chased 20, 30 strollers so that when a
person crossed the border, they had
one.” At Chochmei Lublin Yeshiva, now
a way station for refugees, the Jewish
Federation delegates met with dis-
placed women and children, some of
whom had spent 36 hours crossing the
border. Men aged 18-60 are forbidden
to leave the country due to Ukraine’s
mandatory conscription and status
under martial law.

Many of those arriving wore tattered
clothing. Some brought their pet cats,
holding onto a semblance of comfort.

The trip hit close to home to Norry,
whose grandfather fled to the U.S. from
the pogroms in Poland. At the bor-
der, she met with a couple who fled
from western Poland. They had trouble
trying to evacuate their 97-year-old
mother from the shelter.

“She had escaped the Nazis, and now
she had to run from the Russians,”
Norry said.

Norry traveled to Poland in 2001
with a Jewish Federation Women’s
Philanthropy group, but vowed never
go to back after visiting Auschwitz and
Birkenau and being put off by the vio-
lence of which Poland was capable.

“I just remember thinking, ‘Maybe
the Polish people still hate us,’”
Norry said. “And I felt so uncom-
fortable the whole time I was there,
and I swore I would never go back to
Poland. But having gone again, for
this experience, honestly made me feel
different. Because the Polish people
and the country — they have been
unbelievable.” Balaban, who had Polish family
members murdered in the Holocaust
and has also gone on previous Jewish
Federation mission trips to Poland, felt
similarly, and like Norry, changed his
mind following their most recent trip.

He recalled visiting a train sta-
tion where his family was potentially
deported to concentration camps. It’s
now a transit zone for refugees.

“It’s incredibly difficult to wrap one’s
mind around that,” Balaban said. “But
it also sets a tone that the world can
change for the better.”
To donate to the Jewish Federation
of Greater Philadelphia’s Emergency
Response Fund, visit jewishphilly.

org/ways-to-give/donate-emergency- response-fund/. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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