- The United Nations estimates 4.8 million Ukrainians, including many Jews, have fled their homes due to war.
- Sourcing food for a Passover Seder was difficult for many Jewish leaders amid a war that has wrought supply chain difficulties, left trucks stranded at borders and matzah stuck at the port.
- Odessa is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in post-Soviet Eastern Europe.
Odesa, Ukraine – They traveled to the historic hotel along the Black Sea through checkpoints and a darkened side entrance. Inside, the opulent lobby lights were off and drapes were drawn. On a small entry table sat four stacks of matzah.
Welcome to Passover during wartime in this Ukrainian port city, where the city’s remaining Jewish population is celebrating freedom over tyranny even as their community has been scattered, again, across Europe and the world, for the second time in the last century due to war.