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Has God Forgotten?

January 17, 2022

For The Jewish Elderly living in Ukraine, life has been harsh. Their lives have gone from the ghettos and concentration camps of the Holocaust era to the tyranny of Stalin and then to the crushing poverty of today. I’ve been in their ramshackle houses, smelled the odor of poverty, seen their despair and had my heart broken over their situations. I’ve opened kitchen cabinets to find bare shelves. Surely the prophet Isaiah accurately depicted their despair when he penned the words, “But Zion said, ‘The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me’” (Isa. 49:14). Because of their harsh lives, their children and grandchildren are also caught up in the cycle of poverty and heartbreaking despair.

We started Project Tikvah (Hope) to help alleviate some of their suffering and to show them that God has not forgotten His people. Stanislaw, a Polish Christian living in Slovakia, heads up the work. He travels back and forth from Slovakia and Poland to Ukraine. Project Tikvah is able to reach out because of Ukrainian Christians who love the Jewish people. He describes his ministry with love and tears. He and the other workers are heroes reaching out in practical ways to suffering Jews whom most of the world has forgotten about.

Throughout the years, we have helped with food, heaters, medicine and warm clothing.  Stanislaw described one family we helped in this way:

“Father’s name is Ivan. He is 61 and his leg was amputated. It started two years previously with a small wound on his leg. The wound spread out very quickly, because he was diabetic and he lost his leg at the end. He has problems with his heart, lungs and kidneys as well. He gets [pension for invalids], which is only about US $60 per month. We saw terrible conditions when we stepped into their house. Six people living in two rooms of a small house. Ivan is very unhappy that he is not able to provide for his family and that he and family need help of others.

His wife Olga is 55. She has been [an] invalid since her childhood. Their two daughters Natasha and Anna live together with them. Natasha has two [children] Misha (13) and Ivanka (5). Another child died at age 1 and her husband left.

None in this household works. Natasha and Anna look for short-term work opportunities, because it is very difficult to find a permanent job. However, it is not enough to survive, or live a normal life.

Olga cooks of what is available in the house: some soup, or pasta, made out of flour, which they receive from Project Tikvah.

They asked us to pray for them and we prayed for their bodies and souls when we visited them.

They receive two food parcels through Project Tikvah every month and it is main source of food provision for them. They would not survive without that help. Please pray for this family.”

This situation is overwhelming, and unfortunately is not the only such case. Please join

with us to show God’s love to the “forgotten” Jews of Ukraine. Help us show them that God has not forgotten them.

The prophet Isaiah went on to say, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands…” (Isa. 49:15–16). Further down in the chapter we read of the Lord’s promise to the Jewish people. “Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My standard for the peoples; they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders” (Isa. 49:22).

What a privilege to be those God has called to bring comfort to His people whom He has not forgotten and to practically meet their urgent needs. Your gift will show them He cares.

Blessings from Israel,
Rebecca J. Brimmer
International President and CEO

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