{"id":32537,"date":"2026-03-09T08:56:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/?p=32537"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T14:07:36","slug":"the-bread-of-affliction-that-also-brings-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/jewish-world\/the-bread-of-affliction-that-also-brings-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bread of Affliction That Also Brings Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

A matzah bakery in Bucharest, Romania, provides essential employment to refugees forced to flee Odesa during the Russian bombardments of Ukraine.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the refugees of Ukraine, hope is now found in a box of matzah.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For the displaced Jewish community of Ukraine\u2019s Tikva Children\u2019s Home, a new brand of handmade\u00a0<\/span>shemurah\u00a0matzah<\/span><\/i>\u2014Ateres\u00a0HaMatzos\u00a0\/ Matzos Bucharest\u2014is more than a kosher staple; it is a vital lifeline. This year, as the matzah takes its place on grocery shelves, it is also providing essential employment to the very people who were forced to flee Odesa during the Russian bombardments of Ukraine.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really meaningful to buy these matzos because they support an entire community,\u201d says\u00a0Zevy\u00a0Wolman, an OU Board member who has been helping to bring the matzah to the US market.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 1,200-member Tikva community grew out of the Tikva Children\u2019s Home, founded by Rabbi Shlomo\u00a0Baksht. In 1996, newly arrived in Odesa, Rabbi\u00a0Baksht\u00a0discovered that hundreds of Jewish children were living in government-run institutions or surviving on the streets. Many had been abandoned by parents struggling with addiction, mental\u00a0illness\u00a0or the sheer inability to care for them. Their futures\u00a0seemed\u00a0bleak.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rabbi Ethan Katz, director of OU Relief Missions, visited the matzah bakery with his volunteer group during a mission this past December.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

To change that trajectory, Rabbi\u00a0Baksht\u00a0established\u00a0Tikva\u2014which means hope\u2014giving these children a chance for a new and better life.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Over time, Tikva evolved into a comprehensive school system with dormitories that have provided schooling and a home to hundreds of children from Ukraine,\u00a0Belarus\u00a0and Moldova.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In March 2022, as Russian bombardments intensified, Tikva\u2019s CEO, Rabbi\u00a0Refael\u00a0Kruskal, concluded that Odesa was no longer safe. Under his leadership, the entire Tikva\u00a0community\u2014including former students, teachers and 250 orphans\u2014evacuated by bus to Romania.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, Tikva is based in Bucharest, where it continues to care for\u00a0roughly 300\u00a0orphans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a unique community, the only real Orthodox community that left Ukraine and stayed together,\u201d says Tikva volunteer Menachem Siegal.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But for community members, making a living is a huge challenge. \u201cThere\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0enough employment in Bucharest. Not having work makes people depressed. We\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0want that to happen. We wanted our people to be able to support themselves,\u201d says Rabbi Kruskal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is why the matzah bakery\u2014providing up to seven months of steady work each year\u2014has become essential.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“There is no one making money on this matzah. It\u2019s a nonprofit\u2014the entire motive is to support the community”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Housed in an 8,000-square-foot warehouse in Bucharest, the bakery, opened three years ago, currently employs forty adults, helping them earn a living wage that\u00a0offsets\u00a0basic expenses. \u201cThis gives people the ability to feel independent; even if it\u2019s 30 to 40 percent of what they need to live for a year, it\u2019s better than being completely dependent on\u00a0<\/span>tzedakah<\/span><\/i>,\u201d says Wolman.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Israeli\u00a0<\/span>mashgichim<\/span><\/i>\u00a0trained community members in matzah production. The matzah is supervised under the\u00a0Kedassia\u00a0certification\u2014a stringent kosher certification in the UK\u2014and by the US-based\u00a0Minchas\u00a0Chinuch-Tartikov. Today, the bakery produces around 600 pounds of matzah a day. With the help of Network for Kindness\u2014an association of US-based\u00a0Tomchei\u00a0Shabbos organizations and food pantries\u2014in partnership with the OU, the bakery is exporting more than\u00a060,000 pounds\u00a0of matzah to the US for the first time. Network for Kindness and the OU have\u00a0leveraged\u00a0their institutional reach to ensure that the matzah makes its way onto the shelves of kosher grocery\u00a0stores, into food pantries, and into\u00a0Tomchei\u00a0Shabbos packages\u2014creating a vital market for the bakery\u2019s work.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The bakery also sells some\u00a020,000 pounds\u00a0to Jewish communities in England, Vienna, France,\u00a0Belgium\u00a0and other countries. But this is the first year the matzah is being marketed in a major way. \u201cIt\u2019s a much bigger operation this year,\u201d says Siegal. The goal, he explains, is to keep the bakery open year-round and employ community members throughout the year.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no one making money on this matzah.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a nonprofit\u2014the entire motive is to support the community,\u201d says Siegal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Israeli\u00a0mashgichim\u00a0have trained community members in matzah production.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Everyone Here Is\u00a0a\u00a0Refugee<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in 2022, the evacuation to Romania was an urgent necessity; the community\u2019s rabbi ruled that it was\u00a0<\/span>pikuach\u00a0nefesh<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u201cThey left on Shabbos in the middle of the night,\u201d recalls Rabbi Shlomo\u00a0Noach\u00a0Mandel, executive director of the Shema Yisrael school network, of which Tikva is a part.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGetting them into Romania wasn\u2019t easy,\u201d he says. There were many bureaucratic hurdles, as many of the children were officially registered as Ukrainian wards of the state.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While\u00a0<\/span>aliyah<\/span><\/i>\u00a0might have seemed like\u00a0the\u00a0natural solution, Tikva\u2019s administration ruled it out. \u201cWe wanted the orphanage and the community to stay together. In Israel, that would have been impossible,\u201d says Rabbi Kruskal.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Bucharest, community members live, study and work side by side in one small neighborhood, recreating the warm atmosphere that characterized Tikva in Ukraine. Though Tikva\u2019s mission is not formally\u00a0<\/span>kiruv<\/span><\/i>, many children\u2014most from nonreligious, single-parent homes\u2014find their way back to Jewish life through the care, stability and Torah environment Tikva provides.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the evacuation from Odesa, the OU\u2019s Relief Missions department, headed by Rabbi Ethan Katz, has been sending volunteers from the US and Israel to bring joy and connection to the Tikva children. High school students, college-age\u00a0youth\u00a0and young professionals arrive brimming with energy. They run carnivals, lead craft projects, organize spirited Shabbat meals, and\u2014most importantly\u2014build genuine relationships.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the highlight of these kids\u2019 lives,\u201d says Rabbi Katz, a much-beloved figure among the Tikva youth, who has organized more than a dozen volunteer missions to the orphanage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe children at Tikva are surrounded by care, stability and genuine love every day,\u201d says Rabbi Katz. \u201cMany come from backgrounds where their natural homes could not provide\u00a0that\u00a0and the war only intensified their trauma. When people travel from around the world on relief missions to see them, it adds an extra and powerful dimension of love and affirmation\u2014something they did not experience in their early lives. Many of these children are carrying significant PTSD, and knowing that the world sees them, values them and cares deeply about them makes a profound difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As difficult as the upheaval has been for the children, the transition has often been even harder for the adults. Few speak Romanian; meaningful employment is scarce; and what was expected to be a short relocation has stretched into years, leaving the Children\u2019s Home under severe financial strain.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone there is a refugee,\u201d says Rabbi Katz. \u201cWhen you buy this matzah, you are literally buying hope,\u201d he says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Carol Ungar is an award-winning writer whose essays have appeared in\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Tablet<\/span>, the\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Jerusalem Post<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Ami Magazine, Jewish\u00a0Action<\/span>\u00a0and other publications. She teaches memoir writing and is the author of several children\u2019s books.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In This Section<\/strong><\/p>\n

Under Fire They Came Home: How War Is Drawing Ukraine\u2019s Jews Back to Jewish Life by Carol Ungar\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

A Legacy Rekindled in Kharkiv: An OU\u00a0Kiruv<\/i>\u00a0Initiative That Impacted Generations by Carol Ungar<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The Bread of Affliction That Also Brings Hope by Carol Ungar<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A matzah bakery in Bucharest, Romania, provides essential employment to refugees forced to flee Odesa during the Russian bombardments of Ukraine.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":32656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,572,117,593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewish-world","category-ou-programs","category-passover","category-ukraine","issues-spring-2026-5786"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Bread of Affliction That Also Brings Hope - Jewish Action<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A matzah bakery in Bucharest, Romania, provides essential employment to refugees forced to flee Odesa during the Russian bombardments of Ukraine.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/jewish-world\/the-bread-of-affliction-that-also-brings-hope\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Bread of Affliction That Also Brings Hope - 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