However,
only four young women actually enrolled in the 2011-2012 course. According to Rabbi Weber, the Dnipropetrovsk
seminary fell victim to competition from new and/or upgraded programs based in
Brooklyn, Vienna, and Moscow that cater to the same Chabad demographic group. The
other programs offer a full year of academic credit ; additionally, the Moscow
program is free of charge and provides a stipend, whereas the Dnipropetrovsk
program cost $7,500 to participants. The
accreditation of Beit Chana by Touro College, which probably will occur in
2013,
should equalize the academic strength of the different programs. In the interim, i.e., for the 2012-1013
academic year, seminary girls at Beit Chana will travel to Moscow twice during
their Dnipropetrovsk sojourns for intensive course work leading to Moscow-based
Touro academic credit (that will be recognized at other Touro campuses). In a July conversation, Rabbi Stambler said
that 16 girls were expected to participate in the 2012-2013 Dnipropetrovsk
seminary under these interim arrangements.
9. A Special Needs Educational Resource Center,
funded by Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, enrolls
approximately 50 special needs Jewish children, adolescents, and young
adults. It operates in a suite of rooms
at the Beit Chana classroom building and uses an adjacent outdoor play area
designed especially for them. Different
groups of children and adolescents, classified according to age and nature of
disability, attend the Center on different days. Programs for disabled young adults are more
limited. A number of support activities are available
to parents of these individuals.
Rabbi
Shmuel Kaminezki, the Chief Rabbi of Dnipropetrovsk, said that Chabad is
committed to serving this population group.
It is almost certain, he declared, that the program will move with Beit
Chana to the centrally located new building following its renovation.
10. The most comprehensive Holocaust research
center in Ukraine and perhaps in all of the post-Soviet states is Tkumah,
the Dnipropetrovsk-based Ukrainian Holocaust Research, Education, and Memorial
Center. Directed by Dr. Igor
Schupak, Tkumah
is temporarily housed at the local hesed (welfare
center sponsored by the Joint Distribution Committee), Hesed Menachem, in the
center of Dnipropetrovsk. Dr. Schupak
and his colleagues are eagerly awaiting the day when they are able to move into
the Menorah Center, a facility that will accommodate their research needs,
library,
classrooms, and the Museum of Jewish History and Culture in Ukraine. Museum premises will include a large hall of
multimedia displays, a memorial space, and a center designed specifically for
children and families.
Dr. Igor Schupak, a
native of nearby Zaporizhya, is a recognized authority on Ukrainian Jewish
history, particularly the Holocaust in Ukraine.
He has written history textbooks for Ukrainian schools and is the author
of more than 100 scientific papers. Dr.
Schupak earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Toronto.
Photo: http://en.limmud.org.ua/index.php/programma/prezentjory/37-schupak. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
Overall,
the objectives of Tkumah are to: (1) conduct scholarly research about
the Holocaust through interviews of survivors, examination of pertinent
documents, and expeditions to relevant sites; (2) educate contemporary
Ukrainians about the Holocaust through publications, development of school
curricula, teacher training, and seminars and conferences; (3) encourage dialogue between Jews and other
Ukrainian ethnic groups through seminars and conferences for youth, adults, and
historians; and (4) arrange museum displays and related programming about the
Holocaust.
The writer was unable to
speak with Dr. Schupak during her May trip to Dnipropetrovsk. However, it was known that a major portion of
his work during that period concerned development of the museum displays to be
installed in the Menorah Center. In an
earlier interview, he emphasized a vision encompassing all of Ukrainian Jewish
history, that is, of Jewish life and civilization before the Soviet Union and
World War II, the destruction during the Soviet period and the Holocaust, and the
rebirth of Jewish life after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Only in Dnipropetrovsk, which Dr. Schupak
considers the strongest Jewish community in the post-Soviet states, could such
a museum be developed. Among all the
rabbis in the region, Dr. Schupak continued, only Rabbi Kaminezki could bring
together the financial support for this project.
Welfare
11. Hesed Menachem, the JDC-operated
welfare center, occupies a large building originally constructed as
preschool. Well-located in the center of
the city, the hesed nonetheless is moving into smaller premises at the Menorah
Center. The existing hesed building,
said JDC Dnipropetrovsk Director Esther Katz, is in deteriorating
condition and cannot be renovated to accommodate hesed needs. Additionally, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki believes
that elderly Jews should be welcomed into a Jewish community and cultural
center along with all other Jews.
Ms. Katz stated that the
hesed currently (May 2012) serves 7,500 elderly clients in
Dnipropetrovsk and the surrounding region.
Of these, 4,500 individuals comprise a “core” welfare group who receive
comprehensive services from the hesed, including regular food parcels and home
care. Another 3,000 receive supermarket
and pharmacy discount cards, optical and other medical care as needed, and are
invited to certain social events, such as holiday celebrations, at the hesed. Additionally, the hesed continues to operate
a senior adult day care center serving groups of elderly Jews, about 30 each
day, who come to the hesed twice each month for social and cultural activities,
breakfast, and a hot lunch. Medical
consultations, which previously were a feature of hesed services, now are
available much less frequently.
The hesed also provides
modest services to several hundred at-risk Jewish children and their
families. It operates a limited
number of social and cultural programs for special needs children and young
adults.
12.
The Beit Baruch Assisted Living Facility for elderly Jews opened in
2002, the first of only two dedicated housing facilities for Jewish seniors in
all of the post-Soviet states. Beit Baruch provides accommodations, meals,
medical care, and various social activities to its residents. Some reside in single rooms, others in doubles with a roommate. Each room has its own private bathroom. The facility is located in a relatively
quiet outlying district of Dnipropetrovsk on the site of a former
preschool. The original building was
completely razed and then replaced by a clean modern structure.
The
Beit Baruch Assisted Living Center is one of two dedicated Jewish elder care
homes in all of the post-Soviet states.
Photo: Chabad of Dnipropetrovsk.
Although the official capacity of Beit Baruch is 94,
American geriatric specialists recommend that the total number of residents not
exceed 75 to 80. The census at
the time of the writer’s visit was only 51 individuals, all of whom were in
their 80’s and 90’s. Beit Baruch also
accommodates individuals on therapeutic stays of two to two and one-half months
as they recover from hip replacement surgery; however, only four such individuals
had been in Beit Baruch during the last 12 months, said Beit Baruch management. The current relatively low number of both
short- and long-term residents reflects economic pressure deriving from the
need for extensive subsidy of the home and from the increasing number of
patients with dementia, each of whom requires an individual room without a
roommate.
A
Beit Baruch resident traverses the entrance hall with the aid of a caregiver en
route to the dining hall.
Photo: ЕВРЕЇ
ДНІПРОПЕТРОВЩИНИ: історіа та
сучасністью. (Дніпропетровськ: Арт-Прес, 2011),
66.
Residents
pay 40 to 60 percent of their pensions for accommodation at Beit Baruch, an
amount that may cover as little as 10 percent or as much as 40 percent of the
real cost ($5,000 annually) of their care at the facility. Subsidies to fill the funding gap are
provided by the Chabad Philanthropic Fund of Dnipropetrovsk and by Combined
Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, the Jewish federation in Boston. (The Joint Distribution Committee provides no
support to Beit Baruch.)
By far the most significant change in Beit Baruch since the writer’s
most recent previous visit in 2011 was the departure of Alexandra Kizhner, the
longtime manager, who returned to Israel – and her replacement by Mila
Ruvinskaya. Ms. Ruvinskaya’s most
recent past employment had been as a director of patronage (home healthcare)
services for the hesed. In that
capacity, she usually was responsible for the care of 160 homebound seniors and
the 30 workers who attended to them.
Mila
Ruvinskaya, right, is the new manager of Beit Baruch.
Photo: the writer.
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