What would I have done?

I have asked myself a thousand times — what would I have done if I had lived at the time of the Holocaust?

Would I have gone like a good Canadian girl, following the rules, standing in line, believing the sign over Auschwitz that work will set me free? Would I have hidden, run to the words, fought with the partisans, jumped from the trains, bombed the train tracks…?

None of us know what we would have done.

My friend and Momentum Trip Leader for the Russians, Dvori Mandel, who lives in Moscow and is in touch with Jewish leaders in Ukraine, sent me the following:

“I’m crying…watching videos and pictures of Jewish children from schools and orphanages bundled onto buses…shuls being emptied out…Sifrei Torah (scrolls) lovingly wrapped up… Kids still live in the city davening (praying) in air raid shelters… Communities built up so lovingly for decades now cast into crisis. Feels like 1938. It’s terrifying.”

Feels like 1938.

One of the Momentum men, Dr. Louis Profeta, sent me a message to take in a Ukrainian Jewish orphan ten years old or older.

“Temporarily or long term?” I asked. “Either,” he answered.

Wow.

There was a young Russian man learning with my husband in Yeshiva a couple of years ago. He left to go back to Russia, but they have stayed in touch, learning over the phone, updating each other on their respective countries’ reactions to the pandemic. I told my husband that I heard that young Russian men are going into hiding, not wanting to go to war in Ukraine. How was his student doing?

He told me he was trying to get in touch with him, but he had “gone dark.” Finally, he messaged my husband that Russia is falling apart on every level; there is extreme panic and fear. He had paid $2,000 to get a flight to Turkey, and from there, hoped to get to Israel.

I told my husband to tell him that he has a safe place with us in our home in Jerusalem. I explained that if Dr. Louis Profeta, on the front lines in the emergency room at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Indianapolis, can adopt a Ukrainian Jewish orphan, we can take in this young Russian man.

It is time to open our hearts, wallets, and homes– if not now, when?

As our eyes and ears remain glued to the news, our thoughts turn to our Momentum sisters, their families, and the entire Jewish community in Ukraine. Our partners in Ukraine, the Chabad Kolel Torah Network, and the Jewish Agency for Israel are accepting donations to get assistance to those in need. We have readapted our Care with a Prayer site for the people of Ukraine. Join Momentum in supporting our sisters, their families, and the entire Jewish community in Ukraine. Your prayers can make a world of difference.