Jewish Ukrainian father and son soldiers mark holy days under cloud of Russia's war

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
"For Ukrainian Orthodox Jews Asher and David Cherkaskyi, a father and son both fighting on the front lines in the eastern Donbas region, beating Russia has become especially important to them because of their faith.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely claims his army is "liberating" Ukrainians from a Nazi regime, the Cherkaskyis say it is just the opposite — they say Ukraine is fighting the evil of a fascist dictatorship in Moscow.

NPR met the father and son in July, and caught up with them again by phone in September as Jews around the world were celebrating Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, and prepared for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which begins Tuesday evening.

Fifty-two-year-old Asher remembers what it was like being Jewish in the Soviet Union.

"If you said you were Jewish, you'd be downgraded in school. And if you were fighting in the army, you wouldn't get a medal no matter how brave you were. You'd just be sent to the most dangerous places," he says. "I remember the anecdotes and propaganda to humiliate and intimidate us. Jews and other nationalities were considered inferior. In the Soviet Union only Russians were good enough to rule."

He says the Soviet Union was a land of fear and violence and that continues in the Russian Federation today."...

Fifty-two-year-old Asher remembers what it was like being Jewish in the Soviet Union.
"If you said you were Jewish, you'd be downgraded in school. And if you were fighting in the army, you wouldn't get a medal no matter how brave you were. You'd just be sent to the most dangerous places," he says. "I remember the anecdotes and propaganda to humiliate and intimidate us. Jews and other nationalities were considered inferior. In the Soviet Union only Russians were good enough to rule."