Lakewood Mayor Miller speaks of Humanitarian Trip to Ukraine

Good morning everyone and thank you for coming here so we could recap briefly our trip the humanitarian aid trip we just did to Kiev Ukraine. First and foremost thank you to Manak Seagull for assisting and putting this assisting for running this entire trip and putting it all together and we certainly appreciate everyone's involvement in coming out here today. um from the moment we got onto this trip and the moment we we we've left the US together with all the amount of the amount of supplies that we brought along with us uh whether it was um clothing that we brought for those in Ukraine or whether it's manas candles drreidles things for Khaneka or a tremendous amount of supplies that we brought with us we all remember what happened at the airport we had issues getting the stuff on the plane the airline didn't want to take the supplies and ultimately when they heard this humanitarian aid things were worked out we're able to bring it along the trip itself obviously we knew we going. This wasn't a trip to Disneyland. This wasn't a luxury trip. We knew exactly we were going. We knew our mission. Getting there seeing the people how appreciative they all were that we were there that we came to stand in solidarity with them. We came there in We came there to spend the Shabas with them. We came there to spend the weekend with them. And we also were there at for a young person in Kievan in Kiev who who got married. I think the highlight of my trip was seeing the children growing up over there, the happiness they have. We here in America, we have the luxury of toys and all kinds of items and they don't have too much over there and yet they're so happy. They're happy over there. The people that we saw, but they need our help. They need our help to assist them. As we know, this trying times over there in Kiev right now in Ukraine, the unstable government right now. And because of that, they need our help. I think the meeting together with the mayor of Kiev also meeting with the Israeli ambassador, it showed them clearly and unequivocally that the that we the Americans, the Jewish community, large a very large Jewish prominent community here in America stands in solidarity with them and that meant a lot to them. The fact that they saw that there are people here that care about them that really meant a lot to them. I think that it's in right now what's important to us is to not just let this trip fizzle out in the background, but rather do anything and everything in our power so to speak to continue what we just started now. We started a an awareness what's going on our brethren there in Ukraine right now. And I think it's important for us to be able to keep that and and keep the continuity going. Um I do have here for those members of the media that are here I do have here which we're going to hand out shortly um what ex who exactly we met when we met them where we were at Miden Square etc and we were I'm going to hand it out certainly to the media beforehand I would just like to give it an expression of appreciation for your call department you knew this was coming kn for the tremendous amount of work that he did, he put into this. And on behalf of Lakewood Township, those that went on the trip, we thank them for everything that you've done to make this happen together. I uh appreciate everybody who came with with us on the trip. I I can't even express begin to express the appreciation from the entire community in Kiev at the wedding at the final after three days of spending of spending the entire weekend with the community in Kiev. I could probably count the over 10 people, 10 of the came over to me and and were literally crying and thanking me so much for everything that that has done that that that was done to be mazic to inspire the Jewish community in Ukraine. We at United Jewish Communities of Eastern European Asia are appreciative of everyone that came, Mayor Miller and especially Rabbi Yakov Winganger from Lakewood who was there to assist us from the beginning organizing this trip. This trip meant so much for the children, for the adults, for the elderly that that we visited, the refugees in the old age home. We brought, thank God we were able to bring money to help to help for the wedding for Natanana, which was by far the most beautiful wedding ever in Ukraine, Jewish wedding ever in Ukraine. And everyone that came along on this trip added so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. If I could just in a moment just encapsulate what we saw over there, the Jewish community. You see there a Jewish community, a thriving Jewish community after the many years of communism. And it's interesting the older folks speak Yiddish because that was the Mama language. That was the language they spoke many many years ago. Then you had the years of communism. The middle-aged people there, they only spoke, they only speak Russian. And the new younger generation speaking Hebrew, speaking English, and speaking Russian. The community that we saw, there was a thriving Jewish community. We ate Friday night. Each of us went to another Yungaman, went to another person from the yeshiva community. We ate by his house. And I have to tell you, we were so impressed with the fan again. Small apartments, not too much there, but yet they're happy people and they're living a life as a from and they and and they appreciated that we came just to see what what it's like over there. The shoes, the thriving shoes, the thriving yeshiva there, there's a mikvah that we saw and these are things that have been put together over the years of people's generous donations towards the towards um United Jewish communities of Eastern Europe and and Asia. And because of that, we're able what we went to see right now was very impressive. We going to see the school. We saw the basakov there and we saw the boy school there. Amazing. It was amazing what we saw there. They don't have too much. The school their school buildings do not look like our school buildings. The school buildings were were kind of were kind of old equipped etc. And yet the quality of the learning that was going on over there was truly was certainly amazing. I very appreciate it. So again, thank you all for coming on this trip and and we look forward to going back there again and and taking more people with us and bring the awareness of what was there and certainly hopefully that the situation there will resolve itself and and and we'll all uh share together many happiness. Thank you. literally thousands of there's tens of thousands of Jews that come to Ukraine every year that stop in our show and there's there's never been in years probably 10 years a real delegation that has come to visit the community specifically and the first day that we got there the feeling that I had from the community was just like we were regular visitors seriously like just like when they have groups going to um they stop and eat by the restaurants and they go visit the shul and make fun of them oh make fun make fun of the community there and just, you know, look at them like like visitors like like tourists and and they and the feeling that that the community got what the community has always had from the thousands and tens of thousands of Jews that pass through Ukraine a year is that like okay, you know, we're we're a tour we're maybe a little tourist attraction for a for a minute and then and then you leave. But as the weekend was going was going the and the community realized that we're here because We we're we're here for solidarity. Whether it was stopping with the upshar that we we went to uh Friday morning for yokan croll father being the man in the we had pictures of everybody snipping uh snipping snipping the air to the upshar on Friday nights to different people came over to me. I didn't realize this wasn't part of the it wasn't part of the objective of the delegation. But there were different people from my delegation that that gave a little money to Gingan here, a little money to Yingman there. And there was just that $50 that that was given, the present that was given to the children, one of the one of the people on our delegation raised money for for what for for the just to buy toys for the class. There was a feeling of wow someone cares about us because of what happened the past year and just to understand the dollar is 16 Griven right now. When we when I got there on th on on Wednesday it was 15.8 when we left it was 16.1 already. So we're talking about it's rapidly declining and they get paid in Griven. So their money they got the average person that works there is getting paid $200 a month around. So what when we came to show them that we care about them was it was just people the I don't I don't know if I should say this on video but there were at the wedding when a lot of the light were a little high and drunk they came over to me and literally were crying to me thanking me for coming thank me for coming and they weren't treated like like uh Russians are very sensitive they weren't treated like oh you're coming to look at us coming to like tourists they felt like we came to care about them and I think it was it was on from the feeling that I had from the community from everybody that came was just an amazing experience that everybody was feeling. Just want to say we're um when I when asked me to go. Um I thought I was going to be going, we were going to be uh mazic, you know, the community over there, humanitarian aid. I can't um tell you how much contrary how much I was mazic from this trip. Obviously, we gave them, you know, a tremendous amount of physic, but going into a young man's house Friday night um thinking that we were going to be getting sardines um at best and their $500 a month salary um giving most of their salary just to be able to feed us, you know, to make us feel um like we're at home. mount of that they gave to me and I think everybody was on the you know giving us like we were you know we were we were part of their family and um obviously they're the they're by the you were seeing the the the little kids over there advancing like it's one big family and I was asking even some of the you know the kids community do you know the you know the obviously they know them but the whole community came together it wasn't about friends um and it's just you walk into sh Friday night I know my marshall everybody is Um, you know, the kids go and they want five, six, seven candies from the candy man and they're still not happy. Giving a lollipop to a kid over there in the sh Friday night. The smile on their face um is is unbelievable. It's just you you see them, you know, smiling by by the just by being with them and giving them a little little little uh lolli um they have nothing. and by by they're not you know they're still happy and it's just an unbelievable experience um seeing their without having too much on their tables and willing to do anything for us like we're they're hosting us like you know they're doing us you know the favor by we were coming to them and they're still and and obviously um when we when we left the place everyone you know just people that came over to me and thanked me was you know with with tears about us how we we took a that is usually you know, a few people by them dancing around and and the that the had on his face and me dancing with him and he doesn't know me, I don't know him and he's hugging me like I'm his best friend is just unbelievable. I just want can I just follow up on you you have you're a closer Nik cuz nobody could nobody go after you. I just want to follow up with um what Masha said. I think everybody was mostly inspired by the the way the kids learned with Gishmak. I think what we what I was personally is is the unbelievable unbelievable dedication of the reban. The rebane there are stars. the any mo here would pay him top dollar to be to work to work besides being manal to be the love and they have for the kids and we saw in all the kids who were around the and at the rebel wall dancing with the kids and just the whole community was so welcoming and they were happy to see us and I stayed by and these these people all of them have no problem getting jobs anywhere else the one that we went to Rabbi Nyworth the man has been there for 16 years he could work anywhere in Kiev. He's he's uh he's from out of the country. He speaks many languages. He's tremendously talented. I one night we went to um it's called Marisha which is like an outreach program. I walked I called my wife and I said I couldn't believe this. He had shles tles he had obviously people in between but it looked like it could be any any out of town thing where everybody dressed properly and the work they they've done is is unbelievable. As for the kasa, I want to say that I think that people felt that the there really our went way and above. First of all, we had no inhibitations. We would weren't embarrassed of anybody. Some guys really did things that we hope we don't get to video of. But um the in general and to top it off at the end, we all went we went out together at night to uh to some some place with a whole bunch of the Russians, Russian light, and it was really really a wonderful closure for the thing. They saw how they really appreciated us and you know they really need help and we try to try to help them and what Ra and other people have done there is amazing. None of us I don't think there's one person expected to see what we saw. No, don't worry. He's not doing the whole thing. He's going to cut it. Yeah. Right. When we were traveling from Adessa down towards Kiev or I don't know the map we stopped off at a town called Jatar when we stopped there for mikvah Shakus and we were served a great breakfast by a mendel who's a jatmer a great man and right after breakfast we took a horse and buggy and we went to visit the community over there they have a smaller community than Kiev and Adessa and while we were visiting them we had to travel through the woods like in the olden days with a horse and buggy and in middle was a long ride uphill. We took a break and on the side standing next to the trees a men will tell us a great he says look over here in the woods all the trees are standing tall up straight very very high much higher than what you see in your own backyard and he says why is that all over the woods you'll see thousands of straight trees directly up all the way high and then in a little community we have one tree here one tree there and going in that direction and that direction it's about 20 to 30 ft Max and he said the reason is because that one tree that's sitting on its own has nobody to lean on. It has nobody to hold it, has nobody to grow with, and therefore it's going to be short and falling on an angle. Unlike these trees in the woods, they go straight up one next to each other. They hold each other's shoulder. They might have politics. They might have things that they don't agree with, but at the same time they're together. They're bakas. They live one with each other and they bring each other directly straight up and to the highest height a tree could get. And that is something I saw over the whole Ukraine and especially in Kiev in this community. The aas, they're like a woods full of trees. They hold each other together. They come to shul, they dav, they eat. Everything is together. They hold each other. families. There's no such thing as someone having his own problem. A problem in the community belongs to the whole community. And that is something I see all my life working on every minute that I was there and I'm sure the whole entire year. He's an amazing person that he takes every single person in that community and he makes them into the closest family possible. And that's why we are all so inspired by KF. They're just amazing people. And I myself was so inspired. Odessa. Okay, you're going to have to pay copies. Bring it around. When we got into Odessa, we got picked up by the leaders of the community from the airport and we were brought to visit the kindergartens orphanage homes and I got to say, I've never seen something like this before in my life. You have a home of 50, 60, 70 depending on the home. Kids, little kids, adults, teenagers that they live there. There is no father or mother to take care of these kids. And these kids are the happiest kids. They wake up in the morning with a smile. They go to sleep with a smile. The food they get served on dishes, there is no such thing as paper plates there. They're not strangers in a who knows we're eating lot. They're treated there with servants and waiters as if they're kids of the kings, which they are. They say kazal say kids that don't have a father and mother. God is their father and their mother. So Adessa, this is a shout out to you. You guys are amazing at what you do to all those kids. And another thing we had very interesting in Adessa was uh the week that Alisand called me up and said, "You're coming to Kiev." I said, "Okay. And about three hours later, I got an email from Mr. Ramir Gaba, who's in charge of all the kavarum in Europe and all over the whole Ukraine and Russia, showing me a picture of my great greatgrandfather's cable, who was the Adessa Rav about 100 years ago. He was the known Rav of Adessa. And I asked him where it is. He didn't know exactly where it is, but he said it's in the cemetery feladikum. you're going to have to find it on your own. We called ahead. We got there and while we were there, when we doing kajes, we said to him, we sang songs over there. One of the guys on the group came up to us and asked if he has any relatives. I said, "Yeah." And he says, "Shakman, last name, same thing." And I said, "Yeah." And we ended up finding my great great grandmother also, which is wife, which is a rabbis, which is a big mash over there in Adessa back in the day. And just the proof that God was with us. Thank you. [Applause]