Fighting for Fanya
The Fellowship | February 27, 2025
Unfortunately, anti-Semitism has followed Fanya her entire life. But even with all the immense hardships she’s faced, she still greets Fellowship volunteers with a grateful smile.
Born in Ukraine, she was just three years old when World War II broke out and her father was drafted into the army. She remembers vividly the cattle train that she took with her mother and older sister as they fled from Ukraine to Kazakhstan, thousands of miles away.
They finally arrived at a small station in northern Kazakhstan, where a field hospital had been set up. Food and supplies were scarce, and many people were starving. Fanya’s mother took a job at the hospital, while Fanya started attending a small kindergarten.
This is where Fanya first encountered anti-Semitism – children were pointing out that she was Jewish and were calling her names. And then, when Fanya and her family returned from evacuation, they faced new instances of anti-Semitism. At the time in the early 1950s, communist rulers launched a campaign against Jewish people working in the medical field, so Fanya’s mother lost her job. Then, when Fanya applied to university, she found out that the administration was preventing her from enrolling to study mathematics, as she’d hoped.
When she married a Jewish man, they both fought for the right to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel), which was nearly impossible under Soviet rule. But they finally were able to make their way to the Holy Land, and Fanya has led a life fighting for the rights of Jewish people ever since.
Today, she volunteers helping Holocaust survivors make their first ever bar or bat mitzvah (since so many Holocaust survivors weren’t allowed to practice their faith, many didn’t celebrate this important faith milestone).
When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023 and war started, Fanya was shocked. Today, she has difficulties walking and has no bomb shelter in her home. She just prays to God that the rockets do not directly fall on her home.
After so many years of fighting for the Jewish people’s survival, this deserving woman deserves someone to fight for her! We feel privileged at The Fellowship to hear her story and bring her some hope by regularly providing her with essentials she needs to live comfortably and with dignity. Recently, we brought her a warm blanket and other support to help her survive the frigid winter. Fanya is a fighter – and, thanks to your support, we are fighting to ensure that she has everything she needs.
