The Hillel
students ate dinner at Hesed Yehuda and listened to a brief concert
by young Jewish musicians. Each student received a small gift (such
as a challah cover) made by an elderly client in a hesed workshop.
Immediately before dinner, the students divided
into small groups and visited individual Jewish elderly in their
apartments. The writer went to an Open
Home, an apartment in which ten elderly Jews had gathered
for a modified seder. A World War II veteran led the ritual, mainly
in Hebrew. Several other participants read poetry that they had
written about the holiday or about other aspects of Jewish life.
The man at right led the seder in
Hebrew and Russian. The man at the left remained silent throughout
the seder in a Kishinev JDC Open Home.
98. On the seventh
(and last full) day, the students
had some free time during the first part of the morning and then
met at the JDC office for a summary
and evaluation of their experience in Moldova. The following points
were made by the Illinois students:
-
They had expected that all Moldovan Jews
would be ignorant of Judaism and Jewish custom, and that Moldovan
Jewry would lack Jewish institutions. The Americans were surprised
to find that some Moldovan Jews are well educated in Jewish
tradition and practice, and that numerous Jewish institutions
exist in the country.
-
The Moldovan Hillel students were friendly
and helpful throughout the visit. The planning 
meetings at the beginning of the Hillel Pesach Project experience
in Kishinev were very useful in helping the two groups of students
to become acquainted.
Planning meetings were productive and helped Hillel members
from Illinois and Moldova become acquainted with one another.
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- The Illinois students were pleasantly surprised by the quality
of the meals throughout the trip.
- They would recommend more comprehensive preparation in Chicago
prior to departure. They suggested a weekend workshop in which
they would meet each other, learn background information on Moldova
and Moldovan Jewry, and review Pesach traditions. They also suggested
establishment of e-mail contact with their Moldovan Hillel counterparts
several months before Pesach.
- A tour of Kishinev in general (not only Jewish Kishinev) at
the beginning of the trip would be helpful. Similarly, Illinois
students would also like to meet Moldovan political, business,
and cultural figures. They would like to meet people from other
minority populations.
- The students would like to spend more time with individual elderly
Jews in Moldova so as to learn their personal histories. (They
recognize that additional translators will be necessary for fulfillment
of such a project.)
- They would like to do a community service project while in Moldova.
66
- They would like more time in Moldova, perhaps two additional
days, in which all participants would visit the Transdnistr area
(because the situation in Transdnistr is contemporary history),
visit more small Jewish population centers, and have more free
time.
- They would like more mixed small-group activity, e.g., programs
in which two or three American and two or three Moldovan Hillel
members work together.
- They would contribute more than $800 in remaining group and
individual funds to specific program areas in Kishinev Hillel
and in Hesed Yehuda.
- They believe that the JDC pre-occupation with security concerns
was excessive.
67
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In
discussing potential further developments (follow-up) to the trip,
the Illinois students suggested:
- The two groups of students should maintain contacts through
e-mail, a web-page, and/or a reunion in Chicago or in Israel.68
- Perhaps some of the Chicago students could work at the JDC-Hillel
family camp in Moldova.
- One or more of the American participants in the 1998 Pesach
project could be the (graduate) student leader(s) of the 1999
Pesach project.
- The Illinois students should combine the results of their individual
video and photographic efforts in an "official" Hillels
of Illinois video.
- The Illinois students should participate actively in fundraising
efforts to develop an endowment fund for perpetuation of Illinois
Hillel participation in such projects.
99. Following conclusion of the evaluation meeting,
the writer met with the American students to review
several broad topics: (a) the general political and economic situation
in independent Moldova, in terms of student observations and in
terms of the remarks of the U.S. Ambassador on the previous day;
(b) Jewish life in Moldova; and (c) the programs of the various
international Jewish organizations represented in Moldova, including
their sources of support. The latter topic included some discussion
of Jewish federation fund raising, UJA, the process of allocating
communal funds, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany, and the role of private foundations in supporting Jewish
communal endeavors.69
100. Logistics problems delayed the Illinois Hillel
meeting with the local Jewish Agency
for Israel (JAFI; Sochnut) representation until after the
evaluation meeting described above. Given the controversy that the
JAFI meeting generated, an opportunity to discuss several aspects
of it in the context of evaluation would have been helpful. Unfortunately,
such an opportunity did not arise.
Victor Fisher,
the Jewish Agency shaliach, had requested five hours with the students,
during which they would be escorted to several different JAFI programs.
Because of a conflicting commitment, the writer joined Mr. Fisher's
introductory session some 40 minutes after it had started. As the
writer entered Mr. Fisher's office, it was apparent that the shaliach's
approach had produced considerable tension, even hostility, among
the American Hillel students. In later discussions, the students
commented that Mr. Fisher's remarks about several segments of the
Jewish population had been offensive.70
Mr. Fisher observed that many young Moldovan Jews
wished to make aliyah. JAFI had just concluded a three-day seminar
in which 72 Moldovan Jews between the ages of 18 and 27 discussed
various aspects of emigration and absorption in Israel. No issue,
even prostitution or narcotics use in Israel, was out of bounds
for discussion, said Mr. Fisher. Mr. Fisher then ended the introductory
session, suggesting that the Illinois students wait in the hallway
in the local JAFI office until he could find ulpan classes and other
activities that they could observe
After much standing and walking about in the corridor,
groups of students were directed to several program areas. The writer
and several of the Hillel students visited a small ulpan class for
young adults. The Israeli teacher was scheduled to return to Israel
in two days. He distributed sheet music of an Israeli song to the
ulpan students and played the song on a tape recorder. The ulpan
students listened to the song and then attempted to sing along,
but their efforts yielded only limited success.
All of the Hillel students then attended a session
of the JAFI Student Club, which had been convened especially for
Hillel. A representative from the Student Club said that 15 of its
members had left for Israel since the club was organized one year
previously. Those 15 had been replaced by another 15 students who
had joined the club in the past year. A group of students would
make aliya together in six months as part of the Yachad
(Together) program, which encourages young adults to immigrate in
groups of friends who will be mutually supportive.
At the suggestion of the Americans, the Moldovan
students introduced themselves, declared their academic majors and
career plans, and explained why and when they planned to emigrate
to Israel. Their career plans spanned a broad range of technical
and liberal arts fields. Most said that Israel appeared to offer
far more opportunities for the future than did the stagnating economy
of Moldova. Many wanted to join close relatives in Israel who would
assist them in the absorption process. A few mentioned Zionism and/or
Jewish continuity as reasons. Some had plans to emigrate at a specific
time, e.g., immediately after graduation or in six months, but some
said only that they were certain that they would leave within the
next several years. |

66. Marina
Fromer, the JDC "Country Director" for Southern Ukraine
and Moldova, had suggested such a project during preliminary discussions
with the writer about the trip. Ms. Fromer had suggested participation
in the delivery of meals on wheels, helping in a JDC dining hall,
or similar work. However, no action was taken on this suggestion.
67. The
students resented the presence of JDC security guards near their
rooms in their hotel and the insistence by JDC that they not walk
around Kishinev on their own without security person-nel. They seemed
not to absorb explanations about the high crime rate in the post-Soviet
successor states and the reality that foreigners often are perceived
as easy targets.
68. The
web page, entitled Hiillel United, can be seen at http://members.tripod.com/~hillelunited.
69. On
several occasions, JDC personnel had noted that a particular program
was funded in part by a private foundation, such as the Harry and
Jeanette Weinberg Foundation of Baltimore.
70. According
to the students, Mr. Fisher spoke in a condescending manner about
poorly educated local Jews with university degrees, middle-age people
who are difficult to absorb and become burdens to their young adult
children in Israel, and mentally retarded and otherwise handicapped
individuals who also cause absorption problems in Israel.
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