Author: Rabbi David Levin

What do I do?

It is overwhelmingly hard to watch others suffer.   This anguish drives some to act, while others feel helpless, turn their heads, and walk away.   But this response to inhuman suffering diminishes their humanity by ignoring what they see with their eyes and walking away. None of us can walk away. But what can we do?

I am going to Poland next week. I will bring everything I can muster, my chaplaincy skills, rabbinic skills, and mainly my humanity. I, and my colleagues, will each be carrying bags of supplies-food, clothing, medicine, toiletries. We will do what we can, knowing we cannot stop the suffering but helping those suffering through compassion and empathy. You can help too.

Contribute what you can to the humanitarian organizations on the ground, both here and there. The JCC in Krakow, Poland, Joint Distribution Committee, World Central Kitchen, and Doctors without Borders; are the places I support. Give what you can; the need is great.

I will come home with stories of all kinds, sad and heartbreaking, grateful. I want to share what I learn to help us better understand what is happening there and also to us. It is about humanity and our future. So invite me to your communities to share these stories so we remain aware and committed to helping others in need for their sake and ours.

 

 

 

My Blue Bag- Hineini a Humanitarian mission to Poland

This is my duffle bag, packed with supplies as part of the Hineini humanitarian mission to Poland.  For years, it has been an intrepid companion.  It brought my belongings to Jerusalem for my first year in rabbinical school;  It was with me on my trip to Moscow and Siberia for Pesach.  We will part company when I deliver it to the JCC in Krakow.

I hope it will find many more years of usefulness, a container of supplies for those in need in this troubled part of the world.  It is only a bag, but it carries a message of peace.

The land of the free means something

The  United States must be a haven to asylum seekers.  People fleeing war and violence must be provided safe harbor here.  My people, the Jews, were turned away and the consequences were devastating.  100,000 Ukrainians is a start.  The bureaucratic red tape must give way to an open door to give immediate refuge.

We must help those wretched huddled masses yearning to breathe free.  This is more than a slogan on the base of a statue, it is the aspiration of our land.  We must be color blind, sensitive to the desperate plight of these people whether they come here from the war-torn streets of Ukraine, Honduras, or Guatemala.

If America is the leader of the free world, then President Zelenskiy is correct; we must be the leader of peace.

 

 

Hineini- Standing with Ukraine

The preparation continues. Many of us bring duffle bags. It is a beautiful way to deliver needed supplies and an excellent way for a community to come together and help others.

However, please donate money to the humanitarian organizations on the ground. Then they can leverage your money to get more supplies over there. It sounds like the beginning of a joke, but buying wholesale works!

And there are domestic ways to help. Rabbi Shmuley Yaklowitz is assisting refugees in Arizona, and HIAS is helping people too. So, find a way for you to connect meaningfully, and please give.

Thank you for everything so far!