Read all about the trip and follow our rabbi on his journey with the blog below
March 16, 2022
New York rabbis who went to Poland with bags of supplies to help Ukrainian refugees say the sheer number of people “defies the imagination.” NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
March 13, 2022
The group of local rabbis will head to Warsaw, Poland, before stopping in several cities en route to the border city of Przemysl to help Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war and their homeland. NBC New York’s Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
March 12, 2022
Delegation organized by the UJA-Federation of New York will also provide rabbinical support to Jews fleeing Russia’s invasion.
March 7, 2022
Does good always win over evil? We find ourselves asking that question as we watch the desperate situation evolve in Ukraine. Rabbi David Wilfond, senior rabbi at Temple Shaaray Tefila, Bedford, believes that it does.
A message from Rabbi Wilfond
March 11, 2022
Dear Friends,
On Saturday night, Motzi Shabbat (after Shabbat), I will be boarding a plane to fly to the Ukrainian/Polish border to assist refugees who are in desperate need of a help. I am travelling with a small group of Rabbis from New York City and Westchester to bring medical supplies, aid and hope to the nearly 2 million people whose lives have been violently upended by the largest war in Europe since World War II and the Holocaust. I am grateful to the UJA Federation of New York for supporting our mission.
Since even before the war began, I have been in daily contact with family and friends caught up in this bloody tragedy. I have made plans to meet up with Rabbi Julia Gris, a former member of my congregation in Kyiv, who has been the Rabbi of the Reform Synagogue of Odessa for the past 8 years. Julia was born in Russia and is a Russian citizen, but has lived in Ukraine for 22 years. Her identity is a blend of being a Russian, and a Ukrainian and a Jew. When the war began her congregants told her that if the Russians don’t kill her, the Ukrainians might because she is Russian. Last week she fled with her teenage daughter to Warsaw and is living in a refugee center. God willing, we will meet in a few days. My cousins from Kyiv; Yuri, Natalie, Karina and Max have been on the run for two weeks now. We communicate by smart phone. They are sleeping in a different basement each night relying on the good will of strangers while trying to stay away from armies. They have the impossible ethical dilemma to split up the family and send their mothers, wives and daughters to Poland, or to stay together as a family in a Ukraine at war. Yesterday, they asked if I would write a letter of invitation to help them get a visa to the USA. I did it immediately. How much of a difference can a small group of Rabbis really make? I am not sure. But if I can help one hungry person have a meal, or help one sick person get medicine, at least for those individuals maybe they will have a little more life and a little more hope. This is the mitzvah. Pirke Avot (the tractate on ethics in the Talmud), teaches “Lo Alecha Hamlacha ligmor,” which means “Even if the task is enormous and you can not complete it, you still must do whatever you can to help. What we think might be small and insignificant, could be enormous and significant in the eyes of another.” While I am at the Ukrainian border I hope to be in touch with the congregation so that you can join me and see for yourselves what is really going on. Please watch for an email with details when to join a zoom on Monday or Tuesday, likely in the early morning EST which would be afternoon in Europe. I will return to New York in time for Purim, Wednesday night. I hope you will join us at the Temple for our Purim holiday celebrating life and triumph over evil. I look forward to seeing you then. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi David Wilfond