April 2020 View this email in your browser Emergency response: FJC launches ‘For Life’ Hotline for Ukrainian Jews Corona relief: Even under normal circumstances, Ukraine’s health and welfare systems are in a difficult state. Most of the medical centers across the state are primitive and unable to provide advanced medical care. They operate without advanced equipment and adequate medical supplies and suffer from a constant shortage of beds and respirators. Similarly, the welfare system is dysfunctional and almost non-existent. There are no social services or social workers, budgets to help the needy, or monitoring of the needs of citizens in distress. Given the immediate danger to life due to the Coronavirus epidemic, the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS (FSU) in collaboration with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine have launched a new emergency hotline named “For Life” to respond to the vital needs of Ukraine’s Jewish population. Read more Despite Corona: FJC’s Orphanages and Children’s homes across Ukraine and Russia stay open One big family: Hundreds of Jewish children who have no other place to call home continue to reside and receive love and affection in the FJC’s network of Children’s homes and Orphanages in Ukraine and Russia.  Read more Corona update: JCC’s, synagogues and educational institutions across the FSU close down temporarily In order to fight the spreading of the coronavirus, the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Rabbi Berel Lazar, has instructed all the Jewish community centers, synagogues and educational institutions for all age groups, to close down temporarily and transfer as much of the activity as possible to online.  Read more Just on time: ‘Taste of Life’ expands to new cities Exactly when needed most, ‘Taste of Life’, FJC’s humanitarian aid project has expanded to two new cities in Ukraine: Chernivtsi, located in Western Ukraine, and the capital city Kyiv. ‘Taste of Life’ serves thousands of needy Jewish families with children across Ukraine and other regions in the FSU. Read more EnerJew – FJC’s vibrant Jewish Youth Movement – moves online! The outbreak of the Corona epidemic has forced EnerJew, FJC’s vibrant Jewish Youth Movement in the FSU, to temporarily move all its varied activities online. However, the youth movement’s directors have decided to make this bitter lemon into sweet lemonade and are introducing its members to a fascinating and wide range of online activities often unavailable in usual times. Read more Odessa’s Medal of Honor Awarded to City’s Chief Rabbi Last week, during the festival of Passover, the Mayor of Odessa, Mr. Gennady Trukhanov, made a formal visit to the offices of the Chief Rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, Rabbi Avraham Wolff, and awarded him the city’s ‘Medal of Honor’ in recognition of the Rabbi’s significant contribution to the city.   Read more World’s oldest Jew passes away at 106 Chaim Goldberg, who was the world’s oldest living Jew, passed away on Sunday night at the age of 106. He was a resident of Vladivostok, a city in eastern Russia. Goldberg was also one of the oldest living veterans of the Second World War, having driven a tank in the Russian army and fought against the Nazis. Read more On eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day: Anti-Semites attempt to torch Kherson Synagogue Last night, at 2:45 am, two unknown youngsters approached the Grand Synagogue and JCC of Kherson, Ukraine, and attempted to set it on fire with a couple of Molotov cocktails. These immediately ignited, but were quickly extinguished without harming the interior of the building. Read more Matzah for the Jews of the FSU – Passover Campaign for the World’s Poorest Jewish Population Hundreds of individuals from across the globe have already joined the Federation of Jewish Communities (FJC) Passover 2020 Campaign aiming to provide thousands of the FSU’s poorest Jews with Kosher for Passover food parcels including matzah, wine or grape juice, festive food and basic products. Read more Jewish FSU Prepares for a Very Different Passover Hundreds of Jewish communities, in both large cities and small towns and villages across the former Soviet Union, are now in the final stages of preparation towards a very different Passover, unlike any they have ever experienced before. With traditional public Seders forbidden and an unprecedented global financial crisis due to the coronavirus epidemic, tens of thousands of Passover Seder kits and Kosher food parcels are being prepared and distributed to the entire community. Read more