Helping Maya Through Wartime
The Fellowship | February 6, 2024
“We didn’t know where we were running to. We only knew that we were running from death.”
That’s Maya, a Holocaust survivor, who vividly remembers the beginning of World War II. She was just four years old when war came to Ukraine, and she evacuated by train with her mother and three brothers.
“Planes with black swastikas on their wings were flying low over our heads,” she says. “The train was bombed constantly. We ran to trenches that soldiers dug specifically so that passengers would have a place to hide during the bombings. We prayed that the bombs would not fall next to us.”
She felt panic, horror, and explosions all around her. She can instantly recall these feelings… and she is reminded of them again today as war has come to Israel. While happy to be living in her biblical homeland, Maya was shocked when Hamas attacked Israel and started a war.
“I thought I’d never know what war was again. The first war took away my childhood years, and here I am once again under fire.”
The only difference is now she is in Israel with an army to protect her and she also has Fellowship friends around the world who ensure she has enough food and care to last her through wartime in Israel and beyond.
“The Fellowship has been helping me before the war, and I feel relieved that this help will continue for the rest of my life. Thank you very much.”