Saturday on the Black Sea coast in a Romanian resort town. A lively place in summer, but a ghost town in winter. 600 refugees from the Tikva Odessa community found temporary shelter here, including 200 children from the community's orphanage. The Sabbath was done here together, united, after during the experience from Odessa they were forced to split into three groups.
"We understood that the most important thing is to keep the community together, so we rented an entire hotel here that is closed all winter," says Rabbi Raphael Kurskal, the community's director. , The chief rabbi of Odessa and founder of the community of hope.
"After everything we've been through, it's very exciting."
Outside a frozen sea breeze, a light layer of snow and a temperature of minus three degrees.
Even inside the hotel, which is not prepared to host in winter, it is cold, and the children walk around with coats and hats.
The Shabbat meal itself is perfectly organized and conducted in a happy atmosphere.
The food that came from all over the world is plentiful.
Shipments of clothes and shoes also arrived, and the children and adults who escaped the war with only one suitcase were able to replenish their limited stock of clothes.
Children of the Tikva Jewish orphanage in Odessa, Ukraine on their way to Romania, Photo: Courtesy of Tikva
The older children hug the little ones.
The Israeli emissaries alongside the local teams work around the clock to take care of all the physical needs, and especially to serve as an attentive ear and an embracing hand.
There are those who need a hug.
One of the girls goes through an anxiety attack on Saturday night.
This is a young woman who throughout the journey was strong and helped the younger children, but now the concern for the family members left under the shelling is shaking her.
"My body came out of Odessa, but my soul remained there," says Ola, 21, a graduate of the University of the Community of Hope.
On Saturday evenings they gather for a particularly festive havdalah.
"The Jews had light and joy and Sasson was precious," they sing and mean every word in a happy Purim melody, which dissolves for a moment the feeling of ephemerality.
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