Please note that this Op-Ed is that of an individual and does not reflect the views of VINNEWS
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NEW YORK — Imagine a scenario reminiscent of 1945, when Russian tanks pulverized Nazi Germany, Russian airlines bombed indiscriminately and Russian soldiers caused untold devastation as they fought, raped and pillaged their way through Germany’s cities. No Jew living then would have felt an iota of compassion for the German civilian population after the horrors that their military had perpetrated against the Jewish people. Even if such a scenario would unfold today, it is hard to imagine that Jews worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors still living, would feel particular empathy for the plight of the descendants of those Nazi thugs.
Yet somehow Ukraine has succeeded in capturing the world’s imagination and sympathy, despite having a similarly bloody track record of mass murder and despoliation of its Jewish residents on at least 3 previous occasions. Obviously we cannot condone war crimes wherever they are committed, but it is worth reminding ourselves exactly who the Ukrainians are before we identify wholeheartedly with their national aspirations and desperate struggle.
Let us just go back a few years to when the Ukrainians overthrew their Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovych and established a nationalist government. Some of their first acts were to destroy Soviet-era monuments to World War II, monuments to those who had fought fascist Germany. Moreover the nationalists decided to name streets after a number of people who had been directly responsible for massacres of Jews while attempting to promote Ukrainian independence.
Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych were responsible for the murder of thousands of Jews as well as Poles in Lviv in 1941 but are now revered as freedom fighters in Ukraine.In the spring of 2015, Ukraine’s parliament passed a highly controversial law, mandating that Bandera and his groups be regarded as Ukrainian patriots, and making denial of their heroism a criminal offense. The law was ratified despite vociferous condemnation from leading Western historians, proponents of free speech and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In 1954 Ukraine decided to honor Bogdan Chmelnitzki, the person most responsible for the barbaric massacre of over 50,000 Jews in 1648-49, by renaming a city after him. In the eyes of Ukrainians Chmelnitzki is a hero because of his actions to unify the peasants and free them from the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.
Recently the Ukrainian Parliament held a moment of silence in honor of Symon Petliura, a nationalist responsible for the murder of well over 50,000 Jews in the early 20th century. When asked for a response, Josef Zissels, chairman of the Vaad organization of Ukrainian Jews, said that worrying about Petliura “leads to unnecessary assignment of blame.” However whitewashing the deeds of such men and even presenting them as paragons is a dangerous precedent which demonstrates the antisemitic undercurrents which still exist in the country.
Despite electing a Jewish president and prime minister in recent years, there has been no soul-searching about the past and no commitment to eradicate antisemitism in the local culture. New monuments to Chmelnitzki in central Kyiv testify to the adoration he still receives. The Ukrainians have established a memorial at Babi Yar, where tens of thousands of Jews were slaughtered in 1941 but have yet to acknowledge their own nation’s role in the massacre or to educate their youth about the estimated 400 mass murder sites in their country, many of which involved active participation of locals who eradicated six centuries of Jewish life with their barbaric actions.
Even though Russia’s record towards Jews is scarcely better than Ukraine, the Jewish nation has no reason to take the side of the Ukrainians just because they have been unjustly invaded by their northern neighbor. Considering the Ukrainian track record on Jews, it behooves Jews and especially Israel which needs to maintain cordial relations with Russia to maintain neutrality and only concern ourselves with the fate of our Jewish brethren who are caught in the crossfire between the two warring nations.
From a Rabbi I greatly respect:
I will not draw any lessons from the crisis in Ukraine. I refuse.
Imagine watching a house go up in flames with men, women, and children trapped inside, all screaming for help. And since I’m not a fireman, there’s nothing I could do, so I turn to the crowd of people gathered outside, and start lecturing them on the lessons learned from a house fire…
It would be wrong, it would be immoral, and it would betray utter insensitivity to the pain of others. Ukraine is not a TV show, it’s real life.
And yet, over the past week, we’ve all heard people say things like, “The Ukrainians are really bad people. They were the guards at the concentration camps.” It’s true, they were.
Or, “Who is worse? The Russians or the Ukrainians?” And then we have a historic debate.
Or, “Why should I care about this conflict more than any other conflict across the world? Do you know what’s happening in Afghanistan? Do you know what’s happening in Sudan? Do you know what’s happening in Tanzania?”
These are all good and fair questions, and they all stem from one mindset – that this is a video game, a movie, it’s something to debate. Yesterday, it was Major League Baseball lockout and today it’s Ukraine. But it’s not. There is a house on fire. And there are men, women, and children burning inside.
With respect….. not the right time for this to be published
With the thousands of yidden in Ukraine under tremendous sakonos nefoshos, I think it’s inappropriate to publish something like this at this time.
How foolish, petty, smallminded, and non-Torahdik!
Hashem asks us to be good to the real people alive today, who have not taken part in any past atrocities, who are now being killed, injured and traumatized.
Why don’t you leave Hashem’s running the world in Hashem’s hands?
A couple of things:
A. There are many jews in danger in Ukraine right now
B. This isn’t about Ukraine. This is about the west. There is a reason western nations are supporting Ukraine with weapons and sanctions. Should Putin succeed in his aims, the world will have become a far more dangerous place.
It is for these reasons we care very much about the situation in Ukraine
OMG, I can’t believe the ignorance of this article. Hashem Yerachem.
Go away Russian troll
Perhaps the dumbest article I’ve seen in several months (and I’ve been reading lots of CNN!). They elected a Jewish president and prime minister, indicative of them moving on from their anti-Semitic past, just like the other Western counties. It’s a war against the West and we must continue supporting Ukraine.
“The Mishnah (Avos 4:19) says:
Shmuel Ha-Katan would say: Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Lest the Lord see it,
and it displease Him, And He turn His wrath ..”
“Even though Russia’s record towards Jews is scarcely better than Ukraine, the Jewish nation has no reason to take the side of the Ukrainians just because they have been unjustly invaded by their northern neighbor.”
So, the writer waits until the last paragraph of this piece to note that the Russian people’s record towards the Jews hasn’t been all that better.
Their (Ukraine) honoring some ancient savage is not all that relevant, given their reason for doing so, for idolatrous nationalist reasons.
So, the bottom line is how does the typical man-on-the-street in Ukraine treat Jews today?
How incredibly small minded, not Yiddish, and wrong this is. No one is asking you to proclaim Ukrainian nationalists as good people but why is it OK to paint with a broad brush and call them all nazis? There were many that endangered their own lives to save Jews. More importantly, the editors of this web site hope to reach a wide audience, would you want a rabid piece of subhuman drivel like this attributed to you on the world stage? Jews are OK with innocent Ukrainians being slaughtered and displaced because of the sins of their fathers? Take this down NOW!
According to the writer, two wrongs make a right. Not exactly a Torah point of view. Now we have returned to paganism…
Truly disgusting article. Shame on VIN News for printing this.
Study history and you will see the in actual hurting of the Jews the Ukrainians are the worst of the bunch. Most of the pogroms happened on its soil and done by nearly the entire population.
Why are we crying over them? We should not encourage killing them, but cry over them? How fast do we forget what they did to us!
SPOT ON THANKS FOR YOUR INSIGHT
Yes it is very unfortunate Jews are in the crossfire but don’t cry for the Ukranians they are steeped in Jewish blood forever
Who knows if hakodosh boruch Hu is visiting retribution on them before MOSHIACH comes.They elected zelensky because he was a popular actor and comedian like Borat who is also Jewish.
The most brutal concentration camp guards were Ukrainian.
Did you bleeding hearts forget
Demyanyuk who Israel prosecute a few years ago but let him go because they weren’t 100 percent sure it was him
For those who don’t remember he operated the gas chamber in sobibir killing camp in Ukrainian Poland
And was considered the most brutal of
The Guards
One generation of so called liberalized Ukrainians dosent wipe away the past bloody history
Chemlitzky inflicted the most painful tortures on innocent Jews
And the Ukrainians TODAY honor him
I don’t shed a tear for them
Really sick and very false comparison. Ukraine of 2022 is not remotely similar to germany of 1945.
Shame on the author for harboring such thoughts and shame on vinnews and its editors for publishing it.
Not every utterance qualifies as an opinion, and VIN’s editors should have the ounce of common sense it takes to recognize the difference.
Further, if you want to make a comparison, think about the paranoid tyrannt bunkered in his palace while his troops commit crimes against humanity, including our Jewish bethren. And lets not defend this monster based on some twisted and false idea of who we imagine to be his victims.
Great Article, you hit it right on the nose.
My grandparents came from Ukraine and suffered bitterly at the hands of those Ukrainian beasts. The family had to watch as my great Grandfather was beaten before he was killed and a little sister was horrible violated in front of everyone, caught a disease and eventually died from it
I DON’T WANT TO FORGET NOR FORGIVE . Is that not my moral right. If all the bleeding Jews sticking up for Ukraine want too help them, please go, they are asking for volunteers to give their lives for Ukraine.
I will not shed a tear for any of them. My hatred of them runs deep for what they did to us.
Shfoch Chamascha al HaGoyim, means we let Hashem settle our scores, we dont. Please remember Gam Hem Naldu BeTzelem Elokim. they too were created in G-ds image. We are Rachmanim Bnei Rachmanim. That doesnt mean we should show rachmanus to the achzrim at the expense of those deserving our rachmanus. But the Jews in Ukraine deserve our help.
Russia/USSR is what stopped and defeated Nazi Germany, at an extremely heavy price. Tens of millions of Soviets died in WWII, and their homeland was devastated.
There is very good reason why two monuments were dedicated in recent years in Israel, one in Netanya to Soviet soldiers killed in WWII, and another in Jerusalem to victims of the terrible Nazi siege of Leningrad. Without the terrible sacrifices Russia/USSR made, the Nazis would not have been stopped (ע”פ דרך הטבע).
Let the antisemits kill the antisemits (both Russians and Ukrainians)
From all the solicitations I get from Chabad shluchim in Ukraine it seems that they are allowed to exist and thrive. Perhaps the children or the grandchildren did and do tshuva every day for those evil doers and I for one will not blame a child. As for the Russians I suggest you all go back and read ( can you read ) about all the pogroms perpetrated by the Tzar and his cronies.
Op-Ed writer,
Please share your name with your writing… Why hide.
Very stupid article
I do remember in the mid-60’s Rabbi Pinchas Teitz, the ORIGINAL shliach tzaddik, commented on his travels to the Soviet Union to distribute tefillin & machzorim ( bi- lingual phonetic ). He noticed being followed all the time day after day for three days. Finally he approached the three thugs , and asked, tell me what are you looking for, perhaps I can help you find it. They were scared of “yiddishkeit ” because it allowed persons to believe in hashem NOT THE STATE!!
This website does itself no favors by publishing an opinion without disclosing the name of the author. Why should anyone pay attention to an article whose author won’t identify him/herself? In any case, the author also seems to be of the view that a country that harmed Jews in the past should be forever hated. By that standard, no Jews should support England, France, Spain or just about any other country in the world. The only nation that we as Torah Jews are never supposed to forgive or forget for what they did to Jews is Amalek, which fortunately no longer exists. Time to deal with reality based on the present, not the past.
And Rabbi Yohanan said: Why has it been written (Exodus 14:20): “This one did not draw near to that one the whole night.”? The ministering angels sought to recite a song, [but] the Holy One, Blessed Be He said: The work of My hands is drowning in the sea, and you are reciting a song???
Megilah 10:b
Some of these commentators here have no clue of history. The ground of Ukraine is soaked with Jewish blood straight through the Holocaust. Russia today is safer than France,England and many other European countries. And safer than New York’s Subway system.
תמחה את זכר עמלק! Ukraine is Amolak!
They are ruthless anti semites. If youve been there you probably saw on gentile shop windows : No Jews allowed ! Thats a fact of modern Ukraine! They have not changed their wicked ways!
Thank G-d that my fellow Jews are protesting the ugliness, the selfishness, the brutality of this article.
See youtube clip: Ukraine on fire— Oliver Stone
right to the point , if a hitler chas veshulem rises today the world wouldnt be better off than WWII ,even in floriday here a few weeks ago nazis openly protested against jews and nothing has been done ,
100% correct and on target. I am concerned only about the Jews in Ukraine etc. Period. (I totally condemn war atrocities being committed by the Russians without any reservation.)
Kudos to the writer. This is a fundamentally important op-ed to share and understand.We, as Americans (and frankly Jews), must allow a voice for debate or dissent, without a wholesale dismissal of the facts and discrediting of the source. Especially when there is merit in at least gaining another perspective.
This war is not happening in a vacuum. There is an actual historical context to what is happening. We can debate all of the concerns and consequences of the current situation, but we cannot deny, rewrite or otherwise ignore the context and facts. Doing so is simply intentional ignorance.
This is an important perspective and a necessary discussion. Thank you for having the guts to publish this.
Any healthy gentile hates Jews, it’s the way god intended to be, Ukraine having the healthiest population -religious- in Europe and maybe the world it’s history is understanding.
The Jews of the Ukraine should have long ago emigrated to Israel, and left their nazi collaborationist country. There should be no Jews in the Ukraine or Uman.
Wow.
The opinion piece is right on. Right on.
One correction of the inaccuracy in the article (which doesn’t invalidate anything): Bogdan Khmelnitsky was not a “peasant.” he was born into nobility. His father was a courtier to the Great Crown Hetman.
Yes spot on I agree
I agree with the author.
Ukraine is a very corrupt country.
They have also been bringing in Western decadence, such as “alternative lifestyles” in recent years. Russia does not want such garbage next to it.
Russia is not perfect, but Ukraine is not as righteous as the liberal media makes it out to be.
Your article is so right.
Chera, I know of some of Himmlers Y’M grandchildren are living in dire poverty. Does any of the ones claiming – forgive and forget want to donate to the cause. I promise you none of those grandchildren have any hatred, nor did anything to any Jew.
See how stupid this sounds
This is so true
I have been saying this all along
We should daven for the safety of Jews everywhere
We shouldn’t daven for the safety of the children of these cruel nations
100% ACCURATE!!
What I’ve been saying from day 1
You said it.
while we are it, let’s recall our own (Jewish) role in the murder of millions of
Ukrainians during the Holomodor in the early 1930’s.
The estimates usually range from 3 to 5 million murdered.
Yagoda and Kaganovich were Jews.
50% of the NKVD generals were Jews.
40% of the NKVD officers were Jews.
Jewish people were 50 times as likely to serve in the organs of Sovier repression as
ethnic Russians, on a % basis.
one thing leads to another.
the point is—–cut the weeping and virtue signalling and teach the young people the importance of self defense.
Disgusting. You have no obligation to publish this garbage, which appears to be written by the Beryl Lazar, Chabad Rabbi Moscow who is Putin’s Jewish puppet. Who supports Putin in exchange for Putin favoring him as Jewish leader of Russia. Lazar supports Putin as well.