(JTA) — KYIV, Ukraine — For the first time since Ukraine was plunged into war in 2022, soldiers on the front lines could hear the blast of the shofar marking the Jewish new year.
Growing mobilization
But the efforts to serve soldiers are the biggest change over previous years, reflecting a growing mobilization during the grinding war.
The FJCU, which is affiliated with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement of Judaism, says it is supporting more than 1,200 Jewish soldiers serving in the Ukrainian army as professional soldiers, volunteers and a growing proportion of conscripts, according to the group’s chair, Rabbi Mayer Stambler.
The kits also include informational materials about the holidays and Ukrainian-language prayer books. The books have been translated as part of a broader trend in which Ukraine’s historically Russian-speaking Jewish communities have embraced Ukrainian as their communal language.
The FJCU’s efforts are not the only ones meant to reach Jewish soldiers in the Ukrainian army. Last year, David Milman, who is affiliated with Kyiv’s Brodsky Synagogue, became the first official Jewish chaplain in the Ukrainian army. In that role, he has visited with wounded Jewish soldiers, provided pastoral care to their families and even facilitated ritual circumcisions for several men who did not have them as babies.
