A Shabbat Miracle
“Last week we were organising bread for the family in Ukraine and praying for their safety – a week later they were present in our synagogue..."
“WE will remember this 11-day journey for the rest of our lives,” Iryna Oksion, who arrived in Melbourne from Ukraine last week and spent Shabbat at Chabad on Carlisle Jewish Russian Centre, told The AJN.
Oksion arrived in Australia with her distant cousin, Tetiana Varhotskyi, her husband Ihor and their three children last Wednesday.
Chabad on Carlisle had been working with the family via WhatsApp over the past week to assist them in Ukraine, and to help get them to Australia. Oksion’s mother Maya Oksion lives in Melbourne and is a long-time member of the shule.
Chabad on Carlisle director Rabbi Yisroel Sufrin has described the journey of the family, that began in Kyiv and ended in Melbourne last Shabbat, as “truly a miracle”.
“Last week we were organising bread for the family in Ukraine and praying for their safety – a week later they were present in our synagogue,” he said.
When war broke out in Ukraine on February 24, Oksion and her cousins were still in Kyiv. She described that “sirens, explosions, and the rumble of aircraft were heard all night”.
“There were crowds of people with children on the street, running aimlessly with suitcases and bundles,” she said.
“My thoughts and wishes were to stay alive and see my mother, who was soon to turn 85 and was desperately waiting for me in Melbourne.”
All flights in and out of Ukraine were cancelled, and after living in a bomb shelter for seven days, the Varhotskys and Oksion made the decision “to move away from this horror, to save the children”.
The family got in the car and drove aimlessly, house hopping in Lviv, a city known to be safer than Kyiv, eventually finding shelter at a friend of Oksion’s who lived just outside the city. They stayed there for three nights, Oksion saying, “I haven’t seen such kindness in a long time. I thank them very much for this.”
Meanwhile at Chabad on Carlisle in Melbourne, Rabbi and Rebbetzin Rivka Sufrin, together with shule employee Ella Krishtul, who was able to communicate with the family in Russian, were working to get visitor visas for the family.
“I was in touch with the Chabad Shluchim in Ukraine regarding the best way to get Irene and the family out of Ukraine safely, including the best time to leave,” Rabbi Sufrin said.
WhatsApp images were sent back and forth to support the online visa application lodged by Krishtul, who personally laid out the money for the applications.
The Melbourne Jewish community banded together to support the family.
Oksion said, “Alex Cummins … whose four children my mother had helped raise since their very birth, was so moved by our story that he offered to buy tickets for everyone.
“Another member made a post on her Facebook page asking if someone can provide free accommodation for a young family of five from Ukraine. Polina Tserniak, another member of Chabad on Carlisle, and her husband were getting ready to meet us in Melbourne airport, with Polina having collected some cash and clothing to hand to us upon our arrival.”
The family managed to get a bus from Lviv to Warsaw where they spent four nights, and after days of travel and one failed flight attempt, the family boarded a plane to Melbourne.
Rebbetzin Sufrin said, “With a collective effort from many benefactors and generous volunteers we have managed to bring a family to safety.
“We have been organising children’s clothing, bedding, toys, food, and the family still needs a lot of support as they have come literally with nothing.”
A grateful Oksion said, “To Chabad on Carlisle, Ella, Alex and all the people who came across our path, a big thank you!”
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