Dear friend!
I’m writing to you again while shells continue to fly over us.
I’m grateful for every support or donation that we are getting every day because of your kindness, but unfortunately we still need a lot of help and assistance.
We continue to distribute here food and medicine and essential necessities under fire attacks,
this war is so hard and painful no one imagined in the wildest imagination that it could last so long but unfortunately this is the sad reality.
This morning again there was very heavy shelling just a few meters from us, the chaos and fear still reigns here and the situation is terrible and awful.
As the Rabbi of the community I stayed here for to support and to be with anyone who could not get out of here and run away,
with devotion I take care of the multiple needs of everyone every day, hundreds of Jews from the community and also those who are not, we provide them daily medicine hiding places food and clothing, and it costs me tens of thousands of dollars daily.
In addition my wife Chaya is in Germany with all 200 orphans we escaped from our orphanage here and also where the stay in the hotel we rented and the care of the children involves very high costs.
I thank you for all the help and assistance you give from your compassionate heart to help the poor and helpless who are here in such a terrible reality …
Thanks from the bottom of the heart
Chief Rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine
All contributions are Tax-deductible
We feel and see death before our eyes every day. We live frozen in fear, with sirens and explosions erupting night and day, surrounded by destruction and devastation.
Our Jewish community in Odessa boasts about 35,000 people. Anyone who could have escaped has already done so. More than half of our community are now refugees. Only those who are unable to leave remain. This includes the sick, the elderly, people who cannot travel, and devoted relatives unwilling to abandon their loved ones. Even people who want and can leave can not always escape. Roads are blocked. Men who reach the border are not allowed to cross with their families.
The city of Odessa is under total siege. Yet, we continue to transport hundreds of families from our community across the Moldovan border close to us. This includes refugee families who managed to escape from Kyiv and other cities, thanks to the heroic efforts of our volunteers and dedicated staff.
Because of the ban on 18-60-year-old men from leaving Ukraine, we are forced to use all sorts of covert means to evacuate them as well and not cut them off from their families and small children! It costs us a lot of money!!
We have so far managed to evacuate 120 children from our orphanage. But there are still 80 orphans left who we have not yet been able to rescue and are in danger of death at any moment.
The lucky ones who managed to escape war-torn Ukraine are now refugees. Homeless children and parents whose only home and security have been taken from them. Thousands of people have lost their property and possessions and suddenly became homeless!
They were left only with the clothes on their backs which barely withstand the freezing temperatures on the streets of Ukraine. They sleep in refugee camps inside tents with no heating and no money to their name!
How much longer must they suffer? We have to make arrangements for them and make sure they have the minimum required to recover and survive.
And what about those who are still left behind? Among them are about 100 elderly Holocaust survivors in nursing homes in our community who live again through bombings and destruction, food shortages, and hunger. They lack basic supplies. How can we just let them relive those days of horror?
We can not leave those who rely on us. Either way, we need to stay alive. Our supplies are running low. Soon we will no longer have the most basic food items – flour and water.
We need a miracle. We are praying to G-d!
We are committed to helping the Jews left behind!
We will not leave Ukraine until the last Jew leaves this place!
Please help us!!
Please do not abandon us to our fate! PLEASE HELP!
We urgently need financial support! Please help us!!!
Thank you very much and Tizku Lemitzvos!
Rabbi Avraham Wolf,
Chief Rabbi of Odessa & Southern Ukraine
