Hanukkah is upon us, and The Fellowship is proud to share 85-year-old Lyudmila’s story as staff helped her celebrate. We visited her home in northern Israel to bring her aid – including special Hanukkah treats like sufganiyot (jelly donuts).
Lyudmila was born in Kyiv, where she lived all her life except when she and her family were evacuated to Uzbekistan during World War II. During this time, her father died in the war, and her uncle stayed behind in Kyiv when the Nazis came. As a thin and small young man, he was able to crawl his way out from a mass grave at the notorious massacre of Jews at Babi Yar.
“During the evacuation, my mother worked in a kolkhoz (a collective farm), and this is how we had some food to eat, but we were very poor,” Lyudmilla recalls. “I was very small. When we returned to Kyiv in 1933, a woman who had no children asked my mother to let me live with her temporarily. My mother said, ‘She can until I manage to get our apartment back.’ I lived there, went to school, and was treated well. Ten years later, the woman gave birth to a daughter, who grew up and studied in Kyiv. To this day, she is the only person I still speak to there,” she said.
In 1993, Lyudmila made aliyah and settled in the city of Carmiel. Her son served 25 years in the IDF, and still answers reserve calls today. With loved ones in Israel and a friend still in Ukraine, much of her days are spent listening to news about the respective wars and conflicts both countries. The war in Ukraine affects her just as much as the last two years of war in Israel have. When she hears news of casualties, she can’t help but cry. However, Lyudmila does find comfort and community with those who shelter her. When sirens sound, they all crowd into the safe room on her floor as her neighbor calls their names to make sure that they are all there.
Lyudmila also takes many medications for migraines. Rising prices are making it difficult to make ends meet. As a beneficiary of our With Dignity and Fellowship program, the aid she receives allows her to go to the stores knowing she won’t be short on anything she needs. Even as her hands shook as she lit her special gold-colored menorah from Kyiv, Lyudmila is so happy to be able to continue the tradition with peace of mind.
“I am grateful for every bit of help. I am grateful for everything … for everything,” she said.
