If Sasha is a "lion", why is he fleeing? I see video of many Ukrainian women and young children at the Polish border, unaccompanied by men. THEIR men stayed to fight. Sasha ran.
My maternal grandparents left Kishinev at the time of the Russian pogroms in the early 1900’s. [wikipedia-kishinev-pogrom] The times are not changing. Russia is still killing Jews; and the Jew is still forced to wander. [wikipedia-Wandering Jew] Note: Look at the countries in which the stories about the wandering Jew flourished- sounds like the EU and NATO of today]
To me this is kind of an odd thing that people do. war is hell, on everyone equally. why do we keep focusing in on specific ethnic groups? Everybody that’s fleeing war is dirty and hungry and having a hard time finding food. unless one group for some reason has more of a bull’s-eye on them than another and I just don’t get it. Although I suppose highlghting any individual highlights their culture. If your between a male 18-50 and a citizen of the Ukraine i’m looking at you wondering why you fled.
That being said I have always been very pro-Israel. It’s the one functional democracy in a region full of violence and tyrants. A true oasis.
My paternal great grandparents were wise enough to flee with their three sons and daughter to flee a town not far from Kiev in the 1890s because of extreme poverty, religious discrimination, forced conscript into the Czar’s army and persecution from the locals. They made their way to NYC like so many other Ashkenaz Jews who knew they could not have normal lives in what was referred to as the Pale of Settlement. It pains me to see this history happening all over again. Oddly enough, my maternal grandparents fled Kishinev, the very same city where this essay takes place in the 1880s when pogroms murdered thousands of Jews. I’m glad they fled and migrated here never looking back at what was never considered home to any of them. Sadly, they were never considered Ukrainian or Russian or Rumanian. They were always seen as outsiders. I’m glad that some and hopefully many, will find their way to Israel.
You speak of theory but you are taking action on the front lines so, much respect for putting yourself out there Cole! And giving those running shoes to that boy - beautiful!!!
A sweet, inspiring story. I’m Christian, and I know that my faith is nurtured across the ages by the devotion of my Jewish forebears. My determination to live faithfully is inspired by contemporary Jews still living amid various degrees of enmity and persecution, wherever they go. Communism can’t abide any strain of religion because fealty to anything else undermines state control. My heart bleeds for these Jews, and I love them for standing up for their religious freedom! They help me stand up for mine - not in Ukraine or Moldova now, but, remarkably, in my own country with the American state incrementally suppressing Christianity.
Mr. Aronson’s article highlights another reason to hope and pray that Ukraine will fend off Putin.
That is why we defend and support Israel irrespective of our opinion of their government. As an aside, an interesting irony. In Bialik's City of Slaughter describing the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 which influenced the direction modern Zionism would take, the poet/amateur journalist took a particular poke at the men whose wives had been violated while they hid. Among their transgressions was having to ask the Rabbi the propriety of their marriages in restoring normalcy to their household and marital relations. He was quite critical of them for letting their religion get in the way of doing the best thing. Today, amid crisis and heroism far removed from the cowards of 1903, we still see concern over the formal drinkability of the milk that the people depend upon.
“he cobbled together a living as a taxi driver, a mechanic, car refurbisher and salesman, a translator, and a tour guide. “I’m not sitting and doing nothing,” he said. “I must support everybody because I am the man in my family.””
———————————————-
So that would be the *actual* patriarchy, as opposed to the purely theoretical one.
Good to hear so many have stepped up to help. All the more necessary since we know Obama Admin Part 3 has zero interest in flying planeloads of these refugees to the United States. The percentage of refugees with western values would be WAY too high.
He didnt say the woman does nothing. He simply takes responsibility for being a husband and father. Admirable. How anyone could turn this brave man's words to something ideologically toxic is ridiculous.
Yeah you missed my point. It is admirable. The patriarchy is described as a bad thing where men receive all benefits, when for the most part it is guys working back breaking jobs to provide for their family.
Thank you for posting this beautifully, challenging, hauntingly and yet also hopefully written post. I am an evangelical Christian steeped in the Jewish as well as Christian Scriptures. I pray for Ukraine, for its refugees, and for God’s / YHWH’s intervention.
If Sasha is a "lion", why is he fleeing? I see video of many Ukrainian women and young children at the Polish border, unaccompanied by men. THEIR men stayed to fight. Sasha ran.
My maternal grandparents left Kishinev at the time of the Russian pogroms in the early 1900’s. [wikipedia-kishinev-pogrom] The times are not changing. Russia is still killing Jews; and the Jew is still forced to wander. [wikipedia-Wandering Jew] Note: Look at the countries in which the stories about the wandering Jew flourished- sounds like the EU and NATO of today]
Loved this piece.
Shema Israel!
To me this is kind of an odd thing that people do. war is hell, on everyone equally. why do we keep focusing in on specific ethnic groups? Everybody that’s fleeing war is dirty and hungry and having a hard time finding food. unless one group for some reason has more of a bull’s-eye on them than another and I just don’t get it. Although I suppose highlghting any individual highlights their culture. If your between a male 18-50 and a citizen of the Ukraine i’m looking at you wondering why you fled.
That being said I have always been very pro-Israel. It’s the one functional democracy in a region full of violence and tyrants. A true oasis.
My paternal great grandparents were wise enough to flee with their three sons and daughter to flee a town not far from Kiev in the 1890s because of extreme poverty, religious discrimination, forced conscript into the Czar’s army and persecution from the locals. They made their way to NYC like so many other Ashkenaz Jews who knew they could not have normal lives in what was referred to as the Pale of Settlement. It pains me to see this history happening all over again. Oddly enough, my maternal grandparents fled Kishinev, the very same city where this essay takes place in the 1880s when pogroms murdered thousands of Jews. I’m glad they fled and migrated here never looking back at what was never considered home to any of them. Sadly, they were never considered Ukrainian or Russian or Rumanian. They were always seen as outsiders. I’m glad that some and hopefully many, will find their way to Israel.
Light in the darkness
You speak of theory but you are taking action on the front lines so, much respect for putting yourself out there Cole! And giving those running shoes to that boy - beautiful!!!
Cole is doing HaShem's work.
A sweet, inspiring story. I’m Christian, and I know that my faith is nurtured across the ages by the devotion of my Jewish forebears. My determination to live faithfully is inspired by contemporary Jews still living amid various degrees of enmity and persecution, wherever they go. Communism can’t abide any strain of religion because fealty to anything else undermines state control. My heart bleeds for these Jews, and I love them for standing up for their religious freedom! They help me stand up for mine - not in Ukraine or Moldova now, but, remarkably, in my own country with the American state incrementally suppressing Christianity.
Mr. Aronson’s article highlights another reason to hope and pray that Ukraine will fend off Putin.
Beautiful. Gob Bless You.
That is why we defend and support Israel irrespective of our opinion of their government. As an aside, an interesting irony. In Bialik's City of Slaughter describing the Kishinev pogrom of 1903 which influenced the direction modern Zionism would take, the poet/amateur journalist took a particular poke at the men whose wives had been violated while they hid. Among their transgressions was having to ask the Rabbi the propriety of their marriages in restoring normalcy to their household and marital relations. He was quite critical of them for letting their religion get in the way of doing the best thing. Today, amid crisis and heroism far removed from the cowards of 1903, we still see concern over the formal drinkability of the milk that the people depend upon.
“he cobbled together a living as a taxi driver, a mechanic, car refurbisher and salesman, a translator, and a tour guide. “I’m not sitting and doing nothing,” he said. “I must support everybody because I am the man in my family.””
———————————————-
So that would be the *actual* patriarchy, as opposed to the purely theoretical one.
Good to hear so many have stepped up to help. All the more necessary since we know Obama Admin Part 3 has zero interest in flying planeloads of these refugees to the United States. The percentage of refugees with western values would be WAY too high.
He didnt say the woman does nothing. He simply takes responsibility for being a husband and father. Admirable. How anyone could turn this brave man's words to something ideologically toxic is ridiculous.
Yeah you missed my point. It is admirable. The patriarchy is described as a bad thing where men receive all benefits, when for the most part it is guys working back breaking jobs to provide for their family.
B'H may you continue this wonderful work for our brethren
Thank you for posting this beautifully, challenging, hauntingly and yet also hopefully written post. I am an evangelical Christian steeped in the Jewish as well as Christian Scriptures. I pray for Ukraine, for its refugees, and for God’s / YHWH’s intervention.
Sasha sounds like he’s between 18 and 60. I guess staying and fighting to protect his father and grandmother isn’t a thing for him.