Jewish refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine enter the holiday atmosphere ahead of Seder, which will be celebrated in Warsaw, neighboring Poland.
The Chabad Center in the city has rented a dedicated hotel that will host about 250 women, children and the elderly, who fled their homes following the war. "The refugees fled the war in Ukraine for Seder night in Poland, and we will make them a happy holiday!" .
Women who came to the Warsaw Chabad Center, Photo: Chabad Warsaw
"The feeling this year is very exciting," says Rabbi Shalom Stumbler, the Lubavitcher Rebbe's emissary in the city of Warsaw in a conversation with Israel Today.
"As Chabad followers, our grandparents themselves experienced the pre- and post-World War II refugees themselves, and some were even refugees in Warsaw, when they left the very city of Lviv, from the then USSR, to Poland, after World War II, we are certainly sensitive.
I well remember that the Rebbe recounts in one of his childhood memories that when there was tension between Russia and other countries the Jews became 'unreliable' and had to be far from the borders, so many of them came to his city at that time (Dnipropetrovsk) and the Lubavitcher Rebbe's mother gave them all the necessary answer. The perfect one - and that's what caught me. "
The vast majority will continue to Israel: the Minister of Absorption at the Warsaw Chabad Center, Photo: Chabad Warsaw
Rabbi Stumbler added: "Therefore, it is especially important to me that the refugees be free on Passover and forget for a while the atrocities they went through along the way."
Preparations and cleaning for the holiday, Photo: Chabad Warsaw
Since the outbreak of the war between Russia and Ukraine, thousands of refugees who have been at the transit station in the city for a week, on average, have passed through Chabad Warsaw on average, with the vast majority making their aliyah.
In addition, we will be sent to any place in Poland where we know there are Jewish refugees from the war in Ukraine, special kits that include Haggadah, matzah, maror and good food so that they can feel the taste of order. "
Some refugees carry difficult personal stories with them.
"Many of them have shown us videos showing the destruction of their home in Ukraine, and I can of course not forget the Mariupol refugee whose hand was amputated due to a missile hit. These are not simple cases, but see that they are looking ahead - they want to rebuild their lives. That's how young they are. "
Among those present will be Lena and her son Gregory, ten years old.
"I ran away from Lviv with my son and I am glad we crossed to the other side of the border but at the same time fear for the fate of my husband who remains somewhere to defend Ukraine."
"We do not have a continuous relationship at this stage, I still have to adjust to a new home and more without my partner," she said.
Rabbi Stumbler concluded: "We were privileged, among other things, that one of the refugees gave birth to a son and we are waiting for the covenant in the coming days, so that all joy is before us."
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