
The interior of the synagogue prayer hall was restored
to its former elegance under the direction of Rabbi and Mrs. Moskovitz. It had
been used as a basketball court and then abandoned during the Soviet period.
Photos:
http://www.synagogue.kharkov.ua/photo.php?url=img/syna_01.jpg&name. Retrieved May 11, 2009 and
subsequently printed in the writer’s report A Spring Visit to Ukraine –
March-April 2009.
As noted elsewhere, both the girls’ machon and the
young women’s Akademia program meet in synagogue classrooms. Local
STARS classes (70 girls and 30 boys), said Rabbi Moskovitz, use the classrooms
at different times, and several club rooms accommodate various activities for
children. The large dining hall in the basement provides hot lunches for 40
elderly Jews on weekdays and 70 on Shabbat, Rabbi Moskovitz stated.
Additionally, Rabbi Moskovitz noted, a business club of young men
between the ages of 20 and 40 gather in a smaller dining room for lunch every
Friday to learn about business from successful older Jewish entrepreneurs.
Rabbi Moskovitz has developed a (Chabad) Jewish
Community Board of Trustees of some 50 individuals, each of whom
contributes a minimum of $1,000 monthly to local Chabad operations. Within
this group of 50 people, Rabbi Moskovitz noted, is an executive of four
men (three younger men and one older man) who are exceptionally active; this
group, said Rabbi Mosko-vitz, gives significantly more money, is much better
informed, and recruits new members for the Board. Members of the Executive
respect each other, Rabbi Moskovitz continued, and feel a strong responsibility
toward the Jewish community. They believe that the synagogue must be a home to
every Jew. The magnificence of the building itself attracts people, Rabbi
Moskovitz noted. In all, said Rabbi Moskovitz, he raises enough money locally
to cover all expenses for the community, except salaries and expenses for local
STARS classes (which are supported by outside donors) and salaries and expenses
for two Israeli teachers of Jewish subjects at the day school (who are
supported by the Israeli Ministry of Education).
In addition to the regular Board
of Trustees, Rabbi Moskovitz continued, one wealthy individual, Alexander
Feldman,
distributes about $15,000 monthly of his own money through the synagogue. Mr.
Feldman personally receives needy Jews at the synagogue who petition him for
various types of support. In addition to offering funds for food, medical
care, and housing, Mr. Feldman also pays lawyers to help individuals resolve
legal problems.
Alexander Feldman, right, controls the massive Kharkiv
wholesale and retail Barabashovo mar-ket, as well as a number of other business
concerns.
Photo: http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail /93039/#ixzz1SIkygBS2.
Retrieved July 17, 2011.
Another private sponsor, said Rabbi
Moskovitz, distributes parcels of kosher sausage, kosher wine, and other
products to the homes of elderly Jews in the city on their birthdays. Young
people enrolled in the STARS program visit the homes of recipients and write
reports of their findings, thus providing the synagogue with information about
people who require their assistance.
Chabad also owns and operates its own summer
camp at a site outside the city. Plans to renovate it into a year-round
facility await better economic times.
39. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations
of America (OU; New York) maintained a significant Jewish education
presence in Kharkiv from 1992 until 2009. Their program included a Jewish day
school,
a downtown youth and student center, and a summer camp. The youth and student
center operated a morning yeshiva and other educational programs for university
students, a Saturday evening Jewish café for young people, programs for
adolescents, and a dormitory that housed out-of-town high school pupils
enrolled at Lycée
Sha’alavim. All of these activities were led and supervised by teams
of three young Israeli modern Orthodox rabbis and their wives who also taught
Jewish-content classes at the Lycée; the rabbis remained in Kharkiv for terms
of three years, then returned to Israel and were replaced by other young
rabbis. The program was strongly Zionist in direction, encouraging
participants to make aliyah and providing some guidance for those who elected
to do so.
Over time, the depth and breadth of the OU program
contracted, reflecting a lack of leadership and commitment within the
Orthodox Union, Jewish demographic losses in Kharkiv, and the economic crisis
that began in 2008. In 2009, the program was closed upon revelation in the
local press of a scandal involving local Kharkiv OU leadership. Dmitry Shuval,
the 27-year old chairman of the Kharkiv OU program, was arrested for embezzling
OU funds that were invested (unsuccessfully) in London; he had taken out loans
on some OU property to finance his speculative efforts in the British capital.
At the time of the writer’s most recent visit to Kharkiv (March 2011), the
Orthodox Union was said to retain use of one floor (instead of the previous
three floors) of the downtown building; some programs continued within this
space, directed by a young modern Orthodox couple from Israel whose sponsorship
was not clear to local Jews or to Rabbi Moskovitz. Rabbi Moskovitz and others
anticipated that it was just a matter of time before the downtown presence
ended.
National and International Organizations
40. The Jewish Agency for Israel office in
Kharkiv supervises all JAFI operations in Kharkiv and the surrounding region
and in Donetsk and the Donetsk region. In the absence of Elena Faingold,
the director of the JAFI office, who was out of town, the writer met with George
Faingold,
Ms. Faingold’s husband, and with Anya Landberg, the director of JAFI
education programs in the region.
Mr. Faingold said that aliyah from the area
(Kharkiv and Donetsk) was “very high” in 2010, totaling 440 people compared
with only 250 in 2009. Even greater emigration to Israel was anticipated in
2011, he continued; he noted that 110 people had already left for Israel during
the first three months of the year. The economic situation was “pushing”
people out of Ukraine, he explained. The situation in small industrial centers
near Donetsk was especially dire, he continued; these were cities with
obsolescent single industries in metallurgy or related fields. Young people in
these areas saw no future for themselves in Ukraine and were eager to leave.
Ms. Landberg commented that many Jewish young people in the area identified
strongly with the Jewish people and with Israel because they had attended JAFI
summer camps and also participated in Taglit (birthright Israel) and other
programs.
Ms. Landberg described JAFI educational programs
in the region. In all, she said, JAFI operates 13 Hebrew ulpans,
of which six are located in Donetsk, three are in Kharkiv, and the remainder in
other cities. Each ulpan meets twice weekly in two-hour sessions and includes
Jewish identification content, she said. Ms. Landberg noted that all JAFI
ulpans now require fees from participants, whereas the Israel Culture Center in
the same building offers an ulpan free of charge.
The JAFI Youth Club in Kharkiv attracts 70 young
people on a regular basis. They range in age between 13 and 25, said Ms.
Landberg, and are divided into age groups for various activities, including
holiday celebrations and intellectual games. As many as 400 come for special
events, such as Israel Independence Day.
JAFI operates two week-long summer camp sessions,
enrolling a total of 250 youngsters and students from the region. One camp
session is for teenagers and the other is for students. Although summer camp
is by far the most popular JAFI youth activity, said Ms. Landberg, the length
of the sessions seems to be reduced from one year to the next because of
financial concerns. JAFI rents a local camp facility near Kharkiv, she
continued, but problems have arisen with this site and JAFI will need to find
another place for future use. In response to a question about winter camps,
Ms. Landberg said that the last winter camp was held about five years ago; JAFI
no longer has funds for winter camp programs.
Taglit (birthright
Israel) trips to Israel always have full rosters, stated Ms. Landberg.
JAFI operates three from the region (Kharkiv and Donetsk), one each in winter,
May, and August. Each goes with a full busload of 40 participants and a
waiting list of people left behind. Hillel also has its own Taglit trip, she
noted, as does the Chabad STARS program.
|