The Israel Culture Center operates a variety of
programs, including an ulpan and various clubs related to Israeli culture,
such as an Israeli cinema club. Its
major youth activities are sponsorship of an adapted version of Israeli
scouting for local Jewish adolescents and Maccabee sports clubs. Additionally, it offers its own Taglit and
MASA programs.
The ICC also subsidizes lectures by Israeli
professors at local universities, usually on topics related to Israel, such
as the Middle East conflict, the Israel economic system, or comparable
subjects. In addition to familiarizing
students and faculty with Israel and the Middle East, these events also attract
Jewish students and faculty members who remain fearful of openly identifying as
Jews, but will attend public lectures and may ask questions or converse with
the speaker after the presentation. The
ICC attempts to organize follow-up sessions that will attract lecture attendees
and encour-age them to participate in additional Israel-related programs.
Nelly Shulman, right, is a second
secretary accredited to the Embassy of Israel in Kyiv and the Consul of Israel
in Dnipropetrovsk. She also directs the
Israel Culture Center in Dnipropetrovsk.
Photo: http://djc.com.ua. Retrieved September
19, 2012
The
Israel Culture Center is centrally located in the city and invites outside
Jewish organizations to use its large multi-purpose room for meetings and
social activities.
23. The sister-city relationship between the
Boston and Dnipropetrovsk Jewish communities, various details of which are
noted elsewhere in this section, was initiated in 1992 and
today is the most comprehensive of any “kehilla” project connecting North
American and post-Soviet Jewish population centers. It involves both Jewish and non-sectarian
entities in each city, although most of the latter appear to have been promoted
by Boston-area Jews. The relationship also includes some projects involving
Haifa, Boston’s partner city in Israel.
Combined Jewish
Philanthropies of Greater Boston (the Boston Jewish federation) provides
essential subsidies to Beit Baruch, the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish day school, and
certain other programs. Education components of the relationship include
consultations in special education to the special needs program housed at Beit
Chana and methodology for teaching English as a second language at School #144.
Exchanges of teachers take place frequently, and Boston-area Jewish teens
travel to Dnipropetrovsk for a winter camp with local Jewish adolescents.
Occasionally, the teen exchange also involves youngsters from Haifa as well. A
medical assistance program provides critical expertise in geriatric care, as
well as advice, training, and advanced technology in pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology
to Dnipropetrovsk clinics and hospitals.
Boston Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, although an independent entity,
initiated its Adopt-a-Bubbe program in association with the sister-city effort.
Although some refer to the
relationship as a “partnership,” almost all initiatives and funding originate
in Boston. Unlike other relationships between North American Jewish federations
and post-Soviet Jewish population centers, the Boston-Dnipropetrovsk
relationship does not include collaborative projects with the Joint
Distribution Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel, or the Hillel student
organization.
Kharkiv
Founded
in 1653 at the confluence of the Udy, Lopan, and Kharkiv rivers, Kharkiv today
is a city of 1.4 million people, the second largest municipality in
Ukraine. Capital of Ukraine from 1921 to
1934, it remains a center of industry, culture, and higher edu-cation. Its
industrial core is based on armaments and complex machinery, some of which has
been sold in controversial arms deals to rogue states. Notwithstanding the relative sophistication
of a portion of its economic base, however, the larger economy of Kharkiv and
the surrounding area is floundering, a result of general Ukrainian economic conditions,
poor governance, and a failure of local officials to embrace private business
initiatives. Unemployment is high, and
the general mood of Kharkiv residents appears sour.
Kharkiv
is a major university center in Ukraine, hosting more than 25
institutions of higher education, including 13 national universities. The total number of students in the city is
about 150,000, of whom approximately 9,000 are from other countries. Young adults are University of
Radioelectrnics
very visible throughout the
city as they attend classes in universities and other institutions of higher
education. Perhaps as many as 26,000
scientists are employed in Kharkiv’s universities and three national research
institutes.
The city is highly
Russified, a product of its location near the Russian border and the key role
of its industrial and educational institutions in the former Soviet Union.
24. The Jewish
population of Kharkiv probably is between 15,000 and 30,000 according to
the Israeli Law of Return, although the writer has heard both higher and lower estimates. Jews are prominent in almost every sphere of
Kharkiv life, including government, business and industry, science and
technology, education, and culture; most openly identify as Jews and are
friendly to Jewish organizations.
However, as is the case in most post-Soviet large cities, only a small number
of local Jews appear to find any existing Jewish institutions of interest to
them. Participation in Jewish activity
is low.
Jewish
Education and Culture
25. Enrollment in the Chabad
Jewish day school (School #170) continues to fall, declining from its peak
of 502 in 2003 to 352 in 2010-2011 and 303 in 2011-2012. According to Grigory Shoichet, the
veteran and respected principal of the school, the decrease in school census
is due to emigration (to Israel, Germany, and the Nether-lands), a sharply
lower birthrate in the turbulent 1990's and the earliest years of the last
decade, and a decision by some parents to transfer their children to other
schools in order to avoid long bus rides to the somewhat remotely located
School #170 buildings. The general school
is split between two facilities: a renovated former preschool structure that
now accommodates the Chabad preschool and grades one through four, and the
upper two floors of a general public school that are home to grades five
through eleven. Also included in the
school census are youngsters enrolled in more intensive religious pro-grams,
i.e., a small machon for girls in grades five through 11 that meets in the
choral synagogue and a cheder and yeshiva katana for boys that are located in a
partially renovated former synagogue.
Grigory Shoichet is
among the most respected Jewish day school principals in the post-Soviet
states. Long past normal retirement age,
he continues to preside over a school declining in enrollment due to factors
beyond his control.
Photo: the writer.
Student families are unable
to assist the school in any meaningful way, commented Mr. Shoichet, observing
that unemployment among parents is between 30 and 40 percent. However, the Board of Trustees of the local
Chabad community purchased 15 new computers for the school, thus
eliminating the most significant weakness in the school curriculum, computer
technology.
Despite the serious
economic problems faced by many School #170 families, Mr. Shoichet said, the
school is academically sound. Its pupils
traditionally have performed well in interschool academic competitions,
particularly in mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics. Recently, he added, they also have been
successful in Hebrew language and Bible competitions. The addition of new computer technology in
the school should boost student scores in that field of study as well.
The Jewish studies
curriculum consists of six class hours each week - three in Hebrew
language, two in Jewish tradition, and one in Jewish history - in elementary
and middle school, stated Mr. Shoichet.
In the upper grades, the Jewish studies component increases to eight
class periods every week. Additionally,
Jewish content is significant in both art and music classes. Using classroom space made available by
declining enrollment, three small Jewish museums have been developed in upper
school premises; these deal with Jewish history, the Holocaust in Ukraine,
synagogue architecture, and other Jewish subjects.
School #170 does not have a
conventional gymnasium or sports hall.
However, Mr. Shoichet, a former boxing champion of Ukraine, teaches
boxing to boys and karate to girls.
Archery and certain other sports also are available on a limited
basis. The school rents sports
facilities at a nearby medical school.
26. The writer was unable to meet with Rabbi
Levi Raices, who directs a yeshiva katana for approximately 40 boys
in fifth through eleventh grades. The
educational program is that of a mesivta, i.e., a curriculum that
includes full courses in both religious and secular studies. Most boys are from poor single-parent
families, Rabbi Raices acknowledged in a prior interview, and are attracted to
the yeshiva by stipends offered to all students. The single parents also find the extended-day
curriculum appealing.
The yeshiva katana is
located in the building of a former synagogue that has been renovated to serve
as a school. This structure also
accommodates a heder, a school for approximately 15 boys of pre-Bar
Mitzvah age who are sons of rabbis in the city.
27. The Kharkiv Chabad machon
currently enrolls 40 girls in grades five through eleven. Only five girls are daughters of rabbis,
said Miriam Yakimenko, principal of the program. The remaining 35 are recruited from the
School #170 lower school and are attracted to the machon by its small classes,
extended-day schedule, and supportive atmosphere, Ms. Yakimenko continued. Tuition is 100 hryvnia [about US$12] per
month, but is adjusted to accommodate different income levels of families - and
some girls are enrolled without charge.
Machon Principal Miriam
Yakimenko is a graduate of School #170.
Photo: the writer.
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