Miriam Berger
Washington Post, Mar. 10, 2022
Ukraine’s Jewish community was on the up.
After centuries of pogroms and emigration driven by antisemitism, followed by the devastation of the Holocaust in World War II, and then Soviet repression, recent decades brought a flourishing of synagogues, Jewish schools and community centers. Estimates of how many Jews remained vary, in part because of differences in how Jewish communities define who is Jewish. But Jewish aid organizations estimate that 200,000 Ukrainian Jews — some religious, many more not — were integrated into the life of the country. The most notable part of secular President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Jewishness was that it was barely considered a factor in his 2019 campaign.
Then Russia invaded.
With an exodus from Ukraine underway — more than 2 million people, mainly women and children, have fled — Ukrainian Jews are pouring out of the country or digging in to fight, and the turmoil could spell the beginning of another ending for what was so meticulously rebuilt.
Amid the general devastation, many of the pillars of Jewish communities have left or are under threat. Rabbis have fled with their congregants, and synagogues, community centers and schools are closed. Some Ukrainians are relocating to Israel, which offers many Jews the chance to immigrate, and under revised rules will allow temporary residence for others. Many fear that much of what once was will be lost in the war.
Max Bearak in Korczowa, Poland, contributed to this report.
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