In the war-weary city of Samar about 480 miles from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Vadim, 76, a Jewish pensioner, recently underwent life-saving surgery made possible by Action for Post-Soviet Jewry (APSJ), a Waltham-based nonprofit that has been supporting Jews facing difficult challenges for a half a century.
Vadim, a lifelong resident of Samar, was recently rushed to the Jewish Medical Hospital in the nearby city of Dnipro, where two teams of doctors performed two critical and successful urological operations. There is no health insurance in Ukraine and physicians must be paid in advance, so without APSJ paying the bills, Vadim unlikely would have survived, according to Deborah Kardon, the organization’s executive director.
Samar, formerly known as Novomoskovsk, is home to some 100 Jews, most of them elderly. The area has been hit repeatedly by Russian fire during the war but the Jewish community there remains active and celebrates the Jewish holidays. The town is one of 14 communities in Ukraine – many in remote areas and three of which are occupied by Russian soldiers – where Jewish residents receive critically needed support from APSJ.
In the past year, more than 30 tons of humanitarian supplies, small monthly stipends, social services, emergency financial assistance, and medical support has been delivered by the organization to some 3,000 residents, Kardon said. “I can’t even begin to describe how gratifying it is [to those served] to know that people across the world sees them, acknowledge them, and support them in a what is just life-affirming for them.”
Providing support for Jews in Eastern Europe is part of the DNA of this nonprofit organization. Some 50 years earlier, the organization – then known as Action for Soviet Jewry (ASJ) – was part of a national coalition of Jewish grassroots organizations providing support for refuseniks in the Soviet Union: Jews who sought to emigrate to escape the USSR’s rampant antisemitism. A Traveler’s Program was established that encouraged Americans visiting Ukraine to bring life-saving supplies and other support to Jews.
Maxim D. Shrayer, now a professor of Russian, English and Jewish studies at Boston College, was a Russian-born Jew living in Moscow in the 1980s and one of some 15,000 refuseniks. “We were systematically disenfranchised and persecuted. One of the few things that kept us connected to the world outside the walls of the Soviet refuseniks’ ghetto was the support of the American and Canadian activists on behalf of Soviet Jewry.”
The work of the grassroots movement to support the refuseniks – including a major rally in 1987 that drew some 250,000 supporters at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. – left an indelible mark on Shrayer’s memory. “These brave men and women – emissaries of the free world – traveled to the USSR as tourists, not to admire Moscow cathedrals or St. Petersburg vistas but to bring us a message of hope.
“Imagine a Friday night in the middle of a severe Russian winter in 1983. It sometimes felt like refusenikdom would last forever. And then the doorbell of our Moscow apartment would ring, and there would be a Jewish family from Boston. We would share a simple Shabbos meal, and they made us feel a part of the greater Jewish community. And the Soviet regime begrudgingly took heed.”
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, pro-Soviet Jewry organizations such as ASJ – which was founded in 1974 – focused tremendous efforts on securing the refuseniks’ emigration, according to Kardon. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the group transitioned from advocating for the rights of refuseniks to support “the ever-evolving challenges” Jews are facing in Ukraine. “The decision reflected our mission which is to provide advocacy, support, and empowerment for Jewish individuals and communities.”
APSJ has a team of coordinators on the ground in Ukraine in the 13 communities they’re serving who are “well-wired and well-connected,” enabling them to target the specific needs of individuals in each location, according to Kardon. The organization’s initial efforts included “Adopt a Bubbe-Zayde,” which provided personalized food packages that included fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, and meats. APSJ coordinators would go to the local grocery stores and hand deliver the food to the homes of seniors in need. The program later expanded to provide eyeglasses, hearing aids, reading lamps, and coats.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Kardon said, APSJ began sending war supplies, including tourniquets and first aid kits. As blackouts increased and electricity was turned off for extended periods, heaters, blankets, long underwear, battery-operated radios, and headlamps were shipped over from Boston.
In the past year, Kardon said, there was a “dramatic increase” in involvement from synagogues, Hillel Houses, Moshe Houses and schools, including a partnership a multigenerational partnership with the Rashi School in Dedham. The support is enabling APSJ to undertake three major initiatives: a micro-grant program that provides individuals with stipends averaging $25 to purchase food and other items they need; humanitarian aid; and physical and mental health services, including a successful telehealth initiative.
Dementia and depression have become an increasingly serious problem for the elderly Ukrainians, Kardon said, as the increase in air raids is forcing more individuals into isolated situations. With additional funding, APSJ plans to pilot mental health and art therapy projects in the future. Θ
