Ukrainian refugees will need help from world
For Minnesota Vikings co-owner it’s personal
As important as sports are to my family, helping those in need according to the Jewish value of “tikkun olam” (repairing the world) always comes first. This is why as soon as I learned about how the war in Ukraine was forcing millions of people to flee the country, I had to see firsthand that these refugees were getting taken care of.
Witnessing these refugees fleeing Vladimir Putin’s aggression, images of my own family flashed through my mind, and I couldn’t help wondering what it would have been like for them 80 years ago if there had been rescuers on the border and an Israel to escape to.
My parents, who were born in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border, suffered horrendous deprivation and loss during the Holocaust before finally escaping to America and starting anew. They taught me the bedrock principle in Judaism that nothing is more important than preserving and celebrating life.
That’s one of the reasons I became active with and now serve as the chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, an organization that supports Jewish communal life and vulnerable populations of all faiths and backgrounds around the globe.
My family is also unabashedly Zionist. I’ve been to Israel dozens of times, and the sight of the Israeli flag never fails to fill my heart with pride. But I’ve never been as stirred by the sight of that flag as I was recently, when I saw the Israeli aid tents set up at the border. That potent symbol of hope and rebirth is the very first thing that the refugees see when they reach safety in Poland.
A symbol of hope and rebirth
Since its founding in 1948, Israel has given Jews from all over the world a haven. Israel has also developed vast expertise in providing humanitarian relief to disaster victims all over the world.
Just a week after we left Poland, a new Israeli field hospital opened in Lviv, where it is caring for patients without regard to religion or ethnic background. And three teams of Israeli medical clowns are on the ground as well, bringing much needed smiles and laughter to young Ukrainian refugees.
Yet, even given our knowledge of the events of World War II, the scale of this current disaster is almost impossible to comprehend. And when so many
My parents, who were born in Poland not far from the Ukrainian border, suffered horrendous deprivation and loss during the Holocaust before finally escaping to America and starting anew.
millions of people are suffering all at once, we tend to forget that everyone has his or her own story. In Warsaw, we met with a 95-year-old man – a veteran of the Soviet Army who had lived in Ukraine his whole life – as he was helped onto a bus with his son to travel to their new home in Israel. A young mother by the name of Anna was carrying her two daughters – she was so emotionally and physically drained by the experience of carrying her 2-year-old in her arms for days at a time.
Repairing the world and Ukraine
The group I was privileged to lead, which included leaders of Jewish communities from across North America, also visited a pre-war yeshiva (study house) in Lublin that was destroyed by Nazis and is now being used as a refugee processing center by the Joint Distribution Committee with the help of Jewish Federations funds. The building is now sheltering, feeding and clothing both Jews and non-Jews who fled Ukraine. We prayed the morning service close to where so many members of my family were slaughtered, but this time we were there to give humanitarian aid and healing to those who were now bearing the burden of yet another terrible war.
There will be many missions to come, and many millions of dollars still to be raised before this crisis ends. Jewish Federations have already raised over $40 million in humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees.
Jewish Federations have been, along with hundreds of other Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, vigorously lobbying our own government to provide more humanitarian aid to Ukraine and to allow Ukrainian refugees to resettle in the United States.
We are heartened that billions of dollars are being sent to Ukraine and its neighbors, and 100,000 Ukrainians will soon be welcomed into our communities in America.
But whenever peace finally comes – and it will – the refugees’ lives will never be the same. This trauma will last for decades. I know this from my parents’ own experiences that still shape my life and actions today.
As Jewish tradition teaches, “You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.”
It’s a good motto, from the football field to our responsibility to repair the world.