A Prayer for Peace in Ukraine and Beyond Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi We come before you, Adonai, praying for peace. A new war has begun, and thousands of innocent people are dying… We pray for the strength and courage of the few faced with the ruthless power of the many. We stand together with our brothers and sisters in the Ukraine, the birthplace of so many of our ancestors, a place where the Jewish people has known both light and darkness....

Winter is Over by Daniel Prakhabmek Winter is over, the cold is gone, The universe is filled with joy. The southerly winds slowly blow Repairing a gloomy soul.   Young sun, spring sun, Shining in the sky, Casting a wealth of light on the Earth, Blinding eyes.   The naked trees, Are awakened again, The noisy city, Dons a new face.   Everything is joyful, alive, and glowing, The spirit of spring washes over all Happy are the tall buildings, Crowned by high mountains.  ...

This is not only the bread of our affliction, but also the lechem oni, the bread of those in dire need. It's called that because of its purposeful lack of ingredients — only unleavened flour and water, nothing to make it rise, and it must be baked in haste — the food of those with nothing, those who've left everything, in desperate need of a miracle. It is the bread we took with us when we rushed out of Egypt to...

Чим ця ніч відрізняється від усіх інших ночей?  Mah nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot? Why is this night different from all other nights? В інші ночі ми їможемо їсти і хамец, і мацу. Чому в цю ніч - лише мацу? Sheb’chol haleilot anu ochlin chametz umatzah, halailah hazeh, kuloh matzah. On all other nights we eat both leavened bread and matzah. Tonight we only eat matzah. В інші ночі ми можемо їсти будь-які овочі. Чому в цю ніч  - лише марор?...

by Sarah Aspel How awful is winter’s great cold How beautiful spring’s pleasant winds, The trees, have you seen, how beautiful they are in the spring, In winter, they stood, mourning and asleep, And here, spring is come, they have woken, risen, They begin to look around, around, -“Thank God, winter is over!” The trees begin to whisper among themselves -“Now we will grow with the coming of spring!”

By Serhiy Zhadan Translated from the Ukrainian by Virlana Tkacz and Wanda Phipps   Take only what is most important. Take the letters. Take only what you can carry. Take the icons and the embroidery, take the silver, Take the wooden crucifix and the golden replicas. Take some bread, the vegetables from the garden, then leave. We will never return again. We will never see our city again. Take the letters, all of them, every last piece of bad news. We will...

no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. no one would leave home unless home chased you, fire under feet, hot blood in your belly. it's not something you ever thought about doing, and so when you did - you carried the anthem under your breath, waiting until the airport toilet to tear up the passport and swallow, each mouthful of paper...

A Prayer of Peace for the People of Ukraine by Rabbi Naomi Levy God, Our hearts are with all the people of Ukraine, Its president, Volodymyr Zelensky,  And with our Jewish brothers and sisters in Ukraine 200,000 souls Who crouch in fear  As the sound of sirens and bombs pierces the air. Synagogues once filled with songs of celebration  Have become makeshift shelters. Echos of the Holocaust reverberate, The memory of the one and a half million  Martyred Ukrainian Jews.  God,...

When I grew up in Ukraine in the city of Oonetsk, there were people of various nationalities living there. Their 10 certificates had the word 'Russian,' 'Ukraine,' 'Georgian,' 'Kozaki,' it wasn't that important and there wasn't much of a difference. One thing was important - if it had the word 'Jewish' written on it, that would be as if you had some disease. We knew nothing about Judaism, except antisemitism and hatred towards us. That's why no one tried to replace...