Reserve Lieutenant Colonel Shay Belaish, who served as a general officer of the Home Front Command and commander of the Jerusalem District of the Home Front Command, returned at the end of the week from a special security visit to the Jews of Ukraine. Belaish toured the Jewish communities in the bombed cities, met the heads of Jewish institutions, and gave them advice on best practices to protect themselves, explaining how to evade Russian missile and UAV attacks, or at least minimize the damage to prevent as many casualties as possible.
Among other things, Belaish visited the large Jewish community in the city of Dnieper - where he was accompanied by the city's Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky; in the Jewish community in the nuclear city of Zaporizhia, where he gave speeches in the community of the city's rabbi Nachum Arntroy; and also in the community in the bombed city of Kharkiv, with the city's rabbi Moshe Moskowitz. Belaish was accompanied by Elia Goldberg, The Chabad organization’s head of emergency and security services in Ukraine.
"It was a fascinating, powerful, and instructive visit," concluded Belaish, who participated in a number of wars and security operations over the past few decades. "I met communities with impressive communal strength thanks to the local leadership of the rabbis and their families. I was happy to contribute my humble part of knowledge in the field of resilience and emergency awareness."
Antisemitism is alive and well everywhere it seems.
— @Gabbin' with Gary! (@GDSVIDEO) May 29, 2023
It seems to never get better for Jewish communities. It would really nice if my tribe didn’t have to be “the Chosen Ones” all the time. As Topel said, it wouldn’t be so terrible. https://t.co/xgQOmWlucp#Ukraine #Ukrainewar
During the round of visits, initiated by Chabad's rescue center in Ukraine, Belaish met the Jews of Ukraine who face the anxiety of war every day, who all largely rely on the support offered by Chabad.
At the end of many days of personal meetings with Ukrainian Jews and Chabad representatives in the various cities, Belaish said that "the community has done impressive things to prepare protected spaces for the residents, installing generators and more. Ukrainian Jewry is a symbol of Jewish resilience. It is dealing with a complex crisis while overcoming many obstacles and empowering the community."
Exhibition “Saving Ukrainians in Times of War – Evacuation and Distribution of Emergency Supplies by the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, with the Support of the European Commission” pic.twitter.com/GRTm1Q6pNc
— FJCU (@FJCU) May 22, 2023
"Belaish gave us very effective instructions and advice," said Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz, Rabbi of the city of Kharkiv. "He gave a lecture both to the Jews of the community and to the Chabad house staff. The advice also concerned staying at home in safe spaces, both in the basement and in community institutions. I wish we will never have to use his advice and that this terrible war would end soon."
