Some of the elderly Jews who made aliyah to Israel, especially from the former Soviet Union, were infants in their home countries when World War II broke out. These people experienced everything from war and terror to rampant anti-Semitism, to poor living conditions. Today, they live in Israel. In the Jewish state they don’t experience the anti-Semitism that they did in the former Soviet Union, but they still live in the grip of poverty. To loosen that grip, this is where The Fellowship’s With Dignity and Fellowship program comes in – to provide hope and meet the needs of 16,000 needy elderly in Israel.
Maya, who has lived in both Ukraine and Russia, is one of the beneficiaries of the program. “I was born in a village in Ukraine, about three hours from Kyiv,” she says. “I don’t remember much until I turned four, which is when the war started, and my family was forced to evacuate. We fled to Uzbekistan. My memories from Uzbekistan are mostly of my mother and me walking long distances to gather leaves and herbs to cook in water. We had very little food. I remember my parents boiling a single potato in water to make soup—that was our meal. My brother and I received small portions meant for children; that was all we had.”
Anti-Semitism was a daily fact of life in Soviet-era Ukraine. Maya describes life in Uzbekistan as difficult, not only because she and her family were Jewish, but because everyone was struggling. With no food, the hardship was shared by all, as Maya said. She and her husband Michael made aliyah about 30 years ago. Since then, they have lived in an apartment hostel.
“We live very modestly and are amazed by the help that The Fellowship provides to elderly people like us. Thank you!!” Maya told The Fellowship.
