Putin Killing Our Cousins in Ukraine

 During the last week in February 2022, Russian Dick-tator Vladimir "Putz-Punim" Putin unleashed hordes of barbaric killers in a brutal, unprovoked, criminal attack on neighboring Ukraine.

Virtually everyone thought it would all be over in a matter of days.

Yet, under the amazingly skillful leadership of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the brave citizen soldiers of Ukraine have, so far, effectively resisted the invasion, shooting down several Russian aircraft and killing thousands of hapless Russian invaders.

To his credit, US President Joe Biden provided lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine and moved American forces to NATO countries in Eastern Europe. However, he said “Our forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine.” He explained, “Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine, but to defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the East.”

My parents and I are “Americans by birth” having been born in the USA. 

My grandparents are “Americans by choice” having immigrated to the USA from Austria (on my father’s side) and Russia Ukraine (on my mother’s side). 

I feel a special connection to President Zelenskyy because both he and my maternal grandfather, Louis Leibowitz, were born to Jewish parents in the same area, the present-day Ukrainian Oblast [District] known as Dnipropetrovsk. 

The map below shows the major cities of Ukraine, with the capital, KYIV (pronounced "KEEVE") top center.

The Dnieper River, which splits Ukraine into Eastern and Western parts, runs from KYIV, down thru DNIPRO, and out into the Black Sea at ODESSA.

DNIPRO is the major city at the center of Dnipropetrovsk, one of the 24 Administrative Districts into which Ukraine is divided. (The dashed red oval highlights this key district.) 

Dnipropetrovsk is in the mostly ethnic Russian-speaking eastern and south-eastern areas of present-day Ukraine. It is near the contentious boundary with the mostly Ukrainian-speaking central, western and north-western areas.  

Zelenskyy was born in Dnipropetrovsk in 1978. 

My grandfather, Louis Leibowitz, lived in the same area, nearly a century earlier. It was then called  Ekaterinoslav (after Catherine the Great) and was part of the Russian Empire! 

 

The photo above, dating from 1892, shows my great grandparents Dina (Morgenstein) and Isaac (Alexievich) Leibowitz, along with their first three children: Louis (about eight years old), Dora (about three), and Fanny (infant).

Dina and Isaac went on to have a total of thirteen children. 

The children in the photo (Louis, Dora, and Fanny) were fortunate enough to immigrate from Ekaterinoslav to the United States, along with two others (Zelda and Max) not yet born at the time of the above photo. The other eight remained in Europe and raised their families under difficult circumstances. Some perished in WWI and WWII.

I was born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1939, and raised in the mostly Jewish Brighton Beach area. At the time, all synagogues in the area were Orthodox. I attended classes at the Talmud Torah a couple hours a week and learned to read Hebrew and chant the prayers. I had an Orthodox Bar Mitzvah at the age of thirteen.  

My wife, the former Violet Stark, also learned Hebrew in Brooklyn (better than me) but, at the time, there was no such thing as a Bat Mitzvah for Orthodox Jewish girls. We had an Orthodox Jewish wedding in Brooklyn in 1964. 

As of the 1970's, my grandfather Louis Leibowitz was still in contact with our relatives struggling to survive in the Communist economy of the Soviet Union. He sent letters and packages of clothing to his younger brother Yasha. He received letters of thanks in return. (I remember my father, Morris Glickstein, wearing each item of clothing for a few days so it would count as "used" to reduce the punitive tariffs the recipients would have had to pay if the clothing was brand new.)

Although we are no longer in contact, I am certain many of my blood relatives - my cousins - still reside in Ukraine and are bravely fighting Putin's criminal invasion. 

When Lisa, the oldest of our three girls, was around seven years old, we joined a Conservative synagogue in Endicott, in upstate NY. She learned to read Hebrew, chant the prayers, and was Bat Mitzvah, conducting the Friday evening service. Our second daughter, Rena, followed in turn. Both Violet and I were on the Board when our synagogue progressed to become Reconstructionist.  Our third daughter, Sara, was the first female to be privileged to conduct both the Friday evening and Saturday morning Sabbath services at her Bat Mitzvah.

When we moved to Florida, in 2003, we joined a Reform Jewish congregation, and, in 2006, became founding members of Temple Shalom, in Oxford (near The Villages).

The following description of recent events in Ukraine, and related Jewish issues, was written by the President of Temple Shalom.

Dear Temple Shalom Family,

UKRAINE   At last Friday evening’s Services, I found it important to make a few remarks about the Russian aggression in Ukraine that is a clear threat to Europe and world peace.  Their actions are deeply concerning for all who value human rights.   Just some background and context.  Ukraine is Europe's second largest country with a population of about 44 million people. It also has a long and important Jewish story that continues until this day. Interestingly, it is the only country outside of Israel led today by both a Jewish head of state, President Vladimyr Zelensky, and Jewish head of government, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman.  This is a remarkable occurrence given its difficult history with its Jewish population.   The history of the Jews of Ukraine includes some of the Jewish people’s greatest highs and most difficult lows. On the one hand, Ukraine was the site of enormous tragedies such as the Chelminitzky massacres, and Babi Yar and the Einsatzgruppen executions. But, it also has a full and rich Jewish history. This includes the formation of several famous yeshivot, the development of much Ashkenazi culture, and the birthplace of people such as former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, Zionist visionary Ze’ev Jabotinsky, author Shalom Aleichem, and many more.   Today, the country is home to the fifth largest Jewish community in the world with an estimated 200,000+ Jews. Current political instability, created by the full-scale Russian invasion, has left the entire country – including the Jewish community – not only facing a situation of dramatic economic decline, but of physical danger.   Jewish settlements in Ukraine can be traced back to the 8th century, when Jewish refugees from the Byzantine Empire, Persia and Mesopotamia were fleeing persecution.   During the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth period (1569-1795), Jews in Ukraine were one of the country's largest and most important ethnic minority groups. As they prospered, unfortunately anti-Semitism flourished. The Cossack Uprising, led by Hetman Chelminitzky, resulted in the infamous Chelminitzky Massacres which killed some 30,000 Jews and destroyed around 300 Jewish communities.   As is so common in Jewish history, significant tragedy and destruction gave way to a new era of renewal. Indeed, soon after the Cossack Uprising and massacres, Ukraine was to become the birthplace of Hasidism, a new expression of Judaism. The teachings of Israel Ben Eliezer (1698-1760), known as the “Ba’al Shem Tov,” profoundly influenced global Jewry, even today. His movement, which was heavily influenced by Jewish mysticism – Kabbalah - became known as “Hasidic Judaism,” and for some enhanced the development of Jewish life in Ukraine.   In 1791, Catherine the Great established a vast area in the west of her Russian Empire that became known as “The Pale of Settlement.” The region, which included all of Ukraine, was the only area of the Empire where Jews were permitted to live.   As a result of the creation of the Pale of Settlement, during the 19th century, Ukraine was densely populated by Jews. Despite restrictions, Jews played a prominent role in the development of commerce and industry in the region, and especially in the growth of its major cities, including Kiev, Odessa, and Kharkov.   But things got worse in 1881. In that year, Czar Alexander II was assassinated, and Jews were falsely blamed for the killing. The resulting attacks on Jews throughout the Pale became known as the first “pogrom.” These pogroms intensified and continued through the following three decades.   Jews were subjected to frequent internal expulsions – including an edict that expelled all Jews from Kiev in 1886. The good news is that the ongoing persecution and policies under both Alexander III and his successor, Nicholas II (who was to be the last Czar), resulted in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews opting to emigrate to the United States and other countries at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.   While millions of Jews fled the region, others began looking for alternative answers and ideologies. Most significantly, many Ukrainian Jews began to see Jewish nationalism as an answer to their problems, and this resulted in widespread adoption of the teachings of Zionism. Indeed, many of Zionism’s founders and leaders emerged from the region.   Following the Russian Revolution, a short-lived independent Ukrainian People’s Republic was established. Nonetheless, pogroms continued, and according to recently released state archives, at least 100,000 Jews were killed in attacks in Ukraine between 1918-21.   Ukraine soon became a republic of the newly formed Soviet Union, and its Jewish population was subjected to communist attempts to stifle religion and religious practice. Despite this, the Jewish community continued to grow, and reached 2.7 million by the start of World War II.   During World War II more than half of Ukraine’s Jews (over one million) were murdered by the Nazis and their local Ukrainian accomplices. The most infamous incident of the War in Ukraine occurred at Babi Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. A series of massacres of Jews took place there, killing some 100,000 Jews in total. It involved the largest single mass extermination in 1941.   Some 840,000 Jews remained in Soviet Ukraine following the War, but the repression of Jewish cultural and spiritual life was especially severe in the country. The years of Communist oppression and restrictions led to further immigration and assimilation, and by the beginning of 1989, there were only 500,000 Jews left in the region.   The 1989 collapse of the Soviet Union and the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state in 1991 set the stage for two dramatic events in the history of Ukrainian Jewry -- further mass immigration and a renaissance of Jewish life.   The precarious economic situation, coupled with an uncertain political future and ongoing anti-Semitism encouraged almost 80% of Ukrainian Jews to leave the country in the decade following the fall of the Soviet Union. The majority who left (some 266,000) moved to Israel, while others immigrated to the United States, Germany, and other countries.   With the invasion of Russia in the past two weeks, there are as many as 200,000 Jews remaining in Ukraine and they will certainly need humanitarian aid.  Many may be eligible to come to Israel and are currently being reviewed by the Jewish Agency in Israel, and unbeknownst to many, some began arriving in Israel last November. With the destruction of the airports and the prohibitions on travel, escape will likely be through land if needed. Most prominently, bordering Poland is now amassing humanitarian aid in anticipation of the potentially large refugee exit from the Ukraine. That refugee crisis grows today in both Poland and Moldova.   We pray that they all remain safe and sounder minds prevail.                                            Info taken from emails and public sources.