Another Israeli town that Fellowship staff visited ahead of Rosh Hashanah to distribute special holiday food boxes was Or Akiva. The town has been around since the 1950s, but its growth accelerated in the 1990s when olim (immigrants) from the former Soviet Union began arriving. Staff met two Holocaust survivors there, both of whom made aliyah (immigrated to Israel) and are Holocaust survivors from Belarus.
One is 90-year-old Raisa. She was five years old when World War II broke out. She and her family were evacuated to Russia. While in transit, the train they were traveling on was bombed by Nazi forces, and her family was separated, with some members, including her sister, ending up in Saratov. There was next to nothing, and hunger was their greatest hardship. If Raisa ever lost the ration cards her family was given, they would have to eat weeds and grass. Tragically, her infant brother, who was only six months old, died from hunger. Looking back, Raisa knows that evacuating Belarus saved her life and the lives of her surviving family members. The Jews who stayed behind were killed by the Nazis.
93-year-old Rachel was also a young child when the war reached her family. She was playing outside when people began shouting about German airplanes looming overhead. Her father loaded the family onto a horse-drawn wagon, and they headed east toward Kazakhstan. The airplanes bombed the road as they traveled, but fortunately, Rachel and her family survived. Like Raisa, Rachel regularly dealt with hunger. She and other evacuated children worked in grain fields to help feed their families. In another tragic parallel to Raisa’s story, Rachel later learned that their neighbors who stayed behind were murdered by the Nazis.
After the war, both women struggled with anti-Semitism as Jews living in the Soviet Union. Harassment during Raisa’s studies and at work, including anti-Semitic slurs, was all too common. Rachel was always afraid when her parents spoke Yiddish, even in their own home. Despite her excellent grades, she was denied admission to the college she applied to because she was Jewish.
Both women eventually came to Israel and now live in Or Akiva, with Rachel making aliyah in 1990 and Raisa immigrating in 2022. Rachel worked as a caregiver for older Holocaust survivors, while Raisa finally lives in a place where she feels accepted. The Fellowship provides both women with monthly support to help pay for food and medicine. Last month, they also received special Rosh Hashanah food boxes filled with holiday treats.
Rachel and Raisa feel the love of the Christians who help make this support possible. Raisa says she feels accepted not only by her Jewish brothers and sisters, but also by the millions of Christian friends helping her. Rachel reflects that she never could have imagined such a deep connection between Christians and Jews.
“It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy” (Proverbs 14:21).