National Post (National Edition)
Heartbreak in Krakow
Your heart breaks as soon as you turn the corner and see the massive line of mostly women and children waiting for food outside of the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, Poland. The line stretches outside of the JCC's courtyard, onto the sidewalk and some days, beyond. The courtyard itself is full of families and children running around, oblivious to their parents' desperation. They line up for hours in the beating sun, but the JCC's staff and volunteers coming from around the world treat them with respect and compassion.
We bring sandwiches out to the courtyard. Instantly, dozens of people descend and graciously accept as many as they can carry to their family. The individual stories are heartbreaking. I met a 55-yearold woman and her 14-year-old daughter who said they only have their clothes on their back. Although 90 per cent of the refugees coming for help here are not Jewish, the woman and her daughter wanted to apply to immigrate to Israel, where they hope for a better life. The mother began crying as she pleaded for help — any help. Her daughter sat beside her quietly, seemingly oblivious to their dire situation — watching Tik Tok videos on her iPhone. A few minutes later, one of the volunteers took her to the used clothing area — she did not find anything appealing.
Having raised tens of thousands of dollars for refugee relief, the Abraham Global Peace Initiative is here on a humanitarian mission. The 200 pounds of toiletries we brought from Canada are instantly absorbed into the refugee distribution centre and handed out. We help stock shelves with food, clothing and other personal supplies, but they are gone within minutes.
The people keep coming and every story is heartbreaking beyond comprehension. One 34-year-old Ukrainian woman who now works for the JCC told me she had to run for her life with her five-year old daughter, after Russian bombs began falling on her neighbourhood. She now spends her days helping new incoming refugees find their way through the system.
Seeing the organized chaos is believing in the importance of this incredible act of kindness facilitated by the Jewish community here in Krakow and its friends around the world. I have brought many people through this city over the last decade on their way to visit the death camp. This city has seen its share of pain and suffering. Down the street from the JCC, nearly 80 years ago, Jews had been rounded up by the Nazis, put into a ghetto and then taken to Auschwitz, an hour away.
“Our community was decimated by the Holocaust because the world was mostly silent. Now we have the opportunity to help others and we are doing just that,” says Jonathan Ornstein, the JCC's Executive Director. In fact, volunteers from around the world are coming together to help stock shelves, greet the refugees and roll-up their sleeves wherever possible. Elie Wiesel's prophetic words expressed this action best when he said, “it is a cry against indifference, a cry for compassion.”
We cannot close our eyes to the plight of others. We cannot turn away. From time immemorial, on many occasions, we sought asylum, safety and most significantly, freedom. When others are suffering, we are suffering. That is our burden. To free ourselves from an impoverished and meaningless life, it is humanity's metaphysical path to rise above this bondage, which incapacitates us. We have an obligation to remember and recall our oppression and to strive to make the world a better place. As Maya Angelo surmised, “none of us can be free unless all of us are free.”
And so, we find ourselves in this place where innocent victims of war are reaching out for help. We see children coming out of the food distribution centre with teddy bears in one hand and shopping bags full of food in the other. Their future uncertain, but with kindness and compassion, they might one day remember and pay it forward. Russia may be relentlessly pounding their homes just across the border. But here in Krakow and elsewhere along Ukraine's borders, kindness and compassion is outshining hate and evil.
Sometimes, when there is no other way, the battle for freedom from tyranny requires action. To this vital lesson, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “freedom is not given voluntarily from the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” In this we are required to speak out and take action when those who are oppressed cannot. We are obligated to feed the hungry, give a place at our table to the needy and elderly and extend our hand whenever possible. Action speaks louder than words and so we are here. Still, the line up outside the JCC keeps growing.
WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP OTHERS AND WE ARE DOING JUST THAT.