ToI’s weekly deep dive: Purim in Lviv * Israel’s Ukraine policy analyzed * Immigrants’ next battle: equal rights * Podcast: Foodish – more than grandma’s gefilte fish

[Times of Israel]( [Weekly Deep Dive]( Sunday, March 20, 2022 Reporter's notebook [The Book of Esther is read, against the odds, in the ruins of oldest Lviv synagogue]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Retelling an ancient redemption while praying for its own, a tiny Ukrainian community gathers in a synagogue destroyed by the Nazis, under the shadow of Russia’s onslaught]( From Lviv [Israeli flag raised at field hospital in Ukraine as gear, teams begin to arrive]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [17 tons of equipment cross border with staff from the Foreign Ministry and Sheba Medical Center, in preparation for Tuesday opening]( [Reporter's Notebook / A day after Russia strikes Lviv, residents find shelter in a political taproom]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Reporter's notebook / No more jokes about bombs by bicycle: As Lviv is targeted, its calm begins to fray]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Hillel Jewish student from Kharkiv killed while ‘defending Ukraine’]( By [Tobias Siegal]( [David Horovitz]( [Being a good Jew is meant to be the same as being a good person]( [At a cabinet meeting on Monday marked by some of the most obtuse and shameful ministerial comments to date on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Israel's response, Agriculture Minister Oded Forer reportedly declared, "Enough with the self-flagellation." In taking in Ukrainian refugees, Forer said, "we are going above and beyond what any country that does not border Ukraine has...]( Analysis [Lazar Berman]( [Why Israel’s fear of Russia in Syria doesn’t have to drive its Ukraine policy]( [During the War of Attrition, Israeli pilots killed dozens of Soviets in Egypt in order to protect the country’s security interests; today, Jerusalem’s stance is far more timid]( Helping hands [On Moldovan border, Christian groups help Ukrainians flee to Israel]( By [Sue Surkes]( [Two evangelical organizations, Christians for Israel and Ezra International, are providing transportation and accommodation for refugees bound for the Jewish state]( [Reporter's notebook / With Haredi volunteers, an Israeli entrepreneur, 28, rescues Jewish refugees in Lviv]( By [Lazar Berman]( [Chaotic patchwork of volunteers embrace Ukrainian refugees at Medyka border crossing]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Reporter's notebook / Passengers on El Al flight to Bucharest carry boxes of aid for influx of refugees]( By [Sue Surkes]( ToI Investigates [Not much use to Putin anymore, ‘toxic’ oligarchs in Israel come under scrutiny]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Tycoons ‘shocked’ by scale of sanctions, years of reputation-building gone, experts say; 2018 estimate said 30-40 Russia-linked oligarchs had taken Israeli citizenship or residency]( [Cyber ‘cold war’ wages online as Russia holds back on massive digital attacks]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( Religion [Israel has opened its arms to Ukrainian immigrants. But will they have equal rights?]( By [Amy Spiro]( [Many new immigrants expected to join the ranks of those with ‘no religion,’ leaving them unable to be married in Israel; rabbinate suspicion of Jewish status will only grow sharper]( ToI podcast [Daily Briefing Mar. 14: Welcome to Israel, Ukrainian Jews. Now face the rabbinate]( By [TOI staff]( [News editor Amy Spiro breaks down Ukrainian refugee caps and personal status conflicts; Palestinian affairs reporter Aaron Boxerman updates us on the controversial Citizenship Law]( [ToI podcast / Daily Briefing Mar. 17: For Purim, ToI kids ask hard questions about the Ukraine war]( By [TOI staff]( [ToI podcast / Daily Briefing Mar. 16: Special report from Lviv; ‘toxic’ oligarchs; polio in Israel]( By [TOI staff]( [ToI podcast / Daily Briefing March 15: Is Israel’s Ukrainian refugee policy racist?]( By [TOI staff]( Top Ops [Radha Stirling]( [Much of the world is ambivalent about the Ukraine war. Rightly so.]( [There is a distinct sentiment across Asia, Africa and the Arab world that Europe is throwing itself into a disaster and that the international order itself is crumbling]( [Vitaliy Katsenelson]( [Putin has zombified my kind, good friends back in Russia]( [This isn’t the first time Russia has trusted an evil, leader. With ironclad control of media, Putin wants Russians to forget their history so he can repeat it.]( [Efraim Halevy]( [Ukraine crisis sharpens Israel’s existential need for conversion reform]( [The state’s survival depends on solidifying its Jewish majority, and only the Knesset, not the Chief Rabbinate, has the authority to set conversion policy]( [Evan Gottesman]( [Iron Dome may not be Ukraine’s silver bullet, but Israel can still help Kyiv]( [While the US and parts of Europe have started providing lethal aid, Jerusalem is framing even the transfer of Israeli tech to Ukraine via a third party as too risky]( Obituary [Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of Israel’s leading religious authorities, dies at 94]( By [TOI staff]( health [Transmission rate now over 1, Israel may be following UK to COVID resurgence]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Cases spreading fast in Omicron bellwether UK, where some 1 in 30 of people age 70-plus had virus in one week. Israel should be concerned — but has an edge in rules and vaccines]( [Expert warns polio’s return could shatter Israel’s public health image, hurt tourism]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Before age 60, 4th vaccine slightly cuts infection rates, moderately thwarts illness]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [New combo COVID strain Deltacron detected in Israel, report says]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( ToI investigates [Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teen. The army hasn’t said what he did wrong]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [CRM]( Interview [I’m no Mossad spy, says Jewish journalist who interviewed Raisi, worked for Iran TV]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( Times Will Tell [Podcast: Grandma’s gefilte fish — or chraime — comes to forefront at Foodish]( By [TOI staff]( [A chat with Merav Oren, CEO at the culinary arm of Anu — Museum of the Jewish People, which aims to map the food of the Jewish people]( [In Jerusalem’s shuk, a brainiac distillery rethinks spirit-making]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [Forgotten grains make a comeback in new cookbook from the ‘queen of freekeh’]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( Interview [A taste of bygone Americana, ‘The Automat’ dishes out nostalgia with a cherry on top]( By [Cathryn J. Prince]( Analysis [Susan Weiss]( [5 misconceptions about Jewish law’s chained women]( [To begin with, get-refusal is not just the fault of few bad men]( [After 5 years as a ‘chained woman,’ Esty got her freedom this summer]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [To mark Yom Ha’aguna, The Times of Israel spoke with a woman who was able to obtain a divorce from her abusive husband, and those working to help others do the same]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2022 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved