Hanukkah with Russian-Speaking Holocaust Survivors
December 21, 2014For the third consecutive year, volunteers from Shishi Shabbat Yisraeli visited and lit Hanukkah candles with 150 Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors and World War II veterans in the Jerusalem area.
Shishi Shabbat Yisraeli – a national and educational non-profit for young Israeli Russian speakers – calls its annual campaign Operation Light Up!
Last Thursday, the third night of Hanukkah, young volunteers from all over Israel – including students, soldiers, and young professionals – gathered to light the hannukiyah (holiday candelabrum) together in Beit Kehillot Olim in the center of Jerusalem.
There they were briefed on their visits with the elderly Russian speakers as well as given abundant gift baskets, from their own fundraising, to bring to their hosts.
The volunteers traveled to various addresses provided them by the Jerusalem Municipality, lit candles and listened to the stories of the veterans and survivors.
One veteran, Yuri Zelnick (91), was 17-years-old when he fought against the Nazis. As he lit candles he explained that he had come to Israel, despite having no family here, because he is a Kohen – a descendant of Temple priests.
He then produced an extraordinary family portrait from 1929 in Voronezh, where he, a small boy, is surrounded by his entire family. He is the only one who remains.
Grigory Zlotnick (96), a survivor, lost his entire family in the war. As an adult, he taught Russian and Russian literature and headed the Finance Ministry in Moscow. Although he has grandchildren and great grandchildren, he lives alone in Jerusalem.
Zlotnick’s optimism and smile, in spite of his traumatic story, inspired the volunteers who visited him during Operation Light Up! to offer to come again.
Another survivor, Eva Haif, lives in Chen Hotel, Bayit Vegan. She animatedly recounted her life story to the four young Russian-speakers who visited her.
When she was 12, the Nazis invaded her hometown of Vinnitsa, and she was sent away to work in a weapons factory in Kazakhstan. She moved to Jerusalem eight years ago, the only surviving family member of eight siblings.
Most of these Russian-speaking Holocaust survivors and veterans live alone in hotels and apartment buildings. They are largely isolated from the outside world because of their frailty and minimal knowledge of Hebrew. The average age of the group is 90, and every year the list dwindles.
The Russian-speaking volunteers, meanwhile, have moved to Israel on their own over the past 15 years, many leaving their own grandparents and family behind, and would otherwise have little opportunity to connect with their roots.
Operation Light Up!, thus, benefits both the extraordinary Russian-speaking elderly community and Israel’s young immigrant volunteers by broadening the concept of volunteerism and inter-generational dialogue in Israeli society.
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