This is nothing short of a very sad story. I hope when you read it, you will understand why it is important for the Joint to be here in Ukraine right now and why it matters to me.
Nearly two years ago a Jewish woman in a nearby town went to her local Hesed and asked for help. She wanted the eldest of her four children accepted to their day center for children-at-risk. She couldn't manage it alone any longer. She could not hold down a job and only had a small monthly income from the state. Each of the four fathers of her children abandoned them. They were alone, living in a dilapidated apartment without electricity,plumbing or running water.
The mother is also an alcoholic. When the Hesed provided her with a family food package she sold it for a drink. She was unable to sufficiently care for her family; unsupervised, her daughter fell from the window of their second story apartment and suffered serious injury. From there, the situation spiralled out of control before anyone had time to realize what was happening.
Soon after the mother’s first call for help, there was a second. This time it was from a neighbor. After days and nights of non-stop crying, a neighbor entered the apartment and found the children, one just a baby, starving, filthy and alone. He called the police and the children were taken to a distribution center to be split up and taken to state orphanages. When the mother finally returned she made what would be a life-saving call for help to the Hesed and Joint. She begged, “There is no one else in this world that I can ask for help.”
In just one day, the Jewish community organized, taking custody of the children, bringing them together under one roof to the Jewish orphanage run by Chabad. They were given immediate medical attention that revealed serious health problems including developmental delays, malnutrition, disease and infection. The smallest, a one-year old, had not left his crib or been held as a baby. He could not sit up or eat solid foods and constantly rocked back and forth with his eyes closed.
For the next six months the Jewish community embraced the children who received services from the Joint at the JCC and Hesed. One day, unannounced, the mother appeared and demanded that her children be returned. She had not seen or spoken to her children since they were taken. She had remarried a man with a steady job cleaning coal and moved into a better apartment. She told them she was sober and had been for some time. The community had no choice but to return her children. Everyone wondered if this was the “right” decision and what would happen next. That was two months ago.
Last week, I drove nearly three hours to meet this family’s caseworker and made a home visit to asses the current situation. The youngest child, now two, just began walking with the help of a physical therapist. The eldest attends kindergarten and the middle two attend a special Jewish day center at our CHAI Family Service for children-at-risk.
The entire family receives counseling from the Hesed. Each continues to make small improvements despite overwhelming psychological and physical problems they will face for the rest of their lives. The mother is still sober. Hesed is in daily contact with the family by phone and makes weekly in-person visits to the home, closely monitoring the situation. Hesed’s intervention and constant support have provided a second chance for them.
There is no way to know if the decisions made were the “right” ones. There are Jewish professionals here who make life and death decisions everyday. I do not envy the positions forced upon them by such woeful and shocking situations. While this family’s circumstance is unimaginable, they are blessed to be Jewish. Not that long ago, Jews were killed because of their faith, today they are being saved because of it.
It is said, “kol Yisroel avarim zeh v’zeh” or “all of Israel is responsible for one another.” The Joint is truly the 911 of the Jewish world.
Sometimes, there really is no one else in the world to ask for help.
