Rabbi Shalom Ber Stambler and his wife Dina are happy to open Chabad of Poland to hundreds of Jewish refugees who have fled Ukraine. For more than a month, the emissaries have welcomed refugees day and night while providing several hundred meals a day along with Airbnb-style accommodations.
In the dining hall, there are countless children playing with dolls, balls, and puzzles. Sophia, a young mother of four, sits beside her children. The youngest is a one-year-old girl with a big smile and deep dimples. The oldest is a thirteen-year-old boy named Roman. He just celebrated his bar mitzvah.
“We celebrated here at Chabad,” says his Sophia. Sadly, Roman’s father missed the bar mitzvah because he is back home, fighting for his country. The family’s home in Dnipro has been bombed, and nothing of it remains but rubble and ash.
With fatherly love and patience, Rabbi Stambler teaches Roman how to put on tefillin. Pride glows off of the boy’s face.
“I am here helping my mother take care of the children,” Roman says with pride. When the war is over, he wants to go back to Dnipro and rebuild. “It’s my home. I have a mission,” the teenager says with astonishing maturity.
On Friday evening, 77-year-old Yossef Lifshitz sits in the synagogue beside his son, Pavlik. Yossef also grew up in Dnipro in central Ukraine. His father was a religious Jew and was killed by pro-Nazi Ukrainian soldiers in 1941. Yossef received a communist education and describes himself as an atheist.
Yossef cannot read Hebrew in shul, but he listens closely to the prayers. Rabbi Shalom begins to sing and dance to a typical Ukrainian Jewish tune, and Yossef’s eyes light up. He starts to sway, and then he begins to dance.
Yossef is brought back to his childhood. He remembers his grandmother’s words: “here is the seat your grandfather sat in,” she used to tell him.
The song ends and Yossef sits down, immersed in the prayer book that he cannot read.
The next day, Rabbi Shalom calls Yossef up to the Torah.
“Yossef, son of?” asks the rabbi.
“Son of Moshe,” Yossef says.
The old man stands before the Torah scroll but doesn’t know what to say or do. A young refugee rushes to help him.
The rabbi asks Yossef, “When was the last time you read a Torah passage?”
“Never,” Yossef replies.
Rabbi Stambler wraps a pair of tefillin around Yossef’s left hand. Tears fill Yossef’s eyes.
“Mazal tov!”
The assembly rushes forward, dancing, singing, and celebrating the bar mitzvah of the 77-year-old Ukrainian refugee.
Sofia, Roman, and Yossef have found refuge in the hotel which Rabbi Sholom Stambler and his wife Dina have prepared to house 200 refugees for Pesach. Chabad of Poland is in need of financial support so they can continue to assist with food, beds, medical care, and more. Please open your heart to our Ukrainian brothers and sisters.
DAILY EMERGENCY OPERATIONS BUDGET
We urgently need to raise $1M to cover the next 2 months’ worth of emergency operations.
It is a matter of life and death for those who have already lost their country, their homes, and their loved ones.
Please give generously.
Chabad of Warsaw, Poland
For more options and further assistance, email office@chabad.org.pl
Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber Stambler
Rabbi Mayer Stambler
mstambler@gmail.com
WhatsApp: +972-544-577422
Mobile: +48-693-108559
Office: +48-22-6375073
Slominskiego 19 lok 508
00-195 Warsaw Poland
