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Happy faces during Feast of Tabernacles in Ukraine

Koen Carlier - 21 September 2018

Coming Sunday, the Feast of Tabernacles begins. It is a Biblical feast that lasts for a week, in which the Jewish people remember how, after the exodus from Egypt, they traveled for forty years through the desert, without a roof over their heads. Anyone who has ever been to Israel in that period will probably remember: everywhere in the streets you see small sukkahs (also called booths). On the balconies of apartment buildings, near the synagogues, in gardens and parks … It is a special time in which the Lord wants to remind His people to leave the familiar environment and to commemorate the exodus from Egypt. It is also a celebration in which people show hospitality to others by inviting them to have a snack and a drink in the sukkah.

In Ukraine the Jewish people will also build some sukkahs here and there, as with synagogues and Jewish schools (see photos). Here too, young and old will commemorate the long journey through the desert, on the way to the promised land. The book of Zechariah, chapter 14, also writes about the Feast of Tabernacles. In verse 16 it is written that the Gentile nations will each year go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles, and that they will bow down before the King, the Lord.

Personal meaning
But for the many Jewish families in Ukraine who will soon leave for Israel for good, this feast will have a personal and special meaning: leaving behind your familiar environment where you were born and raised, to make the big journey indefinite with just a few personal belongings, to the Promised Land.

During the period of the Feast of Tabernacles, we will travel here in Ukraine, with a group from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, to pack and distribute food parcels, especially for the poor Jewish population. We do this at the request of the mostly small Jewish communities. We will of course also sit in a sukkah here and there, for a social gathering!

Jews in Eastern Ukraine are having a hard time
We have already started distributing 300 food parcels in eastern Ukraine. Next week we will pack and distribute another 1,500 food parcels. All products have already been delivered and are now neatly stacked (see photos). We have received an extra storage space from the local Baptist church.

Thousands of Jewish families have already left the war zone in eastern Ukraine in the last few years, and most of them went to Israel. However there are people – especially the elderly – who stay behind. We received the request to distribute 500 food parcels especially for them during the Feast of Tabernacles, in co-operation with the Jewish community. Will you help?