this purim with ukraine
This Purim, we know that Ukrainians fight for sovereignty in a context of struggles for freedom in every corner. Homes are destroyed, streets are made unrecognizable; whole cities under siege. Ukrainians fight for their lives, families and communities by staying and by fleeing. Ukrainians seek safety across borders that remain closed to so many of their fellow refugees from violence. Ukrainians seek asylum in the context of a global refugee crisis where Black & brown migrants are targeted and criminalized. Ukrainians are now forced to find refuge on the stolen land of indigenous peoples, including in Palestine, and in places where the un-housed are displaced and terrorized by police. The resources below are offered as some small ways to honor and support resistance & survival in this moment.
Purim reminds us that our world does not turn because of kings or fascists. Purim reminds us how to grieve as we practice joy. Purim reminds us how to fight for each other.
Binaries and injustices topple as we dance against oppression, this month of Adar II and all the days of our lives. Send what you can to folx close to you and also across borders & keep dancing!
music & cultural organizing
Our friends at KlezKanada shared this spreadsheet of ways to support Ukrainian artists & labels
Tsvelf far Ukraine: 12-hour Yiddish Music and Spoken Word Concert, May 12th, 12pm-12am EST Register here
Building on the success of Yiddish New York's 2021 Klezathon, Tsvelf is a 12-hr Yiddish Music and Spoken Word Concert held via Zoom featuring artists from around the world. The concert will feature klezmer, Yiddish song, poetry, and more, in an effort to raise funds for humanitarian aid in Ukraine. The event is supported by the Klezmer Institute, Yiddish New York, Instituto da Musica Judaica - Brasil, and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. If your organization/community is interested in partnering for this event, please contact info@klezmerinstitute.org.
Playing Beregovski for Ukraine is one way for us to be together, to remember, to bring ancestors into the fight for sovereignty today. Moshe Beregovski (1892-1961), was a Jewish ethnomusicologist from Kyiv who dedicated his life to recording regional Jewish folk traditions, gathering more than 1000 field recordings of Jewish musicians between 1910-1950. Check out Ilana Cravitz’s work & the Beregovski's Musical Treasures project.
Beloved musician and educator, Michael Alpert has long been studying & performing at the intersections of Ukranian & Jewish music. See this video of Alpert with Julian Kytasty--premier Ukrainian American bandurist, singer and composer--from their Night Songs From A Neighboring Village project - "A Drop in The Ocean." (Words and music by Michael Alpert. Arranged by Michael Alpert and Julian Kytasty.)
Giving צדקה
Giving צדקה is a tradition on Purim, and so we offer the links below, from the many corners of our activist & cultural worker communities. There are 18 orgs (khai) listed in the donations section below from folx we trust (though those of us compiling this resource do not have direct personal experience with them). The list is focused primarily on smaller groups and efforts, rather than larger NGOs.
- Know people in Europe who can help to host refugees?
- Know people in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia & elsewhere in Europe wanting to directly support Nigerians leaving Ukraine? (Note there are also donation links).
- Know Black people in Poland (or arriving in Poland)? Black is Polish has compiled resources; scroll down to read the page in different languages, including English
- Know people seeking information on requirements for entry into various European countries and/or other legal questions? Refer them to United for Ukraine.
- Know people resisting in Russia or wanting to connect with people who are? See this list of solidarity organizations and resources & this overview of legal rights in the context of political persecution.
- Know lawyers wishing to provide pro bono support for Ukrainian refugees seeking asylum and other legal assistance? See this Ukrainian legal aid database.
- Know artists, cultural workers and curators in Ukraine seeking support (donations also welcome), see Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund.
18 ways
Solidarity Apothecary: UK-based Solidarity Apothecary’s grassroots response organizing with No Borders Warsaw, Operation Solidarity and others on the ground across Europe.
Ukraine Evacuation & Resettlement Fund: A grassroots collective working to evacuate vulnerable refugees, including people of color, trans, and disabled people, out of the war zone. To learn more about their work, see @raindovemodel on Instagram
Vostok SOS: Non-profit in Ukraine providing humanitarian aid and promoting human rights.
Resources for Marginalized Refugees: Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon created a LinkTree to support BIPOC & Slavic Ukrainian refugees and provide resources for disabled Ukrainians.
Roma Humanitarian Aid: Fundraiser coordinated by the ERGO Network and international Roma activists in cooperation with the Ukrainian Roma organization Roma Women Fund Chiricli.
Black People Fleeing Ukraine: Fundraiser organized by BlackWomenforBlackLives.org; aiding students & Afro-Caribbean people stranded in the Ukraine.
Queer Emergency Ukraine: The Alliance "Queere Nothilfe Ukraine" (Queer Emergency Ukraine) are in close contact with local human rights organizations that use funds for urgently needed care and/or evacuation of queer people.
Keep Ukraine’s Media Going & Keep the Kyiv Independent Going: Helping media stay when possible, relocate when necessary, set-up back offices and continue operations from neighboring countries.
OVD-Info: An independent human rights media project about political persecution in Russia. (Donate here).
Doctors Without Borders: Patient-centered medical support in Ukraine as well as throughout the region and around the world.
International Task Force for Displaced Scholars: Network focused on efforts within universities and colleges to aid people in higher education impacted by the war.
Artists at Risk: Emergency resources for artists and cultural workers with a new Ukrainian initiative (resources and networking), as well as with Afghan and other refugees around the world.
“Fight for Right,” Ukrainians with Disabilities: Transporting people to safe places and buying food and medicine for people unable to evacuate. Funds go to Fight for Right, a Ukrainian-based NGO led by people with disabilities.
Moabit Helft (Moabit Helps): German grassroots group providing a range of political organizing and services to refugees and asylum seekers; Supporting Ukrainians is one part of their work.
ABC Moscow: Jail support for anti-authoritarian activists in Russia protesting the war and other forms of repression.
PACBI: Palestinian civil society urging international cultural workers and organizations to boycott projects involving the Israeli state, its lobbying groups or its cultural institutions (As we support boycotts of Putin's regime, we can also donate to boycotts in support of Palestinian freedom).
Anarchist Black Cross Dresden: Solidarity funds for Ukrainian anarchists and anti-authoritarian activists from Ukraine.
Operation Solidarity: An anarchist-led effort to establish networks of mutual aid within Ukraine and to support Ukrainian Refugees fleeing the war.
Learn more
Jewish Voice for Peace’s Twitter Thread on the war in Ukraine, jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Resources for Teaching about Ukraine, ingeveb.org
After the battle, no landscape will remain. (On the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine), Zapatista solidarity statement
Understanding the War on Ukraine through Its Musical Culture, webinar with Maria Sonevytsky
Toxic Nostalgia, From Putin to Trump to the Trucker Convoys by Naomi Klein in The Intercept
Disability Justice is a Politics of Peace, Sins Invalid
Why Did We Have to Freeze in the Forest? by Ibrahim in The New Humanitarian)
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: An Explainer by David Klion in Jewish Currents
What the War in Ukraine Taught Us, Palestinians by Mohammed Rafik Mhawesh in Al Jazeera
How Russian Feminists Are Opposing the War on Ukraine by Ella Rossman in Open Democracy
‘This is a Fossil Fuel War’: Ukraine’s Top Climate Scientists Speak Out by Oliver Millman in The Guardian
Dispatches from Brooklyn: Yiddish New York: between archive, performance and community (Jeremiah Lockwood, focusing on the Klezmer Institute’s work lifting up Ukrainian Jewish music and ethnography)