'There will be another Babi Yar if the world doesn’t stop Putin': A plea from Jewish Kyiv

On Sunday, thousands of people in cities across Canada gathered in solidarity with Ukraine. The support may comfort Anatoliy Shengait—as the head of Kyiv’s Jewish community, he's spent the past week fielding worried WhatsApp calls, keeping tabs on the war and trying to communicate with his own family, including his brother, who's trapped with no electricity or running water outside the capital city.

Shengait's life and work is busy enough during peacetime. He coordinates events, liaises with the city's synagogues and Jewish schools and has been advocating for a better airport in Uman, where thousands of Hasidic Jews make an annual pilgrimage to the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Russia's attacks have risked not only his life and the lives of his fellow Ukrainian Jews—about 200,000, by some estimates—but it's also created a humanitarian crisis that has led hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee the country.

Shengait spoke with The CJN Daily podcast from his home in besieged Kyiv on Sunday night. He spells out what he hopes the world understands about the situation and what he fears might happen next—that this war could lead to another massacre like what happened at Babi Yar against Ukrainian Jews during the Holocaust.

What we talked about:

• Read "Ukraine emergency appeals have been activated by Jewish federations across Canada" at thecjn.ca
• Read about Jewish Canada's partners at jewishcanada.org/home/partners
• Donate to Chabad's Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund at chabad.org

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.