Oleg Vyshniakov - Ukraine and Israel. October 1 – there are two holidays.

My friends, today is the International Day of Older Persons and the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. On Sukkot, it is customary to lift up the Lulav. Lulav is a symbol of the unity of the Jewish people, believers and not, good and evil, religious and not become a single entity, one nation. Union nation – is primarily a mutual aid, respect and care about each other.

They say that the civilization of a society is defined by how in it concern to children and to older people. Since childhood I was taught that old age persons should be respected, and the youngest not to offend.

Since today is also the Day of Older Persons, I want to talk about the old age people in Ukraine. It is not just about small pensions, expensive medicines, and about the perception of the topic of caring for older people as such.

Today there are many stories where older people are isolated, deprived, useless and without a livelihood. Sometimes even our own children don't want to mess with cranky older men. When stumbling blocks become property issues, we all know the sad history of how native people can just kick the old age persons out of the house. Sometimes the older people go "in people" by themselves, unable to withstand the abuse of their own children.

Meanwhile, there is own culture of meeting the oldest in each of the countries. In Europe, USA, the same Israel, when the time comes, the elderly go away from children in special hospices by themselves. There they live among their circle of friends, in its "monoculture", a lot of specialists looks after them and loves them. And most importantly, even every older person can live in such a beautiful place.

The approach to the perception of the old age people in Ukraine is somewhat different. Grandparents decided to live out the last years in their own families, often making the lives of their relatives very miserable. Due to the lack of budget and service organizations for the care of the older persons, the terrible condition of existing public nursing homes, the fact of leaving such an institution is perceived as a death sentence. Of course, there is a great facility, with modern equipment and due care, but to send an old age member of the family to this place is very expensive. Not to mention the fact that Ukrainian pensioner can’t paid for it be himself. I think this is a very painful subject for Ukraine and there is a lot of work in this direction. I hope the Honorary Consulate will be able to solve this kind of problem.

I want to encourage you to combine these two holidays and to remember about your nation and to think about your relatives. Let us remember those who are old and infirm, lonely or in need – and take care of them.

Peace and health to you and your families.