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While the attention of world Jewry is fixed steadily on Israel, embroiled in the ongoing war in Gaza and facing the threat of all-out war with Hezbollah, Russia’s devastating war against Ukraine has dragged into its third year.

Despite that turn from the spotlight, the war continues to wreak havoc on Ukraine’s population of some 41 million, including 40,000 to 190,000 Jews, according to the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

On Sept. 3, Russian ballistic missiles destroyed a military academy and nearby hospital in Poltava, a city of some 280,000 residents 75 miles from the Russian border. Fifty-one people were killed and nearly 300 injured in what was the deadliest attack on the Ukrainian city since Russia launched its offensive in February 2022. 

The missiles struck near the home of 41-year-old Evgenia Noshenko, leader of Beit Am, the Reform Jewish community of Poltava. It has been supported by Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills for more than 20 years.

“It was very hard for everyone. This is not a big city,” she told J. on Sept. 21 in a Zoom interview. “Many who died were children in the ninth grade. One of the Hebrew teachers in our community was half an hour late to work, and that saved her life. Her colleagues were killed.”

The attack left residents shaken and scared, Noshenko said. “Mothers are afraid to let their children outside,” she said, noting that most schools are still online only, as they have been throughout the war. “[The Russians] want us to feel anxious and hopeless, and they have succeeded.”

That’s why Noshenko is so grateful for the psychological support Beth Am has arranged for her community members, as well as for those in Odesa, home to Shirat Ha-Yam, a second Reform community in Ukraine supported by the Los Altos Hills congregation. 

Beth Am member Cherie Half, longtime chair of the Odesa/Poltava Committee, reached out more than a month ago to a Ukrainian-born Jewish entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, who facilitated a list of therapists willing to work with the Ukrainian Jews in online sessions for very reduced rates. Beth Am and the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism picked up the tab.

About 10 of the 27 adults in the Poltava community have been meeting one-on-one with the online therapists, as have many of the 50 members of the Odesa congregation. Others, including older children, have attended group sessions.

“Sirens are going off all the time in Poltava, people aren’t leaving their homes,” said Half. “Everyone is doing what they can to stay alive, stay safe and feed themselves.”  

In Odesa, a major port city of 1 million on the Black Sea, the Reform congregation lost the building it was renting when bombs nearly destroyed it in late 2023. Since then, members have met online. Rabbi Julia Gris, their spiritual leader, left the country with about 40 congregants in the early days of the war and now serves that community in Oldenburg, Germany. She leads worship services and Jewish study classes online. 

The congregation’s chairperson, Elena Izmailova, 35, has been living in London working for the Reform movement, while her husband, who is of military age, remains in Ukraine. Izmailova arranges much of the aid coming to her Odesa community and flies in to organize Passover and Hanukkah celebrations. “We held them in a safe place, in a basement,” she told J. 

“Bombings are still going on, it’s very bad, very stressful,” she said. “There are sirens every day, every night. There have been a lot of attacks these past two months. Russian missiles destroyed power plants again, so we have blackouts and power cuts. We only have power a few hours a day.”    

Jewish attention has pivoted away from Ukraine, say those active in Ukrainian-Jewish relations. That was even true back in May 2023, when Izmailova told J., “People are tired of hearing about Ukraine. It’s harder to collect money than it was a year ago.”

But thanks to Beth Am, steady financial and emotional support has proved a lifeline for these Ukrainian Jews in the 2½ years since Russia’s invasion. 

When Russian airstrikes cut off power to much of the country in 2022, Beth Am sent generators and power packs, so people could cook food, heat their homes and charge their phones.

Mothers are afraid to let their children outside. The Russians want us to feel anxious and hopeless, and they have succeeded.

Evgenia Noshenko, Poltava Jewish community

When a major bridge was bombed in Odesa, also in 2022, much of the city’s drinking water was contaminated; Beth Am sent water purification tablets. 

Small monthly stipends are provided to community members in both cities — $500 to each congregation paid for by Beth Am and the World Union for Progressive Judaism, as well as an additional $1,000 from Beth Am for the two congregations to split. 

And when special needs arise, extra funding is always found, says Half. In September, two emergency allotments of $2,000 were sent to Poltava and another $2,000 to Odesa for food certificates that can be used in grocery stores.

While it’s impossible to help an entire country, it has been possible to give meaningful help to this small group of Ukrainian Jews. Some share their lives in emails and photos with Beth Am, forging human connections that continue across years. 

In September, Izmailova forwarded a half-dozen emails to Half from community members in Odesa, describing what the support of Jews in the Bay Area means to them.

“Whether it’s the light you gave us during the total blackout, whether it’s the food certificates and now the psychological support, it all gives us the feeling that we are not alone, that somewhere there are people who still have the strength to help in the third year of this terrible and destructive war, ” wrote one of the members, Natalia Melnik, echoing the words of many others.

“Your support brings hope, comfort and a renewed sense of strength to those who need it most,” wrote Izmailova.

“We know we are not alone, thanks to Cherie’s congregation and to Israel,” said Noshenko, leader of the Poltava congregation. “We have each other. And because of the support we receive, we can stand proud.”

Jewish holiday celebrations and Shabbat services are as important as food certificates when it comes to keeping body and spirit strong, Noshenko said.  “For our community, worship makes us feel better. Being together and alive, that’s what matters.”