Jews and non-Jews shelter in Ukrainian synagogues

All around Ukraine, non-Jews are seeking shelter from the war in Jewish communities' synagogues, out of a belief that the Russian army will not harm them.

According to Yediot Aharonot, since the start of the fighting in Ukraine, thousands of non-Jews have arrived at synagogues requesting shelter.

Rabbi Nachum Ehrentrau, rabbi of the city of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine, said that anyone who asks to shelter in the synagogue is warmly welcomed.

"We are in an area where there is fighting," he said. "In the synagogue there are 350-400 people concentrated together, most of them Jews and also non-Jews who begged that we open the synagogue because we have a bomb shelter."

"It's not an official bomb shelter - it's a basement level which is encased in concrete," he explained. "This is a synagogue, and the Russians will not harm this place."

Rebbetzin Miriam Moskovitz, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Kharkiv, said that the goal was to help any Ukrainian.

"A non-Jewish family came to us after their home went up in flames, and they have nowhere to live," she recounted. "The rabbi invited them to the synagogue. The entire day we received requests from non-Jews. A woman called us in tears in the middle of the night and asked, 'Bring me to the synagogue.' We immediately said that when it is calmer we will bring her to the synagogue, and that's what we did."

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