At 20 Degrees Below Zero: Kyiv’s Jewish Community Launches Emergency Relief Effort

In the midst of an unusual cold wave gripping Kyiv, with temperatures plunging to around 20 degrees below zero, prolonged power outages, and a lack of heating and hot water, hundreds of thousands of residents are struggling to cope with exceptionally harsh winter conditions. Within this reality, vulnerable populations — foremost among them the elderly and Holocaust survivors — find themselves engaged in a daily fight for survival. Against this backdrop, the Jewish Community Center (JCC), “Beit Menachem,” has significantly intensified its emergency operations across the city.

In recent weeks, the community has been providing assistance to a very large number of people, including elderly individuals, impoverished families, and Holocaust survivors, all of whom require immediate help during this difficult period. The aid effort — coordinated by Rabbi Ariel Markovitch, Rabbi of the Israeli community and the young Jewish community in Kyiv — includes the distribution of food packages, alternative heating equipment, warm winter clothing, blankets, shoes, and other essential supplies.

In many cases, due to limited mobility and poor health, elderly residents are unable to leave their homes. For them, the Jewish center operates a network of young volunteers from within the community, who deliver food packages and humanitarian aid directly to their doorsteps, including to Holocaust survivors. Testimonies from the field illustrate the depth of the hardship and the tangible significance of this assistance for those struggling day by day to survive the brutal winter.

One elderly Jewish resident of Kyiv recounted that after more than five decades of work, the pension supplement he received from the government in January amounted to just $1.20 — an amount insufficient even to buy a loaf of bread. “I came to the synagogue and saw what they gave me — a heavy package, the kind you need two hands to carry. Two weeks earlier, I had received exactly the same set. I have nothing to say except thank you,” he said emotionally.

Another elderly woman described returning home to find that the sole of her shoe had come apart. That same evening, she received a phone call from the Jewish center inviting her to come and receive a new pair of shoes, in the exact size ordered for her. “One day I walked around in my son’s shoes, and the next day I was already wearing new shoes that I received as a gift. Everything was taken care of for me. All I can do is thank them from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

“The current cold wave presents our community — like all the residents of Kyiv — with exceptionally difficult challenges,” says Kyiv’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yonatan Markovitch. “Together with dozens of volunteers, the Jewish center is operating around the clock to ensure that no Jew is left alone. This is a true Jewish mission that rests on our shoulders — a mission of mutual responsibility, accountability, and care for every individual.”