ON THE COVER

TOP: People from all over Metro Detroit gathered Downtown to show solidarity with Ukraine.

continued from page 13

CAMPAIGN FOR UKRAINE 
In response to the crisis, 
the Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit, working 
with the Jewish Federation of 
North America and their inter-
national partners, JDC, JAFI and 
World ORT, opened a Ukraine 
Emergency Fund campaign to 
provide rescue and relief for the 
200,000 Jews in Ukraine. 
The funds will be used to 
support temporary housing for 
those fleeing violence, care for 
homebound older adults, food, 
medication and supplies, security 
for Jewish institutions and other 
critical services. 
 For Federation, it means a lot 
to help Ukrainian Jewry in the 
face of the crisis.
 “The Jewish Federation, 
through its Annual Campaign, 
has been taking care of our global 

YEVGENIYA GAZMAN @YGAZM

TEMPLE ISRAEL put together a Help 
from Afar Fund, which will go directly to 
individuals and communities in Ukraine. 
Donate at www.temple-israel.org/form/
help-from-afar-ukraine.html.

M

y sister and her 
husband, Cherry 
and Rabbi Ariel 
Markovitch, are one of more 
than 30 Chabad emissar-
ies in Kyiv and 
more than 200 
in Ukraine. 
After three 
days of contin-
uous attacks, 
they successful-
ly escaped from 
Kyiv with their 
three children and crossed the 
border to Romania. They are 
currently living with my par-
ents, the Chabad emissaries in 
Nice, France. 
Since they landed in France 
last week, they are working 
around the clock helping 
members of their community 
to leave Ukraine. At the same 
time, they are working non-
stop to get supplies and food 
to those who are still stranded 
and are under continuous cur-

few conditions with no access 
to food. The situation changes 
with every minute.

FAMILY TIES
I last visited Kyiv in 2019. My 
family roots there run deep.
My great-grandfather 
Nachum Pinson studied in 
the famous Chabad Yeshiva 
as a teenager in the town of 
Lubavitch under the guidance 
of the fifth and sixth Rebbes. 
He raised a beautiful family in 
the town of Charkov and made 
a living as a businessman.
In 1939 he was arrested by 
the KGB for the sin of giving 
his kids a Jewish education 
and living an observant Jewish 
life. He was sent to the gulags 
in Siberia where he perished 
from famine and exhaustion at 
the young age of 57. A cousin 
sent me a newly discovered 
KGB file about Nachum and 
his three friends that were 
arrested at the same time.

Let’s Talk 
About Ukraine

Rabbi Yisrael 
Pinson

Cherry and 
Rabbi Ariel 
Markovitch 
and their 
children

14 | MARCH 10 • 2022 

