Jewish and Ukrainian, Mutually Inclusive

 A message to American Jews with Ukrainian/Russian roots: why I encourage you to stand with Ukraine and transcend your historical pain

Ukraine is a nation that proves that beautiful, inspirational, hopeful and true change is possible. Only a hundred years ago, Jews fled for their lives from pogroms. Today, a Jewish man is the president of this country, elected in a fair and free election. His grandparents’ families died in the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine. He is openly Jewish. In 2019, the Ukrainian people elected Volodymyr Zelensky by a landslide with more than 73% of the vote (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48007487).

Ukraine has built monuments commemorating the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Synagogues in Ukraine have been restored and functional. Pilgrimages of Jews continued to Uman, a sight of Jewish religious spiritual awakening. Israeli Jews frequently travel back and forth to Ukraine because they feel a bond and connection to their birthplace. Even now, Israeli’s support Ukraine in its fight for survival, sending convoys of medical experts and volunteers willing to give their lives for Ukraine. I myself felt this as I repeatedly went back since 2007, and saw and heard the changes with my own eyes and ears.

Change is possible and can be beautiful. Please believe that the pain of our ancestors is valid and understood. But so is the need for recognition of all that Ukraine and its people have done to move forward and be a better nation, one of love, friendship and hope. This enormous change is being threatened by a man who claims that Ukrainians are Nazis, fascists, suppressing the rights of minorities or Russian speakers. Ukraine is a bilingual state where people speak Russian and Ukrainian at will. People practice all faiths. Students from around the world come to study at its universities. Change is real, possible, beautiful, and a fact. Ukraine has a strong sense of patriotism and even nationalism. But that is also something that every independent state has and leans on when its sovereignty is threatened.

Recognizing our own faults does absolve others – that is indisputable. But, if we don’t sow the seeds of love and lead by example, show compassion, recognize great achievements and steps toward peace and equality, then there will be nothing worth reaping for our next generation. We will continue to pass down only painful memories of pogroms instead of creating a better reality and creating a peaceful future. Only in hindsight might some of us say - “if we only knew”. We, American Jews, have a golden opportunity to see what is happening in the moment and support a possible future where further achievement and reconciliation can exist. But if Ukraine falls today, if President Zelensky and his family are killed, if Ukrainian have no home in which to continue their reforms, then progress and reconciliation also do not have any chance of survival. Nor will the chance of our own Tikun Olam, our own peaceful mitzvot that far exceed our ancestral need to hold onto anger, pain, and hatred.

#AmericanJews #Diaspora #JewishUkraine

Help Ukraine - Call Your Government Representative

You have likely heard about the current war ravaging Ukraine. Perhaps you wonder why this distant country, until recently quite poor and rarely mentioned, has become a center point of world policy, sanctions, sports, and oil and gas supplies.

My family emigrated to the US in 1992 as refugees when I was a child. As I grew, my curiosity about my native country coincided with Ukraine’s changes, which began taking a new promising direction. I conducted historical research of WWII and the Holocaust in Eastern Europe and worked in Washington, DC supporting nascent civil society in Ukraine and its neighboring countries. In my work and travels, I witnessed the rise of a nation that learned from its past and strove to move forward, accepting support and wisdom from others who saw its potential. Despite leaving Ukraine as a child in fear, I repeatedly returned with growing pride and admiration.

Ukraine represents the power of ideals and shows that freedom is not a myth when people believe in themselves and their national sovereignty. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was symbolic of hope. Its path symbolized something sacred to most of the world: freedom, choice, and the power of change through the will of its people. This freedom threatened a neighboring government’s increasingly autocratic regime. Beyond the massive human rights violations, indiscriminate bombing and attacks on civilians, and the unprovoked war of occupation on Ukraine, this war matters and should matter to everyone in the free world because it is a war against a country that chose democracy, freedom and peace. This war is against a country that rebuilt itself with tolerance and democratic leadership at its forefront.

Ukraine gained its independence during the collapse of the USSR in 1991. In its formative years, the collapse left it and Russia in economic ruin. However, as Russia began to rebuild its government, infrastructure, and economy, Ukraine continued to struggle with ongoing corruption dominating its government and forcing its people to live in a state of constant poverty, prolonged due to rampant corruption permeating every layer of Ukrainian society, government and institutions. With each effort to reform and remove corrupt officials from power, Russia hindered Ukraine’s attempts by seating paid officials throughout Ukraine’s government. In 2014 Ukrainians attempted to force the government to change by looking to their democratic neighbors, ousting the Russian-backed president, and committing to a package of democratic reforms. They called it the “Revolution of Dignity”. In response, Russian forces invaded eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea under the false pretext of saving Russians from nationalist extremism.

Ukrainians were not deterred. Since then, Ukraine has reclaimed its dignity. It elected two different presidents in fair and free elections who kept their promise of reforming the country. Ukraine’s economy began to stabilize, medical institutions reformed, roads built, cities restored, and laws enforced. For the first time since Ukraine’s independence, bribes and nepotism ceased to be the predominant way of doing business or government, getting into schools, obtaining medical support or finding work. For the first time, jurisprudence and courts found meaning. Taxes no longer lined the pockets of oligarchs but instead became real funds for rebuilding streets, apartments, parks, and infrastructure. Starting independent businesses became possible without mobster financing or oversight. For the first time since 1992, professional and personal integrity began to mean more than petty bribes.

Ukrainian people became more aware of the values integral to the free world. They began to practice equality, tolerance and freedom that led to clear and tangible results. People in small towns and large cities rebuilt their own country by realizing that collective words and small actions of ordinary people held power. Ukraine became a symbol of hope and the possibilities that arise when democracy stands its ground and people begin to believe in its power through their own actions.

As Ukraine and its people gained their voice, Russians lost theirs. Putin’s government has controlled every election, stifled and now banned independent media, and began mass campaigns of propaganda that rewrote history to glorify the days of the Russian empire and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Ukraine and its progress posed a real threat to Russia’s grand lies. Ukraine symbolized the possibility of change and progress through the independent and collective actions of ordinary people.

I write this to you not only because this war is causing the slaughter of countless innocent lives trapped without food, heat or water during a Slavic winter, driving out an innocent nation from its home, and forcing the destruction of a country and its history without any provocation. I write to you because this war also affects everyone who holds dear the freedom of choice and the promise of justice, prosperity, liberty, peace and self-determination.

If you would like to help Ukrainians in their time of need, please continue listening to news about what is happening. Outlets such as the BBC and RFE/RL have journalists on the ground providing accurate information and interviews with people trapped in the occupied regions. While your support and attention to this tragedy is already a significant gesture, please reach out to your government representatives to help. You can also support humanitarian and defensive efforts in Ukraine. The following page lists verified Ukrainian organizations working on the ground:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/a-few-ways-to-help-ukrainians?utm_source=url&fbclid=IwAR1mxwb_sZGxHDmrPjuFMCThW3surIBOo1VcfKG-MZPAn8on00-HQ3zlt9E&s=r