By Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg
EDISON, New Jersey — The situation in eastern Europe is grim, grave and alarming.
One of Europe’s military powers has now invaded another European sovereign state. The military action could be the gravest in Europe since the Second World War. It ranks with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.
Russian President Putin’s actions are inexcusable, provocative and part of wider foreign policy in meddling in other sovereign states – in Moldova (Transnistria) and Georgia (Abkhazia & South Ossetia).
In Europe, we have seen centuries of conflict – where one European state invades or attacks another. France and Germany went to war three times in 1870, 1914 and 1939. There have been internal conflicts in Spain in the 1930s, wars in the Balkans in the 1990s and conflict in the UK’s Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland was horrific.
As in previous European conflicts, there are refugees and displaced people. Ukrainians flee to neighboring countries. There are millions of people who have become refugees. Ukraine borders 4 European Union countries.
For President Putin, this could be the equivalent of the Soviet Union military action in Afghanistan (1980s) or the US military action in Vietnam. A failed attempt to change Ukraine’s government could end the presidency of Putin – with uncertain consequences. The Chinese response or support for President Putin’s actions could be instrumental.
We cannot resurrect six million lives. We cannot reunite millions of destroyed families. And, try as we might, we cannot turn back the hands of time. But there are a few things we can do. We can face the world with our eyes open, and never allow ourselves to become accomplices by apathy again. Let us vow to understand what is happening in the world around us, but more importantly, let us make it our duty, our moral responsibility to watch over our fellow man. As I write this join me as I pray and say Tehillim (Psalms) for the people of Ukraine. May Hashem, G-d protect and guard them and all who live there.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, was asked in May 2022 how Russia could claim that Ukraine was run by Nazis, since Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
Lavrov’s response: “So what if Zelensky is Jewish? The fact does not negate the Nazi elements in Ukraine.” In fact, he claimed, Hitler himself had “Jewish blood,” and “the most ardent antisemites are usually Jews.”
Lavrov deliberately used offensive language aimed at a Ukrainian president who happens to be Jewish; his comments sparked an international uproar. Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, said in a statement, “The lowest level of racism against Jews is to accuse Jews themselves of antisemitism.”
It would be a dangerous oversight to deny Ukraine’s antisemitic history and collaboration with Hitler’s Nazis, as well as the latter-day embrace of neo-Nazi factions in some quarters.
President Zelensky, if you should die your JEWISH heritage will die with you. Have Chabad, who you are close with, teach your wife and children and convert them to Judaism.
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Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth-El in Edison, New Jersey and is the author of Theological and Halachich Reflections on the Holocaust, among other books. He serves on the New Jersey State Holocaust Commission and chairs the Holocaust Commission of the New York Board of Rabbis.