Rabbi Nochum Ehrentreu Tells of Situation in Ukraine

i wanted to mention that we in the beginning that we're not taking any political sides not the russian the ukrainian but we're talking now about a disaster which started to go on last five days it's already been on for eight years eight years ago which started to when the russians occupied in ukraine we are the next uh look in the next chabadas from and the way to lugansk or donetsk or crimea so we and south is located and the side of the of nipper uh so this problem the matter with russian it's not a new matter it's already all the old question but since ukraine became independent for the last past 30 years there was a few presidents doing our bid here which they uh be actually not official but under the russian authorities but to the last uh president the currently president is a jew his name is uh zielanski lagilansky he became much more pro uh the older side of not the russian but more of the south of the south and a bit more involved in the in the world and not to be a part of the russian federation and this makes us with one of the matters as i'm sure that everyone was getting in the internet on any news that ukraine wanted to get into nato and the russian federation did not like like too much this and it was trying to go uh to decide but unfortunately there wasn't any possibility because the ukrainian authorities decide this way and that's it so so already for a while we had about 200 000 russian soldiers around all ukraine and when there was a question started being what's going to be in ukraine with the russian army i would say in a day or maximum two or two and a half days will be right away russian we couldn't imagine my myself that would be such a fight the war would start it started five days ago we started up in the middle of the night and i hear booming which i never before and i didn't see in the internet but when i told my wife something bad is happening here and i was jumping out for my bed and to wake up clarify just just to make sure i understand what you're saying you're saying that in the beginning at the end of last week wednesday thursday you and the other chabad rabbis and other people who were in somewhat of a no in ukraine they didn't imagine that the the war would get this bad and that this intense and the humanitarian disaster is that like what is that one of the main things that you didn't imagine would happen that's exactly the point we thought that our neighbors and from russia you have like a tactic of a war in any war in the world there's a tactic there's rules any rules which you can do so we thought there's silts here one actor is acting nobody knows what he wants he doesn't speak he doesn't say anything and all will all ukraine and all the side of uh uh waiting to happen what's going to happen we thought that it's really just threatened is not gonna get into ukraine and therefore we decide to stay here and not to go away but five days ago became became real he started to bomb and to go to move on from the side of the russian side from the stop if you know exactly the i can send you later the map so then you can see it exactly from the side of rostov to get into britian it's near the sea and then to move up to a city called military so this is the region of zappos so the way they started the war they started to go to the little towns to the right to the region of kharkov the region of zappos and in the other side and they started to do is to shoot where there's army bases so in the beginning you thought that yes you know it's starting for a few days and then to make sure that uh our president in ukraine is becoming negotiation negotiation about ukraine and as it's not going to happen so they start more aggressive agassi wanted started to go more inside of the big cities but what is that how does that affect um like what would you say right now is the biggest concern in zapparaja the biggest concern that we are waiting any minutes he can knock down buildings as he's doing now he started to knock down buildings and roads and airports and and he started to shoot in a hospital a kindergarten there's no rules he do he can do anything he wants right now we're waiting maybe can come with planes from up there and to shoot and to just to raise zaparoja in ghansen and so and they did that they did that in the heart of square is that right yeah in hako we made it and also in her song they were just about uh uh our rabbi evolved from hassan just a few hours ago he got a phone call he was leaving the last last minute before it wouldn't be i i don't want to say in life but it could be knocked down in a basement as the same problem with us too which now we are in a very very very very uh very bad situation which could be a disaster not just personal and vermeer for me it's for the old community entire community i will give example that it's not just a problem with the russian problem soldiers it's also a problem with the ukrainian not because anti-semitism became the very very friendly now all the population the regular population the jewish population as zappos as you know it's a million populations of uh it's a city as much as big with the earth like bigger than israel and there's a few on the thousand taran zapat population out of them ten thousand in the city of zappos five thousand in the region of zimbabwe the biggest problem is that there was no ukraine did not be ready to go with such a war and also me i didn't believe that there would be fight stature fights with them and they giving back they uh they sometimes they they they took over the region and became a house there was no there was no rules there's nothing the shooting people on the street they stealing distill the banks they still it becomes uh overvote there's nothing it would become a place that cares which you can nobody can rule it nobody can can be uh in top of it and that's one of the problems with our neighbor the president the russian federation president which in everywhere war is supposed to be rules here there's not the game there's no the first rule that there's no rules and that's a very very scary because near zappos does the atom nostalgia and also in chernobyl so the fruits they started to attack all all the places where it's a strategy where there's uh weapons there was a army bases that was the beginning then he took over chernobyl and now yesterday they took over a city called nergadar it was also a very very big fight but they took it over over there they have also the atom response of ukraine so it's very scary with such a person you can give a you can ask the army they should open up the atom stance and then who knows what's going to happen we don't know exactly so we will ask a question why did we stay here because we feel for 25 years we we're working here in the community we have established a kindergarten school and a new synagogue and many many good things we have many activities for young for elderly people and you feel part of the city you are one it's not you cannot throw away a family that you build for 25 years so i didn't see i didn't mean myself that it will come to such a stage as i mentioned there's a problem with the ukrainian army because now they started in the city there's a lot of places where they stop they put a block uh post and you say it in english uh blockade so and the and the ukrainians gave out for a thousand five hundred people in the city guns and you know when people is getting guns if you're 20 years you can get a gun and let's go go fight there's no nobody is watching what's going on with the guns the number so it becomes like a jungle one big jungle i will give an example myself we have a school in the beginning of the city so i uh we asked a bit we preparing our food for 500 people each day breakfast and uh supper and lunch and uh i had a problem with the masjid in cases so i went to the school to make sure that everything was uh everything there is all right when i exposure yeah if it's supermarket yeah so i i prepared everything and then i decided to go back to the city doing i was coming to back to the city they put another place with uh with a blocks uh you know like a checkpoint right yeah they close up yeah you have to travel when i came to the place to the last place to the last when they stayed they showed me that i have to stop but i didn't realize because there was a few cars and it's also uh get in the beginning of the night and i couldn't i didn't realize i was watching how to anyways i'm i'm trying to to drive further and right away they start to scream in a microphone stop the car i stopped the car and right away they asked me go out of the car as i'm going out of the cars they pulled over guns and they started to shoot and some of when screams me you are church then you look like with a beard the you are chatting because the putin sander is about to send or he send about 20 000 church in a military which is yeah that's ridiculous what they can do it's so they're very very afraid to see such a soldier in this so when they saw me and so they uh it was near the the middle of the city there's a place there's a bridge which holding the water not to get into the pavilion so that bridge was being built 80 years ago and it's if we got forbidden if they're shooting down this this bridge the oldest city will get flow with water and who knows what's going to happen so they staying there and they saw somebody like looks like a chen so they start to shoot in the beginning they shoot for like in this way yeah and then they ask me right away pull down yourself and they and they ask me keep your hands and the other side and they start to shoot not just in the air in the sides too and they told me if you're moving yourself you're going to get a bullet and that's it i actually i was screaming and say my even i didn't have time to say hashem and i was begging and asking and i'm screaming them i'm a jew i'm the rabbi of the community leave me alone i'm not doing anything i have seven children just let me let me live and they didn't care anything and uh muzzle that i have my israeli passport so i thought it down the passport and somebody saw it and right away before they wanted to shoot he said oh okay stop stop wait let's wait so then they checked the passport they looked at me and they said okay if it's you they took me up to uh to the jeep of the army ship and also there's a few soldiers going with guns against military if you're moving you're doing anything right away a bullet and ends up by the coutu of investigation and bob hashem finally that in the investigation the first they started to ask me questions while i'm doing here and this and there so he didn't know me but then the guy on top of him came in and right away there was a person which he knowed me if he saw me in the television or whatever we had sometimes we met each other i don't remember exactly and he asked me and he said what do you do you know that it's now a wall and you look with your belt you have two options either either stay home either keep your bird somebody either take off your bird because it's impossible now in such a time to walk into it so the option to stay home is also another best option so he told me you know what i will let you should go from through my house till to travel to the school it's about 10 minutes so it's only you you could go from the house to the true from the show to the house that's it so since then finally i'm that's what i'm doing and the meantime what i do uh there's a disaster on manitoban and aid i mean there's no food there's no medicaid there's no gas there's no uh the the the money machine not working bank system not working and as for now people still buying the till for today they were trying to build and they they took over there's nothing empty shelves in the stores but since we had a good connection with the suppliers which are giving out to our school and i know them during the year so i'll be able to ask them they should bring me from the mahsaneem from the warehouses whereas which they have there many foods to bring to the school many cases of anything all the products vegetables products and even pampers for children and medicates food for children and besides that we have to give food for 500 people each day and what whatever was happened like this when the why there was no silence in the first day and of the war because this island did not walk was never silent in in ukraine i don't remember for the twenty or five years as a year i they never tried it because there was no need for it you're saying the sirens for the ear raids for the yeah yeah so you cannot so therefore we didn't hear even that there's uh the war starts today both hashem and i'm saying both hashem unfortunately but we still hear that there's a silence bomb some flying under you or or in the city you can so you're asylum and when there's a sign there was a big big crowd which they came to the school mostly was from the jewish community and also not from the jewish community came with dogs and cats and even with a small i saw a small little girl with five fish which he took that's what it looks ridiculous it reminds me you know i was reading many many books about hasidim which they went through here in ukraine in russia and but i never was thinking myself that i will be in in tough time in 2022 in such a situation exactly when you see small children uh for a month or two months and children elderly people which you don't have well there's no bombs uh a bombing uh place shelter a shelter and they're begging they asking rabbi open up the door let this so i said okay come in then in the end was already full so he said there's no place so they said you know what let's i'm sure that you know you have our only place this the synagogue let us at least to get into the shul to enter the shoe we will stainless shoe so i didn't have no i couldn't stay to see how people is how these parents crying and asking and begging so we led them to and so now they should return like a bomb shell for all the community besides that okay no so i just wanted to to um i forgot in the beginning to say the schedule of how it's going to go tonight so first of all um we're going to have time for questions and answers at the end so if anybody has questions and answers uh questions sorry that need to be that you'd like robbie aaron tried to answer you can type in the chat box rabbi blooming who's with us from khabar potomac is going to moderate the questions and answers i also wanted to um say thank you to chabad of laurel for joining and potomac village who's here with us as well so we're going to continue the talk itself from now until um 8 45 and then we'll do questions and answers at the end but a very important thing i i want to get to is what could we do to help you know we we could dive in we can pray we can say to hillary what can we what do you think we can do to help what what are your needs right now what what are your practical needs as far as if you need to escape if you need to evacuate um if there's a way that we can help with the food with the medicine the things that you said so uh there's two kinds of helps there's health spiritual help and there's also material helps uh i will start with with the spiritual as a rabbi so the spiritual is if everyone would take upon myself one good deed if it's a man to put on the feeling if it's a lady she should be let shabby scandal the next shabbos candle lights any good deed to put a dog in the puska and to pray and to ask hashem that when we feel that all over the globe people are asking and they praying for us give us a lot of strength so that's one of the one of the bigger the ordeal is we now still could buy more food every day we giving you today i gave out for 800 people to save them and to give them food just for the sedev in case if the russian tanks will come they're gonna come here and it's gonna happen it's a matter of now uh i think or tomorrow after tomorrow because the fight there's a very very blood fight now uh near my house and here they knock down all over ukraine all the airports and uh i think it's not it's going to be a time when people will be starving and stealing and so on so my question my my uh our problem is to get food so many people ask me how he can get food so since the bank system is not working here no credit cards no bank nothing but since we're working here already for many years for 25 years and during this time i got to know many suppliers which they have various of food so they can give us credit if i give them a word that i'm giving credit and they know my my connections and so on and so on so they're ready to give me with no money because anyways now it's not gonna gonna help it's impossible now to send money so if i made a campaign and people are giving money to this towards this campaign towards this uh products or medication or whatever needs that's one part one part of department the other part of the problem today we're starting to evacuate those that can go out those young families there's children and there's male ladies those people are sick which we have to evacuate so let's do how we're going to vacuum we're near 80 85 kilometers away from neapolitan so we're now taking tomorrow uh 400 people from us from our community to nepal patos and from there will be a train which will take everyone to lev lev levov lemberg as you remember 80 or 90 80 years ago when the chabad hasidim went out of ukraine it was a shalom the last time there was a very famous shalom which went from lambert so the same thing we're going to evacuate them to levo from levovov will be taking all to the polish out to the wenger and from there with planes so this new take himself to pay the planes from over this over the over the border but till they were the border we have to also i'm sure that i spoke already to the to take them away sometimes they have to give them money they should they should also keep us may hashem bless us and we should all uh daven and hope that in the way it called rockin the way is very very dangerous from one side of the ocean from the other side of the ukraine and could be a fire on a fire and it's very i'm taking upon him of myself me and my wife to evacuate and to do such a uh to do such a thing which god forbid if something happened everything is mired so i am begging and asking by tomorrow by us it will be two o'clock a day uh the train will take us to it will take the community a part of the community to live off it's taking 24 hours so we need very big miracles at least in the next 15 hours when we're going out of the middle of ukraine from the other side those this thing here we must it's a big big disaster what's going on now in ukraine it becomes like a mere a disaster which the world don't understand what's going on it's a massing of killing people people honestly people going the street which they never do anything bad to anyone just take a gun and take a tank and to shoot him there's no no rules in this game and another game in this wall actually and the problem is that nobody can stop him from anything to do so we are waiting for borussia and thank god that for as for now i can speak to you we have a we had today uh blackout we didn't have no electricity no water i could happen any minutes would be closed will be i was trying to call to my my colleagues it's not just me rabbi rabbi moscow which is going on a very very serious war now and they knocked down houses in the middle of the city which i'm very very afraid which is going to happen here and not just miami hassan there's many many rabbis which now became a council and uh an adapter and you have to manually monitor so many works and to be because the council went away from ukraine uh all the organization the segnut agency went away from there there was no the just a few shlokhim young rabbis would be staying here with mr snaphish to keep the work