During March members of our Ukraine team have been holding meetings with the Jewish communities in a number of towns and cities close to the war zone.  These meetings have been organised together with Ezra Ukraine, Christians for Israel and the Jewish organisation – Chesed.  The goal was to encourage members of the Jewish community to get their documents ready in case they want to make aliyah now or even in the future.  Our representative, Grigorii, sent this report of the meeting in Krivoi Rog which is a city close to the front line and, incidentally, the city where President Zelensky was born.

The meeting was held in the synagogue. From the very beginning of the war, we had a good relationship with the Rabbi and his assistant. We helped them evacuate the sick to Europe. We also had a close cooperation with the representative of the Jewish Agency there. And now, two years later, we were coming to this city again.

But the night before, in the area where our meetings were to take place, a residential building was hit by a rocket, and part of the house was destroyed. There were both dead and wounded. Of course, we were worried that people would be afraid to come to the meeting. But we were wrong!

The atmosphere was very good, the Rabbi's young team organized everything well, people came in small groups, so we could communicate with almost everyone there.

On the spot we learned that there was a woman in the community who lived in the apartment block that had been hit by the rocket. And later she came and showed a photo of what was left of her home. The apartment was destroyed. She and other residents were told that the house was in disrepair, and it was dangerous to stay there. The city authorities resettled people to other places (schools, gyms). But fortunately, the documents remained intact, and she was allowed to retrieve them. During the conversation, the woman told us that she now understands how important it is to go through the consulate and digitize the documents. She became convinced that “there is only today, but no tomorrow.” After all, there is a war in the country.

Also, many people said that they had already thought about submitting documents for verification but did not know where to start and we were the answer for them.

There was another case. I approached an elderly man and asked him if he had thought about making aliyah, to which he answered: “I have long wanted to go to Israel, but I won’t do it until my dog dies, this is my friend, and I won't abandon her."

Over two days, about 250 people came to the meetings. And as a result, we received contacts from 101 people who expressed their consent to undergo consular checks. And a week after the meeting, several families already called us back, underwent consultation and signed up for consular checks. And we will help to collect the package of documents for this.
Please pray for these meetings, continuing in April.  Pray for safety for the teams and the Jewish people as they travel to the meetings and as they meet together.