A full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine was a remote possibility even as recently as a couple of months ago. And yet, we are now a week into the most devastating war in Europe since the Second World War, with a refugee crisis to match. How are we to make sense of it all. Rabbi Dunner cites an insightful interpretation of the first verse in Pekudei to shed light on the mistake the world made with Putin’s Russia.

To donate money for the Odessa Tikvah orphanage now in hiding in Northwest Ukraine, please donate via this link: https://www.beverlyhillssynagogue.org/tikvahorphanageodessa