As the war in neighboring Ukraine enters its second winter, elderly Jewish people in Moldova are also struggling to survive. But neither the cold nor the lack of money hurts nearly as much as loneliness. Our colleagues Alina (Ukraine) and Anemone Rüger (CSI Germany) visited them.
Moldova. I love this country, where you can drive for miles through uninhabited expanses; and then, when you meet people again in the next town, they are very hospitable. In the cities, we can schedule our visits fairly tightly. In the countryside, where many of our seniors in the sponsorship program live in the north around the town of Belz, this is hardly possible. There, they usually spend hours preparing for our visit.
Nikolai, whom we had featured in our newspaper Israelaktuell, was another example. His address was on our route, so we decided to stop by. He greeted us at the front door, took us up to the eighth floor in a rather adventurous Soviet-era elevator, and invited us into the living room. There, Nikolai had lovingly set his small folding table – with his Sunday best, delicious Moldovan grapes, and pastries.
In the open compartments of his wardrobe are photos of his wife and daughter, who died of Covid within a week of each other last year. Nikolai is wearing the good, worn suit jacket he has kept from many performances with his ensemble, and he's hosting us. It's heartwarming to see the joy of our visit in his eyes.
An encounter like a source of energy
We met Anatoli this morning in the homely furnished office of the Jewish social welfare organization Chesed in Belz. He beamed from ear to ear as he approached us in the meeting room. "I look at you and I don't know what to say," he said. "You radiate such kindness! That you come to us in such a difficult time and bring us help!" His mother fled the war with her mother and brothers, crossing the Prut River in a boat under fire. Anatoli's grandfather was killed. "I found Grandpa in the archives, in the Golden Book! That was so important to me! I documented everything. Mom survived, but she carried the horrors of war with her all her life!"
I hand Anatoly a heart-shaped waffle made by a German mother. It's really just a few grams of flour, sugar, and butter, but Anatoly is overwhelmed. "No, I've never experienced anything like this before! Your visit simply makes me happy! Meeting you is like a source of energy for me!" Then Anatoly reveals that he writes poetry. "Next time you come, I'll write a poem just for you!"
Love finds a way
Every day brings an unforgettable encounter—for example, one that takes an unexpected turn. "Lev doesn't talk; we won't learn much from him," the staff warned us. And indeed, to describe the greeting at the garden gate as cold would be an understatement. Fortunately, God has taught us a great deal over time. These are precisely the people who need a touch of his love the most.
The first miracle is that, after a few brief sentences in an initial attempt at communication, Lew invites us into his home. His wife is lying on the sofa there – bedridden after suffering a stroke four years ago. Lew is her caregiver, cook, and nurse. He worked in construction his entire working life.
Now he tells us a little about his family. His mother's name was Rosa, his father Grigory. "Grandma and Grandpa came here to Moldova from Vasilkov near Kyiv shortly before the war began. Grandpa was a pharmacist here. Then they, along with Mom and Dad and Aunt Malwina, were herded into a camp... somewhere in Ukraine not far from the border... Yes, Mogilev-Podilskyi, that could be it. What they went through is indescribable. Every day they thought it was their last." Lev's parents survived—deeply traumatized. Even before Lev was born, his father left the family.
I try to find words of reconciliation, to discover a crack in the wall of bitterness that surrounds Lev; I tell of my friends, my family in Germany, who love the Jewish people from the bottom of their hearts.
“The Jews have been through so much throughout history!” Lev says again as we say goodbye at the front door. Then he hugs me and kisses me on the cheek. Once again, the love of the Heavenly Father has conquered the darkness in a human heart.
