Chief Rabbi of Odessa HaRav Avraham Wolf returned to Odessa on Thursday after a number of days in Berlin, Germany.

In an interview with COL Radio on Friday, Rav Wolf spoke about his trip to Germany and his return to his embattled city.

“We took the children from our orphanage to safety last week,” he said. “My son and his wife took responsibility for them, along with the caretakers.”

“After we saw to the children, we informed the men of our kehilla who can’t leave Ukraine due to the mandatory draft – that we intend to organize the evacuation of women and children to Berlin and return them after the war.”

“Last Friday, we evacuated 140 women and children and we promised that we’ll be with them – and therefore I was there. After a day and a half in Berlin, we began organizing all the documents – and for now, I’ve returned to Ukraine.”

Rav Wolf said that arranging the documents in Germany for the orphans was a complex and challenging task. During his stay in Germany, Rav Wolf also met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who made a special visit to the Jewish Center in Berlin, where the 120 orphans from Rav Wolf’s orphanage were received last weekend.

“Last night, I set out on the trip back to Ukraine and after almost 24 hours – I arrived. The crying they greeted me with here at tefillas Michcha moved even me – after seeing many emotional moments in the past weeks.”

“It’s not easy to see what’s happening in the kehilla. Mosdos that were established and operated over so many years are falling apart before my eyes. Everything is closed. But in general, we’re so busy that there’s no time to fall apart. We have to broadcast leadership and simchas chaim – there’s no time to feel the difficulty. But we’re not breaking down and we’re not planning on breaking down.”

“We now had Mincha with 40 people and we’ll make Kiddush on Shabbos with all the men in my home. The curfew begins at 7 p.m. We’ll daven earlier on Erev Shabbos and all the men that don’t come home with us will sleep in the children’s home.”

“We hear sirens all the time here, but this is our tafkid and our shlichus. We’re here on the shlichus of the Rebbe. We weren’t sent here only to dance on Purim and at weddings but to do everything that’s necessary and that’s what we do.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)