Hillel Kharkiv: Hope in the Darkness
One year later, the war in Ukraine continues to impact families, students, and Hillels across the country. Yulia Pototskaya, Director of Hillel Kharkiv, understands this better than most.

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One year later, the war in Ukraine continues to impact families, students, and Hillels across the country. Yulia Pototskaya, Director of Hillel Kharkiv, understands this better than most.
When the world is shifting around you, you’re far from your family, and the news from home is filled with fear and violence, where do you turn? Young adults from Ukraine and Russia who fled to Israel turn to a community that is a source of joy and comfort for them: their Hillel community.
For 25 years, Hillel in Central Asia and Southeastern Europe (CASE) has played a prominent role in the lives of Jewish students and young adults in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Crimea, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. This February, just three days before the war in Ukraine began, city and country directors from Hillel CASE gathered in Odessa for their bi-annual staff gathering.
Instead of celebrating it’s 25th anniversary this spring, the students and staff of Kharkiv Hillel are working tirelessly to repair their space that was heavily damaged by bombing during the war in Ukraine this spring. Volunteers are coming together to rebuild the Hillel building that previously housed 600 Jewish students and young professionals after it was reduced to rubble.
American Jewish Committee today honored students at Hillel chapters in the Ukraine city of Kharkiv, and Indiana University, where students marshaled an effort to create campus-wide solidarity in the face of rising acts of antisemitism. The Hillel chapters received the AJC Sharon Greene Award for Campus Advocacy, which recognizes college-based advocates who fight antisemitism and support Jewish life on campus.
Jewish students at more than 80 Hillels around the world came together to celebrate Good Deeds Day, an international day of volunteering on April 3.
Hillels around the world have been organizing programs to educate students about the situation in Ukraine and how they can show their support.
As the war in Ukraine rages into its second week, Hillel International is launching an Emergency Relief Fund to support the urgent needs of Hillel professionals and students in the impacted region, as well as Hillel’s humanitarian work supporting Ukrainian refugees.
On December 7, 2021 more than 40 Hillel stakeholders, staff, and students came together in New York City to celebrate Jewish life in Latin America and recognize this year’s esteemed honoree, Georg Lipsztein.
I’ve really connected to Judaism through music. I play the guitar, drums, and trumpet and so music is something I really love. My first time at Hillel, everyone was singing Salaam. I thought it was a very nice song, but I didn’t know how to sing it or play it. Nowadays, I probably know more music and songs than my other Jewish friends.