Thousands of Refugees Find Shelter at Chabad Moldova

Thousands of Jews were provided with hot food, a place to stay, clothes, and transport as needed at the Chabad house in Moldova since the attacks in Ukraine began.

The war in Ukraine has disrupted life for all Ukrainians – and the life of the Jewish communities in particular.

Upon the outbreak of the war, shluchim in Ukraine made the courageous decision to stay with their community. With the escalation of the fighting and danger, it soon became impossible to do so and they were forced to flee with their communities as well. Over this past week, hundreds of thousands of refugees entered Moldova, some of them members of the Jewish community.

Jews from the cities of Kyiv, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa and other areas in Ukraine arrived with hundreds of vehicles and buses along with members of their communities to Moldova as a stop in order to continue their destination in Europe or Israel.

Moldova itself is facing uncertainty, as Putin seems to be making plans to involve them in the current war. About ten thousand Russian soldiers are close to the capital, Kishinev. This danger is not deterring the shluchim in Moldova, and they are doing what is needed of them – to take care of the refugees.

Some refugees have joined the staff at Chabad Moldova to help. Mr. Simcha Bozour, president of the Kishinev Jewish community, and Mr. Shabtai Hanukayiv have been a great part in the success of the operation. Accommodations have been the most difficult part as of yet. Hundreds of thousands of refugees took every bed in the hotels and every bed obtained was a difficult struggle. Mr. Alexander Galperin has been instrumental in obtaining more accommodations with the intervention of Member of Parliament Mrs. Anna Davidovich.

In a conversation with Rabbi Zushe Abelsky, chairman of Chabad Moldova, Rabbi Yossi Asman, Chabad Shliach in Kiev, thanked him for the warm hospitality he and his community received. He describes:

“The shluchim there, Rabbis Axelrod, Gotzel and Zalmanov, are currently under extraordinary pressure. Each of them is required to answer hundreds of phone calls a day, to take care of people individually and each one has his own needs. They are assisting in the logistics of transporting food, clothing and sleeping arrangements. They’ve been taking care of getting people from the border and transporting them to the sleeping arrangements. And of course, despite the lack of sleep and fatigue, we were all received warmly. it’s not taken for granted!”

The same message was written by Rabbi Moishe Weber, who arrived with Yeshivah students from Dnepropetrovsk, who was grateful for the reception they received in Chisinau, Moldova.

“There are dozens of groups arriving, and the shluchim help everyone eat and try to accommodate everyone in hotels,” Rabbi Weber said. “The conditions are less than ideal… but are all received with real kindness.”

The influx of refugees who have made their way to Moldova has brought worldwide interest to the Chabad Center, with record visits to the Chabad website, with many leaving donations and messages of encouragement from around the world.

The wonderful unity of the shluchim in Russia, Ukraine and Moldova has facilitated the rescue of many Shluchim and Jewish residents of Ukraine, thank G-d.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Rabbi Eliezer Avtzon of the Global Jewish Organization and Rabbis David Mondshein and Shlomo Peles of the Or Avner organization who took great care to ensure that we were able to assist and care for so many refugees,” Rabbi Zushe Abelsky said. “It will certainly the unity of Chasidim and Shluchim which will hasten the coming of Moshiach,” he said.

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