Family: St. Louis community lends helping hand to Ukrainian family

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 or Airbnbs, that would really be nice,’ ” Wittels said. “So I sent a note out to the board. We immediately got a bunch of commitments and money.”

Surgery for young Nikita wasn’t the Ukrainian family’s only concern. Their home in Ukraine had been bombed by Russian forces, so Nikita, his sister, grandmother and mother, Yana, relocated to Israel.

The surgery, originally planned for last fall, was rescheduled to last month. Wittels said that gave the J board and other friends time to arrange for the family to stay at the Ronald McDonald House. They arrived in St. Louis on March 26, and their son had successful surgery four days later. It was less than a week before Passover.

“While he was in the hospital, his mother, Yana, asked me, ‘Is there any place I can get Passover food?’ ” Wittels said. “I told her I’d take her to get it. Then I said, ‘You need to come to our house for seder. We would love to have you.’

“They came and we did the four questions, and that’s when it occurred to me that we were all singing the same language. We were all singing the same songs. And no matter how far apart we live, no matter what language we speak, no matter where we are in life, we all have this in common. And it was really incredibly touching.”

Wittels joined the family for Shabbat dinner April 21, and she invited them to one more St. Louis event: the 75th anniversary of Israel celebration at the J on April 23. Yana and her husband, Anton, looked on as Nikita navigated a new labyrinth created at the J. It was one of their final activities in St. Louis before Yana and Nikita returned to Israel on April 26. Anton, an orthopedist who owns a rehab clinic in Ukraine, will return there for his work.

Asked about the help they received from the St. Louis community, Anton (translating to English for Yana) explained that the family was extremely grateful for the support.

“It’s just an amazing story,” Wittels said. “When we gave Yana a debit card, she had tears in her eyes and said to me, ‘I’m always on the giving end. I’ve never been on the receiving end.’ She’s worked in the Jewish community in Ukraine for years.”

Wittels also helped the family make another connection, with an Israeli family whose daughter came 3½ years ago for the same surgery.

“Now they see them five days a week at therapy,” Wittels said. “So it’s a small Jewish world. A big Jewish world, and a small Jewish world.”