in a gesture of togetherness and love as I connected for brief moments with the many refugees we saw. And with these Jewish refugees in the Novotel who told us their stories, including a mother who fled with her 4 and 9 year old children, forced to separate from her spouse, and including a 95 year old man who, after having had neighbors have to bring him down to the bomb shelter because his hearing was too poor to hear the sirens, and then took a train alone across Ukraine and waited 24 hours without food and water to cross the border, and slept on his own in youth hostel for three days until he could meet his son who had recently made aliyah and was able to make it to Poland to meet him and escort him the rest of the way, God willing to Israel, as we concluded our time sitting with them, we sang all together, Am Yisrael Chai.
We left Warsaw and made our way to nearby Srodborow, where we met the president of the Warsaw Jewish Community, Leszek Piszewski. Leszek explained that Srodborow, a Jewish summer camp from the time in which Jewish religious life was not sanctioned by the Communist Polish government, had gone on the market to be sold. When the invasion began, the community pulled it off the market and has been using it as a refugee center through which hundreds have already passed. We immediately began unpacking suitcases of supplies and distributing Purim bags to the children. After hearing about Leszek's round-the-clock work for the Ukrainian refugees, a complete upending of the work he typically does for the Warsaw Jewish community, I hugged him and said, "the New York Jewish community, and the world, is with you and is so grateful to you. Please take care of yourself."
Our last stop was Lublin, where we are staying for the night. There we visited Hotel Ilan, a hotel in the building of the Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin. The Yeshiva's famous Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Meir Shapiro ztz"l, conceived of and began the Daf Yomi learning project less than a year before laying the cornerstone of the Yeshiva building. I of course thought of our wonderful Daf Yomi teachers and learners who just completed this weekend the second of the six sedarim of Talmud in this 14th Daf Yomi cycle. Their learning connects us to Lublin, always.
Here, too, there is a multi-layered "v'nahafoch hu": the Yeshiva, in addition to housing the hotel and a kosher restaurant, also now serves as a place for events of the renewed Jewish community of Lublin. We got to meet an amazing young leader, also named Agnes, who coordinates Jewish activities for the Lublin Jewish community. Agnes now spends almost every moment working with the refugees now housed in the Yeshiva/Hotel building, a refugee center under the auspices of the JDC (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee). In addition, there is a humanitarian supply distribution center which is one of the largest in the city, open to all. People arriving in Lublin in need are often told, "go to the Yeshiva."
Volunteers from around the city and other countries staff the distribution center - including some of the refugees themselves, wanting to give back. Agnes spoke of the overwhelming emotions not just of the refugees, but of volunteers, too. Some could not stay on after their first day - the pain of what they saw was too much. Agnes focused on the positive: "when I can give a child a toy and give them a moment of happiness, I know I am doing work that matters." Agnes plans to stay in Lublin - she wants to continue to serve the growing Jewish community here for the long-term.
The words after "v'nahafoch hu", after identifying the reversal, name what that reversal was: אשר ישלטו היהודים המה בשנאיהם, that the Jewish people were able to rule over those who hated them, those who sought to do them harm. Today, it's the first three words of that phrase that have stayed with me. אשר ישלטו היהודים - we, as a people, with Medinat Yisrael and with our hard work and blessed fortune, ישלטו - we have agency, we have autonomy, and we have power - the ability to act to make a difference. What a difference all these Jewish organizations, and so many of them with the deep support of UJA Federation of New York, our extraordinary sponsor, are making.
Everywhere we turned in Warsaw, Srodborow and Lublin, we saw inspiring Jewish leaders of all ages using their power, creativity, and heart to exercise leadership to take care of the neediest and most vulnerable. To hold their pain and to shepherd them to safety. To care for Jewish siblings and Ukrainian cousins. To leverage the resources we have to repair the world just a tiny bit.
May we continue to support them with our supply donations, financial resources, lifted voices in prayer and protest, and united hearts.
Tomorrow morning (in a few hours) we head to the border to offer support, bring medical supplies, and bear witness, and send love. I go with each of you so present with me.
With love and gratitude,
Steven
Photos (clockwise from top left): with R Michael Schudrich, Chief Rabbi of Poland, in Warsaw JCC; with Leszek Pisznewski, President of Warsaw Jewish Community, in Srodborow refugee center; Purim candy for children in Srodborow; with Agnes, Coordinator of Jewish community activities in Lublin, Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin / Ilan Hotel / JDC Ukrainian refugee center; children’s games/toys at Yeshiva-housed distribution center in Lublin
