Meanwhile, Jews in the Ukraine...

ג' לחודש השנים עשר ב' תשע"ד

Arutz 7: Ukraine Rabbi: Jewish Men Likely to Be Drafted for Possible War
The Ukraine Jewish community was steeling itself for troubled times, said Rabbi Moshe Wasserman, the Chief Rabbi of the country.

David Lev, March 3, 2014

As tensions continued to mount in Ukraine, the Jewish community was steeling itself for troubled times, said Rabbi Moshe Wasserman, the Chief Rabbi of the country. “The situation in the community is very tense,” he said. “We are on the verge of a war with Russia. Men are being summoned to draft boards, and a large number of Jews are eligible for the draft. The situation is very complicated.” (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
No, Rabbi Wasserman. The issue in the Ukraine is not in the least bit complicated. However, I believe that you are conceptualizing it to be so, perhaps even contributing to its "complications," as well as influencing those Jews in your constituency, who listen to you and look up to you, to do the same.

Arutz 7: Crimea Synagogue Vandalized Amid Ukraine Unrest
Swastikas and graffiti sprayed on a synagogue in Crimea, local rabbi advises worshippers to stay away from the site

Elad Benari, March 3, 2014

In the latest anti-Semitic attack in the Ukraine, vandals on Friday sprayed swastikas and graffiti reading "Death to the Jews" on a synagogue in Simferopol in the Crimea region, reported the Israel Hayom daily newspaper.

"There is no doubt that it was important to anti-Semites to commit this crime," Anatoly Gendin, head of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Crimea, told the newspaper.

"Since the crisis started, prices have risen by 30 percent and people aren't receiving their pensions. As always, the Jews are being blamed, and I'm scared to think where it could progress," he added.

The anti-Semitic incident in Crimea took place the same day that the Russians began to take over the peninsula. According to the Jewish community leader, to get to the building the vandals had to climb the 2-meter wall that surrounds the synagogue compound. Rabbi Misha Kapustin, a leader in the Crimean Jewish community, told Israel Hayom that he had asked worshippers to stay away from the site. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
Wow! And I thought it was only spoiled, rich, Jewish Americans too attached to their financial paradise to make Aliyah (immigrate to Israel). Desperately hanging onto that Ukrainian pension, instead of seeking a new, Jewish life in the only true homeland of the Jewish People?? Hmm...

OK, maybe that was a bit mean. After all, it has always been much harder for Jews in the members states of the Former Soviet Union to experience any form of Jewish identity, let alone be able to express it openly, than their brethren in Western democratic countries, such as the U. S. Thus, in some ways the Ukrainian exile could be deeper that the American exile, certainly different.

Also, while the non-Jewish Agency provides aliyah assistance to goyim (non-Jews), due to legal obligations, they claim, real Jews who cannot afford a train ticket to a city with non-Jewish Agency offices, are stuck.

The non-Jewish Agency has apparently also been providing "aid" to Jews in the Ukraine, due to the recent hardships, when the only "aid" that they should be providing them is the means, even if that includes money for that train ticket to Kiev, or Harkov, or wherever.

Of course, rabbis are partly, if not mostly, to blame, for keeping Jews in the Ukraine. And now, Jewish men are getting drafted, so now they are stuck.

See Tomer Devorah, Life In Israel, and The Muqata.for more on this aspect of the Ukrainian Saga.

Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
(Photo: Kikar HaShabat)

In light of the current unrest in the Ukraine, someone posted a joke on Facebook that Rosh HaShannah in Uman, at the Tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, has been canceled for next year.

Oh, if only it were so! But, who knows? That just might be The Amighty's intentions.

It's time to get out of the Ukraine, among all other countries of our exile. Hopefully, it won't be too late for you!