Bring the Jews Home Update from Ukraine

The exodus continues!
The past year 2014 was a turbulent year in the Ukraine. The revolution in Kiev and other cities came first, and thereafter the annexation of the Crimea, by Russia. That was followed by what men thought impossible: war broke out in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Lugansk. It resulted in the death of more than five thousand civilians, and caused a flow of refugees, amongst them hundreds of Jews!

Refugees
We’ve noticed a continuous increase in the flow of displaced Jewish people looking for refuge from, particularly, the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa. We’ve been requested to make a financial contribution towards their accommodation until they depart for Israel. On 22, 29 and 30 December, 470 Jews, of whom more than half were refugees from the east, departed from Kiev. It was memorable to transport so many Jewish people from far and wide in the small and large busses. We saw relieved people, who endured the war, leave with very little baggage! Klara, a 78 year old Holocaust survivor who fled from Lugansk, was one of the people who left permanently. She said she decided to stay, but had no option once the bombs landed close to her flat. Klara never thought that she would have to flee. She was thankful for the practical and spiritual help she received.

New Year 2015
The first trips in 2014 are something of the past, and we hope that many Ukrainian Jews will make the permanent ‘journey’, to the land of their forefathers, during the new year 2015. A total of 5,840 Jews emigrated, from the Ukraine to Israel, during the previous year. As the continues with the execution of His plan, we are allowed to be a small link in the chain of events!

Koen Carlier

Jewish refugees from the East of Ukraine at the airport in Kiev for their one way flight to Israel

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