New Yorkers Visit Ukrainian Refugees, Aid Workers In Poland

Jewish Federation & Foundation of Rockland County CEO Ari Rosenblum and former president Lisa Green are on a humanitarian mission in Poland organized by the Jewish Federations of North America.

Rosenblum, Green and others were on the trip so they could return and speak with authority to their members about the refugee situation and the aid effort.

They spoke with Patch Thursday evening.

With about 145 member organizations in the United States and Canada, the Jewish Federations of North America have raised about $40 million to help Ukraine refugees, including more than $80,000 from hundreds of donors in Rockland County.

"Jewish communities across North America have stood up to be counted," Rosenblum said.

They had just returned to Warsaw from Medyka, on the border with Ukraine, where many groups, including Jewish groups from around the world are working together to help refugees who have just crossed.

"Eighty years ago if you were a Jewish person trying to flee from a war, there was no one to take you in. You were turned away," Rosenblum told Patch. "We were standing 10 yards from the border of Poland and Ukraine, and the first eight tents you see were from Israel and Jewish organizations from around the world. It's an 180-degree turn. It's something to be proud of."

Green described meeting a refugee and his son, who has cerebral palsy, who have been granted asylum in Israel because his grandmother's family, is named Righteous Among The Nations, the award for non-Jews who risked their lives to protect Jews during the Holocaust. The two families of descendants had been in touch, so the Israelis petitioned their government to allow them to return the favor and shelter the two Ukrainians.

"It's incredible that the connection existed ahead of time and could become a lifeline," Green said.

She described their meeting with a family from Mariupol who was forced by Russian soldiers to evacuate to Russia, but escaped to a Baltic state and then to Poland. "Their building and their grandparents' building was destroyed by shelling," she said. "Their son had to leave his dog." They'll be making aliyah to Israel.

At the border and in Warsaw, all the agencies are working seamlessly together, from the Hadassah hospital group to the Jewish Agency youth volunteers offering therapeutic play to traumatized child refugees, Rosenblum said.

"There's an incredible infrastructure," he said. "Anyone comes in and asks for help — they get it."

Israel is even operating a massive field hospital in western Ukraine, he said.

"We are so proud in Rockland to be supporting this effort," he said. "It's really inspiring."

Green and Rosenblum have posted several short videos about what they have seen and learned on the Rockland Jewish Federation’s Facebook page.

Organizations receiving allocations from the Federations of North America include Jewish Agency, JDC, World ORT, Chabad, Emergency Volunteers Project, Hadassah Medical Organization, HIAS, Hillel International, Israel Trauma Coalition, JCC Krakow, Nefesh B'Nefesh, Project Kesher, Shma Yisrael and United Hatzalah.

To be part of Rockland's response to the international crisis you can go to www.Jewishrockland.org/ukraine