‘Praying for a miracle’
While the community is largely carrying on as usual, Rebbetzin Miriam Moskovitz says "it's a little bit close to home."
An Australian rebbetzin in Ukraine, living just 40 kilometres from the Russian border, told The AJN yesterday the community was hoping for “a miracle” and that “world pressure will convince” Vladimir Putin to pull back from the brink.
Last week, Sydney-born Miriam Moskovitz, wife of Kharkiv’s Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, was cautiously optimistic following reports that Russian troops were withdrawing,
But speaking to The AJN this Wednesday she said, “It just seems that he’s pretty much out of control.
“Even on Monday morning, it looked like there was going to be some kind of peace and some kind of a deal. And then all of a sudden, it like, totally changed the other direction.”
With Russian forces entering rebel-held regions of Ukraine, the mother-of-12 reflected, “It’s a little bit close to home,” although she observed that life was carrying on as normal. “Everything on the street is exactly the same.”
Rebbetzin Moskovitz added that they’re carrying on as normally as possible, making sure they are there to support the community. “Tomorrow we’re sending food packages to everybody with a a letter of encouragement, so everybody has the basic staples in their house, you know, maybe some chicken and vegetables – not just because they need it, but to let people know we haven’t forgotten them and to just give a little bit of an uplift.”
Speaking to The AJN this week, Miriam’s father Rev Henry Amzalak in Sydney said, “She is very, very calm and she’s trying to reassure the community to be strong and to pray. What we can only do is just pray that Hashem protects them and let’s hope that Putin doesn’t go into Kharkiv.”
An appeal has been set up to help the Jews of Kharkiv: fjc-fsu.org/centers/kharkov/
Tax deductible donations can also be made via Chai (add Ref: Kharkov): www.chai.org.au
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