In light of all the absurd and very disturbing things happening right now in the Ukraine, and the fact that it looks like my beloved city of Kyiv is about to captured by the Russians, I thought I'd point out that I have been 3 times and have shared quite a few photos of my favorite locations which I recommend reading here. The Jewish people have a 1,000 plus year history in the Ukraine, my grandfather was from Kyiv, and we remember the tragedies of many pograms that wiped out tens of thousands even before the mass massacre of the unbelievable number of 1 million jews, just in the Ukraine. I am very sad to report that that was possible because of the the great participation and willingness by many Ukranians to help the Nazis. So it is true, there are so many mixed emotions when visiting a place that has both hugely rich Jewish history, and unfathomable tragedy. Today I send my prayers to all those in the Ukraine, because human life is precious.
In case you missed the link to my posts on the Ukraine, it is right here.