Anatevka

The entrance to the modern village of Anatevka

While the name Anatevka is famously known as the village from “Fiddler on the Roof”, in recent years, the modern village of Anatevka was established by Rabbi Moshe Azman, one of the Chabad representative in Kiev, to house refugees attempting to escape the Russian bombing on the eastern border of Ukraine.

Over the past week, thousands of additional refugees have fled to this town in the hope of finding relative respite from the constant shelling in the larger cities. Dr. Yaqoub Abu El-Rob, a Palestinian doctor, and his family found refuge with Chabad in Anatevka, as he told 124 news, “We didn’t know what to expect but we drove there amid the sound of gunshots around us. They very generously welcomed us, helped us. They offered us food and drink and other available supplies. This wave of solidarity is very visible during wartime. There’s no difference. All residents are treated the same – Arabs, Ukrainians, and Jews.”

CNN reported that a Mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) under the central synagogue in the Ukrainian city of Uman, the holy resting place of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, is now serving as a bomb shelter for the local gentile population. What’s especially unique about this situation is that while not too long ago, under the Soviet communist regime, one would be sent to prison for building a Jewish edifice such as a Mikvah, now that very place serves as a protective shelter.

During this horrible war in Ukraine, while we are witnessing the worst of humanity, we are also witnessing the greatest acts of love and self-sacrifice being performed by otherwise ordinary people.

When facing indescribable suffering or challenges, we may feel frustrated by the lack of ability to make a meaningful difference on the global arena. But in truth, it’s the seemingly “minor” Mitzvot and small acts of kindness which often make the greatest impact.

While it is important not to lose focus of the bigger picture, we must never forget about caring for the individual.

In this week’s Torah portion Pikudei we learn about the accounting which Moses made of all the various materials and contributions which the Jewish people gave towards the construction of the Tabernacle. As the verse states, “These are the numbers of the Mishkan, the Mishkan of the Testimony, which were counted at Moses' command; [this was] the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the Kohen.” -Exodus 38:21

One of the great Italian commentators, Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno (1475, Cesena, Italy-1550, Bologna, Italy), explains that this accounting demonstrated that each and every one of the items contributed to the Tabernacle was important enough to be known by its specific name and served a unique function.

The building of the Tabernacle which served as a home for G-d on earth also serves as a lesson for how we should conduct ourselves in our own lives. Judaism teaches us that every single person, animal, plant, and inanimate object serves an indispensable role in this world. Every moment of time exists for a purpose. Each one contributes something unique in G‑d’s masterplan for creation.

First, a person must make an account of one’s potential; one must know who he or she is and what one can do. Afterwards, from time to time, a person must calculate how one has employed the potentials and resources with which they have been endowed and what they have achieved with them.

In the personal sphere, this implies that every man and woman must be aware of the world around him or her, and see it as an organic whole. There is no way any one person, no matter how great their capabilities, can function successfully entirely on their own. And when one sees themself as an element within a greater picture, a whole which is greater than the parts it encompasses, their individual importance is enhanced rather than diminished. For one’s personal identity becomes fused with the larger unity in which they share.

Let us take upon ourselves to do an additional Mitzvah in merit of the safety of our brothers, sisters, and all good people in Ukraine and around the world and usher in a time of peace and prosperity with the coming of Redemption.

As Maimonides, Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon (1135, Córdoba, Spain- 1204, Fustat, Egypt), states, “Throughout the entire year, a person should always look at himself as equally balanced between merit and sin and the world as equally balanced between merit and sin… if he performs one mitzvah, he tips his balance and that of the entire world to the side of merit and brings deliverance and salvation to himself and others…”