The rabbis of Russia and Ukraine issued a joint statement on the situation in Ukraine. The statement reads :
Dear brothers!
We the rabbis in Russia and Ukraine, at this solemn hour see our duty to call on all parties and above all our co-religionists, to search for peace and understanding. We understand that there are political issues, but religious people, especially religious leaders and community leaders, should not intrude into the sphere of their politicians. Do not forget that any inconsiderate word can provoke bad consequences for many people. But our religion is a religion of peace, and our duty is to call for mutual understanding and respect, our preaching has always been based on the fact that any problem between people should be solved peacefully, because all people are children of one G-d!
Today, when restless and uneasy news are coming from everywhere, we should stay together, pray together, ask G-d for peace, for the return of good relations between nations and peoples. The Holy Books read: "Pray for peace in the city, which I have carried you to, because when the city will be in peace, you will have peace too." Remember, we have always been together despite borders. Our history, our destiny has always been one for us all. Now it is especially important to focus on what unites us. This teaches our holy Torah. This is what G-d requires from us.
Astrakhan Yisroel Melamed
Birobidzhan Eli Rice
Bryansk Mendel Zaklas
Veliky Novgorod Jacob Sominskii
Vinnitsa Shaul Horwitz
Vladivostok Shimon Varakin
Dzerzhinsk Menachem Rabinovich
Dniprodzerzhyns'k Levi Stambler
Zhitomir Shlomo Wilhelm
Irkutsk Aaron Wagner
Kazan Yitzhak Gorelik
Kiev Yonotan Markovich
Kirovograd Dan Zakuta
Kostroma Nison Ruppo
Krasnoyarsk Benny Wagner
Kremenchug Shlomo Salamon
Lugansk Shalom Goping
Mariupol Mendel Cohen
Moscow Berl Lazar
Nizhny Novgorod Shimon Bergman
Nikolaev Shalom Gottlieb
Novosibirsk Zalman Zaklas
Odessa Abraham Wolf
Omsk Asher Krichevsky
Orenburg Goel Mayers
Pervomais'k Levy Pearlstein
Perm Zalman Deutch
Poltava Yosef Segal
Rovno Shneur Schneersohn
Rostov- on-Don Chaim Danzinger
Samara Shlomo Deutch
Saratov Yakov Kubicek
Sevastopol Benjamin Wolf
Smolensk Levi Mondshayn
Sochi Ari Edelkopf
St. Petersburg Menachem Mendel Pevzner
Togliatti Meer Fisher
Tomsk Levi Kaminezki
Tyumen Erahmiel Gorelik
Uzhgorod Menachem Wilhelm
Ulyanovsk Yosef Morozov
Khabarovsk Yakov Snetkov
Kharkov Moshe Moskowitz
Kherson Josef Wolf
Chelyabinsk Meer Kirsch
Cherkassy Dov Akselerod
Chernigov Yisroel Silberstein
Chernovtsy Menachem Glitsinshteyn
www.aen.ru