“A Voice From Ukraine,” Rabbi Zecher’s Shabbat Awakenings
March 11, 2022 | 8 Adar II 5782
Welcome to Shabbat Awakenings as we make our way toward Shabbat. You can listen to it as a podcast here.
It is hard to look away from the suffering, destruction and the death in Ukraine as well as the mass exodus of people trying to navigate themselves and others toward safety. We can’t cover our eyes nor should we. We know this is one of many wars of aggression that has spanned the globe over the last century and beyond. We have learned, we must not look away. We have to listen, pay attention, and figure out how to help.
In our own community, there are those who are intimately connected to Ukraine and to Russia. I have asked our member, Iryna Zakhozha, to share with you her perspective, and though it is painful, she wants you to know.
My name is Iryna Zakhozha. I live in Newton, I am a Temple Israel member, I am a TI Religious School teacher; I am a Judaic Coordinator at the FJECC. Massachusetts has been my home for the past 17 years but I was born and grew up in Kyiv, Ukraine. I have extended family and many friends who live there and whom I have been planning to visit one day. One day…
For the past two weeks I have been asking myself if ‘one day” will ever happen. Will I ever be able to go see people and places I remember and love? Will these people and places still be there?
It is difficult to find the right words to describe the way I have been feeling since the war in Ukraine started. I am feeling distraught and helpless… and FURIOUS! I never thought I could hate so much it makes me sick. Unimaginable, unthinkable disregard of human life makes my blood boil.
I haven’t been sleeping well, I have been crying, I have been glued to the news, I have been frantically connecting with my family and friends in Kyiv. The stories and images that they share with me are horrific. They remind me of the pages in my High School history books that I could never imagine seeing in reality in the 21st century. Destroyed cities and towns look like they did during World War II, people running for their lives and sacrificing their lives. My family and friends are living through the real war with all its atrocities and suffering. They stay in the basements of their apartment buildings overnight or sleep in the bathtubs, fully dressed, just in case. They hear the sirens and bombings all the time, they see explosions and shambles through their windows.
One of my friends who was lucky to leave Kyiv with his wife and two boys is now volunteering at the Polish border. My sister has a friend in Kyiv who has been delivering food to the elderly and families with kids. A few days ago she asked my sister to take care of her daughter in case something happens to her. My parents’ friends are trying to put on a brave face (old generation) but you can hear the fear and uncertainty of the outcome in their voices.
No one can explain how something like that could happen and why? I feel like I am in a horrid dream where history repeats itself – an ambitious psychopath destroying people’s lives on a whim, this time pretending to be a savior of the Russians. I believe that Putin doesn’t care about anyone but himself; he controls, threatens and manipulates. Russians who follow him and believe him are either afraid of him or brainwashed by his incomprehensible lies. Another friend of mine in Kyiv tried to tell his parents who live in Moscow about what he had been witnessing. They told him to stop exaggerating and inventing things. They believe Putin’s words over their son’s eyes.
Ukraine is a country with a rich history, interesting culture and traditions, beautiful nature and architecture, unique literature and music. It is far from perfect but it doesn’t deserve to be erased or made a brainless puppet of an insane tyrant.
I am so grateful for all the love and support I receive from my friends and colleagues, from the families of my students and even strangers. It helps me navigate through the day, staying relatively sane and calm.
The biggest question we keep asking ourselves is when and how this war will end. I do what I can to help, I try to stay optimistic, I hope and pray!
We are grateful for Iryna’s willingness to speak the truth of her experience. If you want to reach out to her, you can email her.
If you are directly affected by the situation in Ukraine, please reach out to me HERE. The clergy want to know and to be as helpful as possible.
With much hope for turning toward more peaceful times and a Shabbat Shalom!
If you’d like to provide financial assistance to Ukaine, please consider visiting the WUPJ / EUPJ Ukraine Emergency Supportpage to donate.
- We join together for Qabbalat Shabbat, onsite and online at 6:00 p.m., to gather strength from one another, as we bring in Shabbat and share the joy of the naming of Lillian Levine and the wedding blessing for Maddy Herzog and Jacob Stern. Join on Zoom, on Facebook Live, or stream on our website.
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- 10:00 a.m. Village Purim Puppet Show, onsite or online, followed by a puppet making project and playground time, weather permitting. Register here. Come sing, dance, learn a Middle Eastern rhythm, and get to know the characters of the Purim story!
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Connect with me here. I look forward to corresponding with you and to hearing your thoughts.
Shabbat Shalom!
