The initial sum for the fund of $ 3 million was donated by Mr. Yuri and Julia Milner • The first delegation of the conference left for Romania and Moldova on Tuesday this week
The European Rabbinical Conference has set up an international fund to help refugees from Ukraine. The initial $ 3 million fund was donated by Mr. Yuri and Julia Milner, who set up a special fund to help Ukrainian refugees. Mr. Milner, one of the largest donors in the Jewish world, is one of the most well-known investors in Israeli technology.
The emergency funds will support humanitarian efforts in the Jewish refugees in the place of residence, kosher food, medicines, legal and psychological medical assistance and transportation to and from the border crossings and train stations. The President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, said that “Mr. Yuri and Julia Milner are very helpful and open to the Jewish community over the years and especially in times of distress during this difficult time and it is time to thank them for their honorable contribution to one of the highest goals.”
On Tuesday this week, the first delegation of the conference headed by the German Rabbinical Vice President and Rabbi of Frankfurt, Rabbi Avichai Appel and Director of the Conference Presidential Conference, Mr. Gadi Gronich, went to Romania and Moldova to closely monitor the reception of refugees and provide them with the necessary assistance.
At the same time, Rabbi Mordechai Shodrich, a member of Poland’s Standing Committee, will head the headquarters for coordinating rescue and assistance to refugees throughout Europe, especially in Poland, Moldavia, Romania, Hungary and immigrants to Israel. The headquarters will be coordinated by the head of the bureau, Mr. Gadi Gronich. Rabbi Shodrich said that “like the rest of the world we received the news in shock and terror but we recovered fairly quickly and we do our best to support Jewish refugees during this difficult time – ‘European Rabbinical Conference’ coordinates activities with other charities to do the best to alleviate human suffering And to assist as much as possible with the refugee crisis unfolding before our eyes.
“We see unbearably difficult plays and our hearts with the torn families; we have rented a number of hotels and guest houses in Lublin Kozmir and Lodz and now we are locating apartments for rent for several months with the help of the JDC. We provide kosher food and legal and psychological assistance
“Over the past week, we have coordinated all the activities of the conference’s helping rabbis and refugees throughout the region. We are in constant contact with the communities and rabbis in Ukraine including; Rabbi of Odessa and Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee Rabbi Shlomo Baksht One of the countries bordering Ukraine includes Moldova, Hungary and Poland. We provided food packages for those who could not leave, kosher food for those wishing to immigrate to Israel handled by the Jewish Agency. That way until the rage passes. “
Meanwhile, in a complex world-wide operation, the three orphanages of the Tikva institution network, headed by Gershak Beshket and his partner, and Yad Yemin, who dedicates nights to Rabbi Rafael Kruskal, numbering about 250 boys and girls, were evacuated to safety in the Black Sea coast of Romania. Hundreds of members of the community were received safely at a hotel in the Romanian city of Kovsana under the supervision of Rabbi Eliezer Wolf, Rabbi of the Amsterdam Grand Court. About three hundred members of the community in Odessa were absorbed in Chisinau, Moldova. With the help of a member of the conference and rabbi of Moldova, Rabbi Pinchas Salzman. About 300 members of the Odessa community led by Gershom Baksht who have so far stayed in the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine left Ukraine last night and joined the community and orphans in Neptune, Romania. Food and transportation by Tikva institutions.
To this day, thousands of refugees have arrived in Moldova and are assisted by the state rabbi, Rabbi Salzman, who employs about 150 volunteers deployed at the 17 border points and in the Agudat Israel institutions of the Orthodox community. Last Saturday, Agudat Israel provided about 2,000 portions of Shabbat food to refugees, including students and faculty of the Dnieper Chabad Yeshiva who made their way to Iasi. The silence that surrounds the refugees. They arrive in battle battle. Broken and shattered. We do not know what a day will bring and where they will go and we do everything we can to alleviate their suffering “- says Rabbi Salzman in pain.
The Jewish community in Vienna in all its components; The community’s umbrella organization, in coordination with the authorities, the Chassidic, Chabad, Bukharian, schools and various organizations, enlisted the help of refugees in accommodation, clothing, food and food for Jews who remained in Ukraine and Jews who managed to escape to other countries like Moldova. Accommodation, escorting and receiving in the authorities, collecting equipment, food, money and medicines, organizing special classes in schools and even preparing parcel deliveries by a youth group for refugees arriving in Vienna.
Rabbi of Vienna member of the Conference of European Rabbis Rabbi Yaron Engelmeier said that “as in the construction of the Mishkan the people joined and mobilized en masse without any complaint – for the common purpose out of generosity, so today the mobilization is without any differences and the Jewish people are revealed at its best.”