Ilya Knizhnik came to the United States from Ukraine 31 years ago, but no amount of time or distance can change the fact that he is a Ukrainian. He is also a Jew. So, when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, Knizhnik felt the stresses of both wars in a vacuum in addition to their compounding effects.
In the winter of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Knizhnik said that rumblings of war hadn’t meant much considering that they were nothing new.
“I don’t think the majority of people actually expected this,” he said. “People grew up with relatives on both sides; it’s just the dynamic. I think the best way to [describe it] is imagine if you were here and then suddenly heard that there was an invasion coming from New York State. [You might have] cousins that live there. It was just complete shock and pain as bombs hit places near where I played as a kid.”
Then came the attacks of Oct. 7. While Knizhnik has family in Israel, none were hurt in the attacks, thankfully. He said they still live under duress, and that it is surreal to be advocating for two different parts of his family living in separate parts of the world experiencing similar turmoil.
“I was originally planning to just advocate for Ukraine and ended up advocating for both Ukraine and Israel. Some of the groups that were originally focused on Ukraine refocused on Israel. Others were just kind of prepared for the shock of what would happen. Obviously, the parallels are not perfect in this situation. Both are their own challenges, and both are horrible in different ways,” he said.
The West Philadelphia resident and director of information technology at Manor College initially took action on the war in Ukraine by starting what he said was intended to be a “brief mutual aid effort.” That effort ballooned into Ukraine TrustChain, a full-scale nonprofit that is active today and has helped provide aid for and evacuate more than 65,000 Ukrainians.
Now, Knizhnik is uniting the two messages and speaking directly to the community. At FolkShul on Jan. 26, 2025, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., he will present on his family’s multi-century lineage in Ukraine, the Jewish-Ukranian experience, the war in both countries, their intersection, antisemitism and more in person and via webinar. The event is open to students in grades 5-12 and the broader community.
Beth Margolis Rupp is the director of the FolkShul, and she said she knew that the community had to take advantage of having someone with such a unique lens in their midst.
“I asked Ilya because I knew he could help us understand that geopolitical challenge that Ukraine has and how all of this affects the Jewish Diaspora and Israel,” she said. “There’s these two wars happening, and another element of it is helping our [Sunday school] students really understand the complexity of war as it exists today, because war is different now than it was. And I think having a Jewish lens to examine politics and examine peace [is important].”
Knizhnik said he is anticipating a constructive event. He joined Folkshul because of the organization’s commitment to humanistic ideas and critical thinking. Knizhnik said that despite growing up with a largely Orthodox education, he strayed from the strict dogma associated with Orthodox Judaism before eventually finding his way to the FolkShul. First, Knizhnik and his wife placed their children in the FolkShul school. Then, they started to grow warmer towards the congregation as they spent more time interacting with its members.
After Oct. 7, 2023, the family felt that their increasing involvement with the FolkShul needed to be official. They joined as members soon after.
He knows handling this subject takes a great amount of knowledge and patience. Nobody is better equipped for the task than Knizhnik.
“Usually at these events, I get really tough questions about Ukraine that have to do with my nonprofit work, things about Ukraine’s future or potentially about past antisemitism in Ukraine,” he said. “I’ve never expected to take this role, but it’s something that I have grown into over the last several years. So I think that I’ll expect honest questions from people who care about Ukraine and want to learn more.”
More information can be found at folkshul.org or by contacting Beth Margolis Rupp at [email protected].