The sights of the thousands of miracles, leaving behind a home, friends, family, walking into the unknown, at the Ukraine-Moldova border crossing - horrified my heart, but did not break me. The Sabbath in Chisinau dismantled me.
We went out to pray in the synagogue of Rabbi Pinchas Salzman.
At the last second I lit candles, and asked to come in to the aid of the narrow women.
I tried away, having trouble breathing.
Inside, women and babies sat on mattresses.
The narrow cubicle became their temporary home.
I went out into the bitter cold to let go of the tears.
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Even outside rioting, old suitcases of refugees and members of the Rescue Union delegation fill the yard.
A large vehicle entered the synagogue courtyard.
It is already Shabbat, and Rabbi Salzman, in his beard and in his ultra-Orthodox attire, does not go into prayer, but talks on his cell phone and vigorously manages the unloading of the vehicle.
food.
Finally arrived with a shipment of kosher food from Europe.
The pre-filled warehouses had already been emptied, to feed the 5,000 Jewish refugees who had arrived in the city.
The food that arrived will suffice for the next two days.
What will happen next?
Absorption of Jewish refugees at the border crossings of Ukraine // Photo: The Jewish Agency
Even a roof is not easy to find.
A hotel room in Chisinau is not available.
On Friday we visited Voodoo Voda, 35 km from the city. The compound designated for summer camps, rented by the JDC and the Friendship Foundation, has become a refugee camp. Stops crying over her son and mother Holocaust survivor, left in Odessa; ten-year-old Tamara hanging out with new friends, and together they forget the concern for fathers of conscription left in Ukraine; Ludmila, who was born in the middle of World War II and has now crossed the border in a wheelchair. In Stalingrad against the Nazis. "The Russians who saved us from the Nazis now want to kill us," she chokes.
Three more complexes outside Kishinev have been leased, and they too are filling up.
Having no choice, a sports hall was rented where the refugees slept on mattresses, and about ten tents were set up outside the synagogue.
The heating manages with great difficulty to overcome the frost.
Rabbi Salzman himself housed three families in his home, and slept with his family on mattresses inside the synagogue.
Working around the clock
The refugees continue to flow to the various complexes and to the city even on Saturday night and on Shabbat itself, some stopping at the synagogue in Kishinev.
The kosher food prepared before Shabbat is barely enough.
In some of the refugee concentrations there is no bread or challah, and matzah is used for "sub-bread".
The shortage of meat is also noticeable.
During the Shabbat, Rabbi Salzman ordered the food and meat arrived before Shabbat for the benefit of the refugees arriving at the border.
In a nearby pub complex whose kitchen has been trained, Rescue Union volunteers stand all Saturday and cook.
They pack 1,000 five-course meals, which are delivered on the Sabbath and distributed at the border crossing to Jews and Gentiles.
Dining at Voodoo Voda, Photo: Avishag Shear Yashuv, Friendship Foundation
The second floor of the synagogue has been turned into a Knesset. Nativ and the agency personally accompany those eligible for immigration.The first organized flight has received permission to take off from Chisinau, although the Moldovan skies are still closed.
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