Has the un failed? Hassidic Jews made us all ukrainian
How Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the organization’s failures
last week, in a passionate speech to the un security Council, ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said, “it is obvious that the key institution of the world, which must ensure the coercion of any aggressors to peace, simply cannot work effectively.”
the outbreak of the greatest continental european conflict since World War ii, resulting in 10 million refugees fleeing ukraine and potential civilian fatalities being in the tens of thousands due to massacres and indiscriminate shelling of urban environments, raises questions about the un’s ability to maintain peace and ensure human rights.
the images of widespread devastation of cities such as Kyiv, Kharkiv and mariupol look like they could come from Guernica, rotterdam and leningrad – scenes that were common across the world when the un was founded 76 years ago.
as war rages in europe, the un has found itself pushed to the sidelines as ukrainian and russian representatives duke it out in the crippled organization – an organization unable to negotiate a ceasefire nor penalize russia; all sanctions, penalties and attempts for negotiations come from sovereign countries or other institutions.
Crippled and unable to do anything to end the conflict, the un passed an emergency resolution in the General assembly, suspending russia from the human rights Council and leading to its departure, in a move that draws parallels to the league of nations’ expulsion of the soviet union after it invaded Finland in 1939.
the un’s suspension of russia was one of three resolutions adopted in the General assembly’s emergency special session devoted to the conflict; these are the first emergency resolutions since 1981 that don’t concern the israeli-arab conflict.
the russian invasion of ukraine has exposed the price of the un’s abandonment of its founding principles, human rights, and its persistent attacks on democracies, so prevalent throughout the body and its affiliated institutions.
the un’s actions over the years, well documented by the media and nGos such as un Watch, have
Being jewish and watching russia’s war on ukraine brings up so many collective memories. you don’t need to have european ancestry for names of places like uman, Berdichev, Khmelnytskyi, Babyn yar, and so many more to stir strong feelings in any jewish heart. the recent war in ukraine reminds us of the deep history that the jewish people have in ukraine.
revisiting the historical roots of the russian-ukrainian conflict can also teach us how embedded the ukrainian ethos is in so much of the judaism we love and know.
to me, this is all very personal. i always knew i was a grandson of the Chernobyl hassidic dynasty, a grandson of the rebbes of makarov and Berdichev, that my great aunt shirley was from Vinnytsia, weakened international norms and inhibited its ability to respond in moments of crisis. over time, this has resulted in the institution being watered down to the point where it is now unable to respond to a major conflict other than providing aid and appealing “in the name of humanity.”
the un’s major forums, designed for protecting human rights, are comprised of non-democracies and brutal dictatorships that often use their positions to silence human rights abuses and persecute democracies. and my great grandfather a survivor of the Felshtin pogrom. the fact that these places were in ukraine did not mean to be anything more than had they been in lithuania, poland or russia.
yet, much of the recent war has been about identity. russia claims ukraine is part of russia – a debate that has raged for hundreds of years. yet, as eastern european expert shalom Boguslavsky pointed out, to understand this war, we need to recognize that to russians, saying ukraine is part of russia means only that it is a colony of russia – one that is far inferior to russia.
For centuries, Boguslavsky explains, russians saw themselves as the superior, acculturated ones. russia is pushkin and tchaikovsky, Kandinsky and dostoevsky, while to them, ukraine is peasants and simpletons. russia is about big cities and Before russia’s suspension from the human rights Council, 68% of its members were non-democracies. similar percentages are present in other un forums, such as the members of the Commission on the status of Women.
these problems are not isolated to the composition of these bodies alone and manifest themselves across the organization and its affiliates. the office of the high Commissioner for human rights has been accused of handing over the names of uighur dissidents to the Chinese government, endangering their lives and the industry, while ukraine was about farms and agriculture. russian is the proper and superior language, while ukrainian was the inferior perversion of what real russian was about.
on the other hand, ukrainians took great pride in their folksiness, farming, and family-centered life. Folk art, folk music, love of nature, wide sidewalks and embrace of the outdoors, love for the traditional horse and carriage, the mud-made Khata houses, and so much more are loved parts of ukrainian life.
it is impossible to see this simplicity – historically used by russia to denigrate and persecute ukrainians – and not think of how hassidic judaism has emerged on that fertile ground. the Breslov embrace of simplicity and joy, Berditchev’s embrace of non-judgmentalness, medzhybizh’s lives of their families.
the international Criminal Court, a un affiliate although independent, is currently investigating the us and israel for alleged war crimes and has declined to investigate China for its genocide against the uighurs, citing its non-signatory status to the rome statute, the un-brokered treaty that governs the body. (the us and israel are also non-signatories, but the iCC found a way to investigate them regardless, resulting in since-repealed american sanctions.)
the un also has had a long fixation with israel, which has blinded the body and prevented it from doing its job effectively. last year, out of the 18 resolutions that the General assembly adopted condemning individual countries, 14 were directed at israel.
the World health organization, another un body, has passed seven resolutions condemning israel since 2015 (including over the pandemic), the only country it has ever singled out, and unesCo hasn’t condemned a country other than israel since 2019, according to information from un Watch’s databases.
While it is true that russia’s permanent veto power on the security Council gives it the ability to veto attempts at penalizing it, that doesn’t account for the entirety of the un’s utter helplessness in addressing the conflict.
the truth is that the un’s actions over the years have degraded its moral authority on human rights, causing it to lose respect and weakening its institutional ability to respond to crises.
While attempts at reform have been made, including one in 2005 that included the replacement of the flawed human rights Commission with the human rights Council, they have not achieved the desired results.
as russia invades ukraine and as the specter of a great power conflict looms in asia, governments must ask themselves whether the un can operate effectively, as Zelensky questioned, and what they could do to reform the institution so that it can prevent conflict in the future. love for the simple jew, the big boots worn in new square to evade the deep mud we have seen trap russian tanks, and even the scorn for the overeducated jew who sees himself as superior – all are deeply inspired by ukraine’s unique culture.
it is hard to see even some of the jewish-lithuanian approaches to hassidut and not think of the scorn lithuanian-polish people felt during those times toward ukraine – seeing them as too simple, folksy and less educated.
By now, the people have spoken. indeed, history has spoken. the tens of thousands of jews going on pilgrimages to uman; the love for hassidism across ashkenazi, sephardi, mizrachi, and lithuanian communities speak for themselves.
By now, the unique flavor of ukraine has become part of who we are as jews. through the masters of hassidic judaism, the music of the heart, the love for the simpleton, and even the hearty l’chaim on occasion, we are all ukrainian in one way or another.
this is not to ignore the role ukrainians played in the holocaust, the pogroms of the 1800s, Khmelnitzky’s pogroms, and much more. it is to say that over the past 1,000 years that jews spent in ukraine, we did more than just get killed. We took its beauty of folk and simplicity and made it part of who we are. in one way or another, hassidic judaism has made us all ukrainian.
The writer is an 11th-generation rabbi, teacher and author. He has written sacred days on the jewish holidays, poupko on the parsha,