By Krisztina Fenyo
BALATONOSZOD, Hungary – An aged man in a neighborhood of Hasidic Jewish refugees from Ukraine lit the primary candle of Hanukkah of their rescue shelter in Hungary, which is residence to round 150 individuals on the shores of Lake Balaton.
Saul Melamed, who first fled from Donetsk to Kyiv years earlier than the Russian invasion, sang on the solemn candle lighting with households standing round as they celebrated their first Hanukkah away from their homeland.
“I feel materially it's totally different right here as a result of in our residence we had very lovely Hanukkah of silver… however however right here we've got such a neighborhood, such a heat environment of Hanukkah,” Melamed stated on Sunday, smiling.
“I’m nonetheless hoping to return to Ukraine, I can’t be as optimistic as to say that it's going to finish until the subsequent summer time, it appears to be a very long time story, however nonetheless my plans are to return.”
“Machne Chabad”, the kosher Rescue Village for Ukrainian Jewish Refugees within the small city of Balatonoszod, is run by the Affiliation of Hungarian Jewish Communities and the Federation of the Jewish Communities of Ukraine. It's the largest Jewish rescue camp in Europe, open to any Jews fleeing the struggle in Ukraine.
The camp supplies shelter, kosher meals, a synagogue, and a neighborhood to keep up Hasidic traditions and non secular life. It accommodates individuals at a price of $20-30 per individual per day which is financed by donations primarily from the USA on the positioning of a former summer time resort for communist leaders.
Round 2,000 individuals have handed by the camp, some stopping over earlier than setting off to Israel, western Europe or the U.S., and different households settling in for the long run.
Thriving Jewish spiritual life in Ukraine has been shattered by the struggle. Greater than half of its communities have been evacuated, discovering refuge round Europe and Israel.
Hasidism had its cradle in Ukraine relationship again 300 years and Ukraine had one of many largest Jewish communities in Europe earlier than the struggle, estimated at between 250,000-500,000 principally Hasidic Jews.
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