(Jewish Group) Amidst conflict, Ukrainian Jewish women are thriving -- and preparing for...

Amidst conflict, Ukrainian Jewish women are thriving — and preparing for whatever happens next

As tensions between Russia and Ukraine continue to mount, a chorus of male voices from the Soviet Jewish Diaspora, and an older generation of Jewish Ukrainian leaders, are telling us what to think about it. It is common to see panels of Jewish life in Ukraine with no women represented, hosting Ukrainian leaders who have been in the same post since the 1990s.

Recently, the son of refuseniks who immigrated to New York in 1987 told a journalist for the Forward, “I find it offensive when people describe me as a Ukrainian Jew…Most of the Jews I knew growing up wanted to leave, the ones there now … I really can’t understand them.”

Unlike the writer, I am proud to call myself a Ukrainian Jew. And unlike nearly every other voice that has been published recently on the topic, I am a female leader in the Jewish community in Ukraine.

Ukraine is where I was born, came of age, became established and where I am currently raising a daughter and a son. In the Soviet era, I witnessed firsthand Ukraine’s path to independence. I was here for the Orange Revolution and Euromaidan; I was here when Russia occupied Crimea, and I am here now for this latest show of aggression, which has persisted since Russia started war in Donbas in 2014.

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