"Not all Ukrainian Jews are ready to live in Israel" - Rabbi Lieberman

Rabbi Volodymyr Liberman of the Odesa Jewish Messianic Community told Intent about the test of money, prayers under the calibers, PTSD, and why their believers join the Armed Forces not to kill but to protect.

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Watch the full interview on Intent's YouTube channel

Rabbi, please tell us how you personally experienced the first days of the full-scale invasion?

I did not believe that war would begin at the time. I thought that Putin was a businessman and that the war was not profitable for him as a businessman. But my wife was already ready for the war, she was saying prayers. When the first missile strike happened, I did not wake up. It was my wife who woke me up. Then I realized everything.

I am not a very brave person, but G-d closed my heart from all fears. This is what makes us more whole, gives us an understanding of what to do. We immediately gathered as a community for a leadership meeting and from the first days of the war began praying for God's protection. We started helping Mykolaiv because it was he who stood for the entire South.

As for my family, I wanted them to go abroad. I have five children: two daughters and three sons. But after a week in Romania, my wife said: "I will be where my husband is". And she returned with the children. Since then, my family has always been with me, except for my eldest son, who has been studying in Stuttgart since 2021.

What does it mean for you to be a spiritual leader during the war? Do you feel a special responsibility?

Many books have been written about leadership, but I will tell you about my understanding. Firstly, you have to be really responsible, secondly, you have to be able to listen to people, and thirdly, I show by my personal example, not tell them how to do things.

What were the most difficult moments for you personally during these years and what helped you to survive?

Faith helped me to survive, because I am not as brave as I said. This year was the hardest for me during the war. People come back and leave everything again, they all have different feelings. It's hard for people: they have lost not only their homes, but also their relatives. There is no longer the unity that there was at the beginning of the war, no one understands anything.

Has your understanding of your vocation changed since the war began?

It has even intensified for me. As the Holy Scriptures say, where iniquity abounds, God's mercy abounds. I was called to serve God, and that means loving people. That is why our community has never differentiated between Jews and non-Jews in relation to G-d's love.

Let me ask you about your community. How does it experience spiritual sanctification when there is pain, fear, and uncertainty around it?

In different ways. It helps us that our community lives on the basis of family. This is what is called "mishpacha" in Hebrew. This is when people have a place to come and be accepted. And half of that pain is gone.

You say that immediately after the full-scale war began, you began to provide humanitarian aid. How do your prayers and faith help you make practical decisions in extreme circumstances?

We did not just distribute food to people, we had a prayer tent at the humanitarian headquarters. We also cooperated with the city and the region because we are part of the Odesa community. We also provided legal assistance to the IDPs. In other words, at first they were our guests, and now they are our own neighbors.

You said that you interact with local and regional authorities. How would you characterize this relationship?

There is communication, but not as much as we would like. We are often invited to events to hear our opinions, but it goes no further than a hearing.

And yet I pray for this government. Because I remember what it was like in the noughties - a lot has changed now. The authorities are slowly coming down to earth, and this is a very good sign. Because before, they were celestials, you know? And now there is a dialog, there is help, and the war has made its own adjustments, as they say.

I read in your interviews that you described how you prayed near the port and these prayers were accompanied by explosions, Kalibr and Chekhov rockets. Do you feel that the war changes the very understanding of the power of prayer and the presence of God?

During the war, our prayers become different. We mobilize as much as possible and feel the presence of God more strongly. Even my Israeli friends, who are atheists, when they saw what was happening in Ukraine in 2022, said: "Some kind of G-d really helped you to hold out."

Until 2024, our synagogue was located near the port of Odesa. And not a single missile fell where the prayers were, where the gumshoe was. Although we were an attractive target for the Russians. More victims - more effect. Now we have already moved to another building.

Odesa, ecumenical prayer for church unity/SOURCE: Facebook, page of the Odesa Jewish Messianic Community

What is more important to you? A sense of inner spirituality or visible deeds, help, service? What does the balance between these look like for you?

All the fruits that we bear externally must first take place within us. For me, the concept of personal holiness is what I do. If you have compassion, love for people, then everything else will fall into place. There will be no questions about how and what you should do.

Today, few volunteers work with IDPs. What motivates your team to continue serving when other resources and forces are running out?

We have already closed the humanitarian headquarters that has been operating since the beginning of the war, and now we need to reorient ourselves. We are engaged in patronage service, military personnel, their families and IDPs. That is, we have switched to targeted assistance.

How does the community support people returning from the front? What kind of spiritual and psychological help is needed the most? How do you feel?

We have psychologists who provide purely individual assistance. They mainly work with PTSD. We don't do any group trainings. You may ask: where can we get so many psychologists? That's why the Religious Council exists, where we cooperate with all denominations, religious institutions and public organizations to ensure that everyone is covered by help.

Let's talk about the evacuation of Jews from Odesa. Some of them went to the United States, Germany, and some decided to go to Israel. How do these different directions affect the identity and spiritual life of Ukrainian Jews?

Not all Ukrainian Jews are ready to live in Israel. Let's start with the fact that martial law is still in effect there. Therefore, many want to live in Germany, America, and Australia, where Jews will feel more secure. This is more a matter of the human factor. In order to go to Israel, you have to love it. By the way, I know many secular Jews who went there and it became a difficult test for them.

Please tell us about your relationship with the CCC.

Our relations with the CCC are properly built, thank God, we have a chaplaincy service. We do not take another person's life, but we have to protect our homes. Now most of our community is serving in the Armed Forces.

At the Interfaith Forum of Military Chaplains / SOURCE: Facebook, Volodymyr Lieberman's page

What do you consider the most critical challenges for the community in the period after the war?

I think we will face a test with money. And I pray that our government and officials at all levels will have the fear of God. I always advocate public control, for us to see what the money is spent on and where. These are very important things.

You communicate a lot with different faiths, gaining different experiences. I know that there were unpleasant cases when pastors left their communities and even took out church funds, and then told from abroad that they had some kind of dreams, blessings, and all that. How do you personally feel about such situations? Do they affect trust between communities?

People come to church and think that everyone here is a saint. But this is not the case. And sometimes people make mistakes that become life-changing in their lives. It is important for us to focus people not on their mistakes, but on the good deeds that God did through these people. I try not to be a judge, but I tell them the truth so that they have the strength to admit their mistakes.

With this material, Intent continues a series of video conversations with clergy from southern Ukraine. The goal of this series is to show as broad and complete a picture of religious life as possible.

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