Zusha Pletnyov left his home in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk in 2014 when Russian-backed rebels seized large swaths of eastern Ukraine. After living some years in the capital, Kyiv, he fled again to Israel when Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February of last year. An observant Jew, Pletnyov moved with his wife and five children to Ashkelon, just miles from the Gaza Strip, in the hopes of building a new life. But when Hamas militants from Gaza launched their attacks last month, a new war forced him to take flight for a third time, now to a camp for Jewish refugees in rural Hungary.<\/p>\n
\u201cComing here for me and for my wife is such unimaginable relief,\u201d said Pletnyov, whose apartment building in Ashkelon was hit by a Hamas rocket as the attacks began. \u201cIt\u2019s a comforting place to be.\u201d The 34-year-old and his family are now living in a state-owned resort, disused for nearly two decades, on the shores of the sprawling Lake Balaton in western Hungary. First opened for Jewish Ukrainian refugees following Russia\u2019s invasion last year, it is now housing around 250 people including some 100 children, most of whom have arrived from Israel in the weeks since Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack.<\/p>\n
The camp is equipped with detached housing units and a central building where three kosher meals are served per day. The residents are provided with shelter and camaraderie, and can also engage in activities like sports and dancing, and may attend yeshiva for religious studies. \u201cWe make sure people are eating well, make sure they\u2019re healthy, psychologically healthy, mentally healthy,\u201d said Mandel Moscowitz, the rabbi of the camp, adding that the facility is open to all Jews, whether they be Orthodox, secular or non-observing. \u201cThey find their place here because we all share that we\u2019re Jewish and we all share the refugee status that also brings everybody together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Eva Kopolovich, 50, a psychotherapist from Shlomi on Israel\u2019s Lebanese border, was one of around 160,000 people evacuated from their homes in the north and south by Israeli Defense Forces after the Hamas attacks began. Born in Hungary where she spent the first four years of her life, she fled with her parents and 11-year-old son to Budapest before making their way to the camp. Two weeks after arriving at the lakeside refuge, Kopolovich said she has taken comfort in being among other Jews who have shared her experiences in being uprooted from their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the same boat so we understand each other (regarding) stuff that people who are not in our position can never understand,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of us went through a lot of stuff. I\u2019m not even talking about the Ukrainians, who went from one war to another to another.\u201d Indeed, many current residents of the camp arrived there after having earlier fled to Israel from Ukraine in the wake of Russia\u2019s war. Moscowitz, the rabbi, left his hometown of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine when Russia launched its full-scale invasion. He said his prior experiences of being displaced have helped him to better serve those who have sought refuge in the camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know their needs, I feel their needs. I know what it\u2019s like to run away from war,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, we\u2019re having to experience a second war for our families. And thank God, thank God that there is a place where we could go to.\u201d Slomo Koves, the chief rabbi for the Association of Hungarian Jewish Communities, said that more than 3,000 people have resided in the camp since the war in Ukraine began nearly 21 months ago. While he said he is \u201cproud\u201d of Hungary for providing a place of refuge for Jews who have been forced from their homes, the very need to do so has been hard to digest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very sad situation that it has become a famous Jewish refugee camp,\u201d he said. \u201cI would never have thought that such a thing would be needed in 21st-century Europe.\u201d While some families that have stayed at the camp have already returned to Israel, many plan to stay for the next few months while waiting for the war to come to an end, Moscowitz said. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that there will be peace in Ukraine and Israel and the world,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople want to live. People want to live in peace. Nobody\u2019s interested in war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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