We are discussing that we should feel the pain of those that are suffering in the Ukraine, during the current war. It is devastating and harrowing.
Some people may wonder, if they have no connection to the community or the people there, what it has to do with them.
That is a mistake. As we know, all Jewish people are one.
There was once a trial in Europe, where there a was a libel case against a Jew. It caused many attacks on Jews, accusing us of saying that gentiles were animals, and things of that sort.
The judge asked Rabbi Shapiro (the rabbi who started the Dof Yomi) to explain the Gemarah that said that the Jewish people are called a man, whereas the goyim were not. Did that mean that the goyim were considered animals?
The rabbi explained that it didn’t mean that at all. The Jewish people being called a man means that they are considered like one man. The Jewish people view themselves as one person.
He told the judge that proof of this could be found in the fact that there were so many Jews at the trial, there to support a fellow Jew. Jews had come from all different countries, and they did not even know the man on trial. The Jewish people are all one. It does not make a difference if the languages are different, nor the customs or the place of birth.
I recently heard a beautiful story from Rabbi Raymond Sultan, known from his work with the Sephardic Heritage Museum and Sephardic Food Fund. He also was involved in redoing the graves at Har HaZetim, where my great- grandfather is buried.
He does many great things.
He was recently involved in saving Jews from Yemen. Due to his experience and helping evacuate Jews from Yemen, he got involved in getting Jews out of Ukraine, through Budapest to Eretz Yisrael, via buses, trains and even planes. Planes are the easiest way out. It’s much faster and the people don’t have to be packed in like cattle cards. But it costs $80,000 to charter a plane from Ukraine to Eretz Yisrael.
A man approached Rabbi Sultan and said that when he got out of Syria, it was because somebody paid for his plane. And now, Baruch HaShem, he was able to afford it and he offered to sponsor a plane, for $80,000. This was to help strangers, from a different country, that he didn’t know- Because we are all one. He didn’t know who paid for his plane, and now he is paying for their plane. That is the beauty of the Jewish people. We are all considered one person, regardless of our background or nationality. We have to constantly remember that.
May we hear Yeshuot and Besorot Tovot.