Head of School Blog Post

The world has been focused on Ukraine since the Russian army invaded on February 24. The current war in Ukraine is deeply disturbing and painful as we read about the lives lost and cities and towns destroyed by this conflict. As an educator, I think daily about how we might best address this conflict with students as they try to make sense of this war and its significance.  
 
For general educators, the war in Ukraine raises questions about the causes, motivations, and policy rationale for the Russian invasion. It highlights the differences between democracies and authoritarian regimes and dictatorships. It also leads teachers to present historical information about WWII and the impact of events such as the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. These discussions and many more are vital to helping students understand the current war. I have been hearing these discussions at school on a regular basis.
 
At the same time that I am considering these needed conversations, as a Jewish educator, and someone who has family roots in Ukraine, I am finding a strong impulse to revisit Jewish history as it relates to the area of current day Ukraine. The drive to connect deeper with Ukraine started for me when Russian troops began massing on the Ukrainian border. My paternal grandmother’s family was from an area called Kiev Gubernia, and emigrated to the United States in the 1880’s. They were seeking a better life and fleeing ongoing persecution. I’m not alone among American Jews, with so many community members having roots in Eastern Europe.
 
The other day I read a post on Facebook querying how many had family from Ukraine. I saw close to 100 posts offering names of towns and shtetls where online posters indicated their families were from. Ukraine is a country that has over 1,000 years of Jewish history and is home to a contemporary revival of Jewish life. Jewish life there dates back to the late 9th century; the area encompassing the country was vital to the development of Hasidism. 
 
Ukraine’s history with its Jewish community is both rich and difficult including many antisemitic attacks and massacres. The Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648-1657) is remembered as a time when an army of Cossacks massacred and took into captivity large numbers of Jews. During the Holocaust, one million Ukrainian Jews were killed. Babyn Yar, or as most of us know it, Babi Yar, was the site of a horrific massacre of 33,771 Jews by the Nazis during WWII. After decades of reviving Jewish life after the Holocaust, prior to the current invasion, there were approximately 200,000 Jews throughout Ukraine. About 40,000 Jews were actively involved in the community.

As Natan Sharansky has observed, and to his great surprise, Jews have nothing to do with the conflict in Ukraine today. Ukraine’s President Zelensky happens to be a devoted Jew and Putin, while particularly ruthless and doing horrible things, is unique in Russian history for his positive attitude toward Jews and Israel. So while I, like other Jewish educators, are drawn to teach about Jewish history as it relates to Ukraine during this time, the war itself is currently about larger geopolitical issues and questions about how the West and United States will defend democracy and the rules-based international order. Educators in day schools have an opportunity to teach both about the larger issues of the war and to connect students to the history of Ukraine’s Jewish community. 
 
My thoughts are with the people of Ukraine today, and with their president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine had been emerging as a bright spot of Jewish renewal in Eastern Europe, and now I am concerned for the future of the Jewish community there. As we teach and engage with students around the war in Ukraine, we must make the human suffering of all Ukrainians part of our discussion.