Reading Esther in the Ruins of a Ukrainian Synagogue

Meylakh Sheykhet, lay leader of the Turei Zehav community, opened a heavy wooden door and beckoned me inside. He was rushing, because although the Book of Esther -- or megila -- should be read at sundown, his community moved its reading to the late afternoon, "because everyone wants to get home before curfew" at 10 p.m., he said. Without a rabbi and a proper building, Turei Zahav is not considered one of the two operating synagogues in a city that was home to over 100 sanctuary buildings before World War II.