In a synagogue in the western Ukrainian city of Uman, two people are worshiping in the cold and darkness.
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They carefully lay down their tefillin prayer boxes before heading into another room for the morning service, where their voices compete with the sound of air sirens outside.
"We spend the whole day in the synagogue, praying, studying the Torah," says Odele, 46. She left Israel a year ago to live here, some 124 miles south of Kyiv, to be close to the grave of the revered rabbi, Nachman of Breslov, who founded a Hasidic movement that settled in this town in the early 1800s.
She leans over her prayer book, lit with a pocket torch. Her son, one of her nine children, is glued to her side.
The war, she says, is "a sign from the messiah. It was written. It will start with war, then will come the apocalypse."
She is one of only two women left in the community.
Although the area has yet to see any significant combat, the frequent air sirens have encouraged most to head for Moldova, 80 miles to the southwest, leaving just 30 people.
The tomb of Nachman of Breslov, founder of a mystical Hasidic movement who died in 1810, attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims each year.
But now the neighborhood's storefronts, hotels, kosher restaurants and pharmacies are empty. There are few signs of life beyond the dogs roaming among the bins and the occasional ambulance.
Around the synagogue, some still try to keep to their routines, while gathering supplies and preparing for when the war reaches them.
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The basement room that houses the mikveh, a ritual bath, has been prepared as their bomb shelter.
A young member of the community, in military fatigues but without a weapon, liaises with the local militia.
Having served in the Israeli army, he took the responsibility of dealing with the Ukrainians: "We have found an agreement," he said brusquely.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
