Уважаемые еврейские братья и сестры в Украине Dear Jewish Brothers and Sisters in the Ukraine

ד' לחודש השלישי תשע"ד

English below...

Уважаемые еврейские братья и сестры в Украине,

Пожалуйста, покиньте землю своего изгнания и переезжайте в Вашу единственную истинную родную землю, Землю Израиля.

Вы не уходите. Вы не убегаете. Вы понимаете зловещее предзнаменование.

Вернитесь домой сейчас!

Russian language translation was provided with the help of A Jewish Israel.

Times Of Israel: Armed with bats, Kiev Jews look to combat anti-Semitism
Members of eight-man unit set up in recent weeks in Ukrainian capital have IDF experience or martial arts skills

JTA,  May 8, 2014

Members of Kiev's Jewish rapid-intervention force, some with faces masked or greyed out to protect their identities.
(Photo Credit: JTA)

Ukrainian Jews with combat skills formed a rapid intervention force to stop anti-Semitic attacks.

The force, which was set up in recent weeks, currently is made up of eight men who served in the Ukrainian or Israeli armies or have martial arts skills, the team’s founder, Tzvi Arieli, told JTA Thursday.

The defenders are armed with baseball bats that an American donor whose family hails from Kiev sent the team, he added. “We are trying to raise funds for bullet-proof vests which would greatly increase safety if the situation escalates,” said Arieli, a Latvia-born former soldier of a special forces unit in the Israel Defense Forces who lives in Ukraine.

Arieli said he set up the task force — which now has its own Facebook page – at the request of Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, a chief rabbi of Ukraine, following a series of anti-Semitic attacks that occurred in Kiev and beyond in the wake of a bloody revolution that erupted in November over former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s alleged corruption and perceived allegiance to Russia. (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
To My Dear Jewish Brothers and Sisters in the Ukraine,

I admire you.

I love you.

I worry about you.

I appreciate that you are protecting yourselves, your families, and neighbors, instead of hiding, abandoning your community, or collaborating with the goyim. (God forbid!)

Jews are not just scholars traditionally. We are also warriors.

However, the only viable, long-term solution for Jews living in the Ukraine, or for that matter,

I was very surprised to hear that some of the members of Kiev's Jewish rapid-intervention force had lived in Israel previously, and were even members

The reasons you chose to return to the Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, or wherever are in the past, and no longer relevant.

For your own physical and spiritual safety, you must now leave the land of your exile, and return to your only, true

Some rabbis will tell you to stay, and not to give up on the Ukraine, and the Ukrainian Jewish Community.

DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!

There are those of you who will want to stay, and protect the elderly, who do not believe that they would be able to come (immigrate). Try to encourage them anyway.

Also please do not worry about your feelings toward the State of Israel or its government. This is not about Jews returning to The State; this is about Jews returning to their Land. Dealing with the State's bureaucracy is the easiest way we have currently to stay in the Land.

Not getting help from the Jewish Agency? Can't afford the train ticket to its nearest office?

I would not be surprised; I have heard this many times before.

If you can afford it, then worry about the legalities later. Get a hold of any documents you have proving your status as a Jew (eg. letter from a rabbi, your mother's ketubbah/Jewish marriage contract, brit milah/Jewish Naming certificate, etc.)

If you cannot, it is high time to force the issue.

See? If you do your part, HaShem does the rest.