Rabbi Weill's Blog

Dear Friends,

The core of the Jewish mitzvah system is the imperative to help the vulnerable. There are, sadly and undeniably, no end of vulnerable people in the world. The Ukrainians have caught our attention for their sad plight, as well as for their bravery. We also understand that the security structure that has obtained in the western world is shaken by Russia's invasion. So, Ukraine is very much on our minds. 

We at EHNT have offered several options as to how we can help financially. On our home page, please see a list of organizations that are working in Ukraine and with displaced persons in eastern Europe.]

You have also seen recent emails about the consortium of synagogues that is working with HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, to help a refugee family settle into a apartment somewhere in Chicagoland. To help with this initiative, please see an email -- also recently sent -- about this issue.

Many have drawn comparisons between Russia's destruction within Ukraine and the Holocaust/Shoah. I find this connection to be - to put it mildly -- inapt. The differences between those utterly horrible events are legion. One can certainly find closer parallels to the Holocaust than Ukraine. How does China treat the Uyrghurs? Or the genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State? How does Mauritania handle its persistent slavery, which persists even after its legal abolition?

These  questions are worth exploring, but ultimately what matters is that people are suffering in dramatic ways. Families are being destroyed. People are on the run. And we can, in our modest ways, help.  

Shabbat Shalom to all.

Rabbi Jeffrey Weill