How many Jews live in Ukraine right now?

This seemingly simple question may lead to long discussions about such subjects as religion, ethnicity and history. In today’s Ukraine, however, you are likely to get a dismissive shrug, especially if you’re talking to a person born around 1991. Who cares?

Well, we care! Perhaps, because we were born well before the Soviet demise and emigrated from the USSR during 1970’s, taking part in an Exodus of 1.9 million Jews. We also have some “not-so-pleasant” memories about what it was like growing up as Jewish kids surrounded by a vast majority of Slavic schoolmates.

Therefore, when we visited Ukraine in 2023, we wanted to meet a few members of the Jewish community in Kyiv and compare our own experiences to theirs. Of course, our ultimate goal was to meet the best known Ukrainian Jew, who happens to be the country’s President at this difficult time, but it was not in the cards for now! Hopefully, we will have a chance to sit down with Mr. Zelensky after the Victory!

We are happy to report that our efforts were handsomely rewarded and we met very interesting Jewish people, who currently live and work in Ukraine. Some of them had previously emigrated to other countries and later returned, others never left. Some are religious and others are secular. Some are our age (early 60’s), while others are half of that, males and females, medical doctors, IT admins, and so forth. It was a good cross section of people and their opinions can be summarized as follows:

• Modern Ukraine can not and should not be compared to the USSR circa 1970’s. Two generations of Ukrainian people have been born and raised since we left the bad-old Soviet Union, and many things are not as they used to be.
• The majority of Ukrainian Jews are indistinguishable from other people populating the country. Furthermore, they themselves do not feel any different from the others!
• Ukrainian passports have not registered the holder’s ethnicity ever since the early days of independence. One’s ethnicity is not a part of any birth, education, employment, military, or government records. Perhaps, this is why it is hard to answer our question about the number of Jews currently living in Ukraine!
• Finally and most importantly, modern Ukrainians simply don’t care about the ethnicity of their neighbors, co-workers, classmates and… elected officials. In more than one of our interviews, people said that they didn’t even know that President Zelensky was Jewish!

Meet the Chaplain

We’ve never met a military chaplain before. Luckily for us, David (call sign “Rebe” or Rabbi in English), was home from the battlefront during our visit and had graciously agreed to a meeting. We met Rebe in his office in Brodsky Choral Synagogue – a grand 1898 structure in the center of Kyiv and spent an hour talking about his military service and what it is like to be a religious Jew in modern Ukraine.

Rebe was born and raised in an eastern industrial city and, therefore, speaks Russian to us. He is a pragmatic man with a pleasant sense of humor. He describes how he had agreed to join the recently formed Chaplain Service to help the fighting men and their families. “I just could not stay away while my country was invaded”, he says. We know the feeling and just nod in agreement.

“How many Ukrainian Jews serve in the military?” we ask, but Rebe doesn’t know the answer. “We simply don’t keep track of this information,” he says. “How many Israeli volunteers serve in the Ukrainian military?” we insist… “I know of about 60 men,” Rebe answers.

Rebe is not a military man, but he proudly demonstrates a paper target with bullet holes covering the bullseye. He knows how to use an assault rifle, if need be! He spends most of his time at the front line and often performs the role of a psychologist, working with the soldiers who undergo traumatic experiences or have trouble in their personal life. One of his most difficult tasks is to accompany a casket on its way home and take part in the soldier’s funeral.

Finally we ask him, “How do the Gentile soldiers feel when they see a Jewish rabbi giving them the last rites?” Rebe just smiles at us in a tired sort of way: “Believe me, at the given place and time… it just doesn’t matter!” And this just sums it all up rather perfectly…

Helping the Refugees

As we drove to the Brodsky Synagogue, we could not help but notice a long line of people in the back of the building. Who are these people and what is their business with the synagogue? This question was answered by Mlada, a very energetic and no-nonsense administrator of the Temple.

It turns out that many Ukrainians who used to live in the north, south, and east of the country had to leave their homes since the start of invasion on Feb 24, 2022. In most cases, they headed to Kyiv, the capital, or other parts of Ukraine, often with very limited supplies and financial resources. The most needy refugees line up at the churches and synagogues to receive some assistance.

Mlada and her team of volunteers at the synagogue treat refugees to the traditional Shabbat dinner. They also let people enter their storage room and take whatever supplies are available. The needy people don’t have to be Jewish. Everyone is treated with the same respect and attention.

Mlada takes us deep inside the building where a few women sort through boxes of clothing, shampoo bottles, toys, bedding, baby formula and all kinds of other things. This is a large shipment donated by the Church of Christ, somewhere in Mississippi, which has recently arrived in Kyiv after months of travel by sea and rail. Unfortunately, many of the perishables did not fare well during the long shipping process. Some bottles had broken and their content leaked out. Some items had long passed their expiration date.

Mlada sighs and says: “We greatly appreciate the help we get from abroad. But It would have been much faster and more efficient to donate money. We could have used it to purchase the things people really need and distribute the aid immediately.” We are in full agreement – money is easy and fast to transfer, and can be spent more efficiently on the ground.

Do you want to help Mlada and her team? Please click HERE and thank you!