Approaching 30 years after the Ukraine left the Soviet Union and gained its independence, scores of Jewish people are reported to be turning to Jesus as they reject decades of communist teaching when they were raised as atheists and forced to deny the existence of God.
Over the last several years missionaries have recorded increasing numbers of Jewish people coming to faith and many of these have been from Ukraine or from a Russian-speaking background. Misha, a Christian Witness to Israel missionary (and Russian-speaking Ukrainian Jewish person himself), highlighted the story of Kayla, a Jewish woman who approached him when she saw he was reading an article from a Christian magazine. Misha took time to share his faith and after they had met many times for Bible study, Kayla gave her life to Jesus.
Since 1991, when Ukraine officially became an independent state, some 1million Ukrainians and other Russian-speaking Jewish people have emigrated to Israel, fleeing the antisemitism which is still rife throughout the region. However, many of these new immigrants struggle to adjust to life in Israel as they can’t speak Hebrew, finding work is difficult and the cost of living is high.
