Watching civilians run for their lives in a war zone can bring out the impulse to help.

That’s what is happening here, as the Bainbridge Island Jewish community is helping the refugees after seeing the devastation in Ukraine and their struggle to get to safety.

Rabbi Mendy Goldshmid from the Chabad of BI and North Kitsap said he has friends and relatives in Ukraine, Russia and Romania.

“I’ve spoken with a few colleagues on the ground this week, and their devotion and dedication to their communities don’t cease to amaze me. They stayed there with their families until the last minute, weathering the storm, so they can care for those who couldn’t get out, including the elderly and homebound,” he said.

Though he can’t be there in person, Goldshmid is finding ways to involve the BI community to help it understand the situation and to help with fundraising. Donations can be made ​​at jewsofukraine.com/sumy

“These communities are struggling financially to transport the elderly and young orphans who don’t have anyone else to help them,” Goldshmid said. “The amount of need is enormous, and the rabbis on the ground are shouldering the financial burden.”

On March 4, Goldshmid prepared for a special Shabbat day of solidarity with the theme “Oceans apart, together at heart” to pray for those affected by the war in Ukraine.

Last week, Goldshmid invited community members to a Zoom call organized by the worldwide Chabad community to hear a first-hand account from Rabbi Yechiel Shlomo Levitansky in Sumy, Ukraine. More than 650 people listened to Levitansky describe life on the Ukraine-Russian border. Levitansky and his wife Rochi, both Americans from Santa Monica, Calif., have been living in Sumy with their family since 2004 and chose to stay with their community that is under siege. He hopes to stay for as long as he can.

The Ukrainian Army is resisting, and people are trying to move West, but roads and bridges have been bombed. It’s extremely dangerous as Russians are shooting civilians fleeing the city.

“One of the hardest things for us is to leave our communities. The people here are hunkering down. They’re in their basements. They’re not looking to leave. They’re afraid to travel on the road…They’re constantly shooting from all sides, literally a war zone all around,” he said.

Since the invasion, he’s been flooded with calls from people in America, Canada and Israel asking to check in on loved ones. For example, calls like: “I have a grandmother. She’s in her apartment alone. There’s nobody taking care of her. She’s hungry.”

Also, a man in the community called for help because he wasn’t able to go for dialysis for a few days and then needed a blood transfusion. The man was refused a transfusion because blood was being saved for soldiers. Levitansky called the head doctor of the city who was able to authorize the transfusion, “for a nice pretty penny. But, he was able to get it.”

Thanks to support from around the world, Levitansky has access to funds and connections to organizations and companies that bring products into the country as the situation gets worse. “The store shelves are empty. The buildings are bombarded all day, and people are spending their days in World War II bomb shelters that are basically holes in the ground.”

Conditions are tough in the shelters. “It’s a hole in the basement, and it’s very cold. We’re still in our winter. They don’t have running water. They don’t have anything. It’s just that people have to spend the entire night there. It’s very hard,” he said.

It’s also scary. A few days earlier, “We heard the loudest boom that I’ve ever heard in my life. It sounded like it was right in our yard…It just planted fear in our hearts. And at that point, I pretty much came to the realization, and I think everyone in my community is with me on this, that we are in the hands of God. There’s absolutely nothing we can do to change the situation,” Levitansky said.

At the end of the call, Levitansky was asked what kind of mitzvah, or good deed, people could do. He said: “Do senseless acts of kindness. You’re going to realize how much it’s changing your life and how it’s changing the world and making this world a better place.”