(Photo: JDC via JTA)
By Cnaan Lipshiz - April 15, 2022
JTA — Between air raid sirens in Odesa, Svetlana Niselevitch, an 84-year-old Ukrainian Jewish Holocaust survivor, has been preparing to join a Passover seder for the first time in her life.
“We didn’t observe Jewish traditions in my family,” Niselevitch, a poet who was born in Kharkiv, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. But she said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, convinced her that “every chance to practice Jewishness is important.”
Niselevitch, who will celebrate Passover at an event organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC, is among the thousands of Ukrainian Jews who are preparing to celebrate the Jewish holiday in dozens of group seders both in Ukraine and outside it for Jewish refugees from Russia’s war.
Emergency curfews, supply-chain interruptions and the dangers of war are complicating Ukrainian Jews’ efforts to celebrate Passover, the holiday that celebrates Jewish freedom and security.
Still, the fact that so many Jews are participating demonstrates both the robustness of the worldwide relief effort supporting Ukrainian Jews, and Judaism’s ongoing resilience in a region scarred by the Holocaust and communist suppression of religion.
Read More: Times of Israel