I will not stay silent and sit back as these atrocities play out before our eyes.
When World War II erupted in 1939, my father was just two years old. When my grandfather, a tank commander in the Red Army, received advance intelligence that the Jews in Kyiv would be massacred, he mobilized his military resources and smuggled my grandmother and father to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia, where they remained until 1945.
They were fortunate to have a path toward survival carved out by my grandfather, who went on to lead a brigade to liberate Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. And despite being a Jew, he became a national war hero and received the Order of Lenin in 1954.
It seems history is repeating itself less than one century later, and the heartbreak I feel stems from the understanding that this unprovoked conflict, started by yet another dangerous man, will lead to so much unnecessary suffering.
To remain indifferent is not an option. We all have a moral obligation to halt this tragic suffering through an outpouring of humanitarian aid to the innocent refugees and victims.
It is also critical that we all become students of history — to expose evil, to shame the dark forces of bigotry and anti-Semitism that still persist, to call out Russian President Vladimir Putin for attacking civilians and to protect the innocent children in Ukraine who are caught in the crossfire of his disturbed ambitions.
And despite Putin’s misinformation and propaganda campaigns, Ukrainians are taking to social media to capture the reality of the Russian invasion. I personally know how powerful social media can be.
And for all of us around the world watching this horrific war unfold, amplifying the truth on social media is critical, but it is not enough. To meet the needs of Ukraine’s exploding humanitarian crisis, we must take action to protect the innocent children and civilians whose lives have been upended by war.
The children of Ukraine and the Jewish orphans from Odessa need our help. Let us all show up for them.
