Susan Mathison is a co-founder of a charity called Common Man for Ukraine. On Sept. 21, the Main Line Unitarian Church in Devon will host a klezmer concert to raise money for the charity, which benefits the children of Ukraine who are impacted by the effects of Russia’s war in the country.
Klezmer music is Jewish, but the Main Line Unitarian Church is obviously not. Neither is Mathison; however, the work that the charity does has impacted thousands of Jewish lives in Ukraine. Mathison told one story that has stuck with her through her years of work on behalf of Ukrainian children.
She met a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a safe house who had just received sleeping bags and food. The girl ran over to Mathison with an electronic translator, excited to thank her and tell her about her hopes and dreams.
“She said, ‘Someday, I want to come to the United States and visit, and I want to learn Hebrew!’” Mathison said. “I said, ‘Isn’t that great,’ and then [I] panicked because I was bringing her food and a sleeping bag in the middle of the war, [but] her mother took her to ballet lessons and checked her spelling and allowed her to dream big dreams — you want to go to the U.S., and you’re Jewish and want to learn Hebrew, but this guy in Moscow is telling you that that is not OK, and that you can’t dream those dreams, and that he has different plans for you.”
Mathison said that the cause — supporting Ukrainian children victimized by the horrors of war — appeals to all groups of people, hence a concert featuring Jewish music being held at a Christian church. She said that Common Man for Ukraine is just what its name says: a charity by and for common people of all backgrounds.
The sponsors of the event in September include the Kaiserman JCC as well as the church, with contributions also coming from the Haverford College Yiddish Culture Festival, the Philly Klezmer Jam and Or Zarua.
Mathison emphasized that the horrors of war do not end when the fighting stops.
“I handed a doll to this little girl, who was about eight or nine, and I pointed to the Ukrainian [writing] on the back, and she [made clear that] she can’t read,” Mathison said.
“You sit back and say, ‘If she’s eight years old, the country has been at war since she was five.’ So now, you think about that on a country-wide scale, that’s an entire country’s progeny that’s lost three years. A kid who should be [learning] long division is learning how to count. How do you recover from that? Do you recover?”
Stories like this have resonated with people far and wide. The Common Man for Ukraine has garnered more than $4.6 million in humanitarian assistance and trauma counseling for children.
The group has received a donation of $250,000 from an anonymous source, as well as three five-dollar bills in an envelope from nuns in a convent. The donors come from all ends of the social and political spectrum.
While Mathison had never heard of klezmer music prior to her work in Ukraine, being around a country steeped in Jewish tradition has opened her eyes to Ashkenazi culture. She still thinks about that girl who told her that she wants to, someday, learn Hebrew and go to the United States.
“It was so stark to me — this young girl so proud of her Jewish heritage, and wanting to learn Hebrew and saying it out loud in the middle of a war while there’s air sirens going on,” she said. “Yet here you are, holding on to these dreams.”
For more information, you can go to https://commonmanforukraine.org. Ticket reservations are available at https://commonmanforukraine.org.
