Dear brothers!
Thank you for the interest and concern of all of you for our situation in Ukraine.
The pressure in our community is undoubtedly very great.
Our role as emissaries and rabbis, is first and foremost in these hours, to encourage, strengthen, and relieve the pressure of the Jews in the community.
Of course none of us leave, even though Israeli citizens are leaving the country for fear of what is going to happen here.
Of course, we have been organizing for several months for other scenarios, Chas V’shalom, without publishing it, so as not to cause pressure and fears among the Jews.
Just to clear your ears, we organized and purchased about a thousand sleeping bags in case of Jewish refugees from the Kharkiv, Kiev and Dnieper regions who come to us in Odessa.
We also purchased 30 tons of flour, 20 tons of sugar, 30 tons of macaroni, 25 tons of rice and almost 40 tons buckwheat (gretzke).
These are purchases that cost us about $ 300,000, loans we took from local banks, all so that we could feed the hundreds of children growing up in orphanages, the hundreds of students from across Ukraine who live with us, and the hundreds of Holocaust survivors who live in the community’s old age.
In the coming days, Israeli security companies will come here to be added to the local security companies that already work with us, this is a vital need throughout the year but much more critical at such times, the costs are very high and no body covers them for us!
On the subject of the loans we took out and the lack of money for what we still need to buy and get organized surely needless to explain! The situation here is very difficult and we are, God forbid, facing collapse and we urgently need a lot of money in order to be equipped and properly organized for the difficult situation that lies ahead.
We still lack medical emergency equipment, protective equipment and a huge amount of food products for a long time for hundreds of Jews who can not leave the country and have nowhere to go.
In such difficult days we all with Israel are guarantors of each other and all over the world we must all unite and give a shoulder to our brothers who are in danger.
At the moment we are doing everything, so that we are not caught are not ready Chas Vechalilah, time is pressing and we must do it quickly before it is too late.
Thank you very much and Tizku Lemitzvos!
Rabbi Avraham Wolf,
the Rabbi of the Odessa Jewish community.
