Rabbi Mikhail Rosenfeld
described the Galitzky synagogue as a program center trying to attract an
audience. Religious services are held according
to a regular schedule, he said. About 40
people attend the synagogue on Friday evenings and on Shabbat mornings.
Holidays draw a larger group. A Sunday
school attracts eight to 15 youngsters; attendance is "unstable," he said. All
holidays are celebrated, sometimes in professionally-led theater-type performances
in order to attract people. For example,
a Purim shpiel is professionally performed, and major festivities are staged for
Shavuot, Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israel Independence Day), and other special days. Lecturers from Israel make presentations. A "face-to-face" series also attempts
to attract the local Jewish intelligentsia; this series features local economists,
historians, and other specialists who speak on Jewish subjects, Israel, current
events in the Middle East, and other subjects that might be of interest to educated
Ukrainian Jews.
Rabbi Pinchas
Rosenfeld,
who entered the discussion somewhat late due to childcare issues, expressed frustration
with his work in Kyiv. Everything here in
Ukraine that is Jewish, he stated, is "artificial".
The task of the Rosenfeld brothers is to create high-level Jewish programs
that attract the Jewish intelligentsia; these programs should include not only Judaism
as a religion, he declared, but also Jewish culture and Jewish history.
Russian-speaking Jews need rabbis who are well-educated, wise, and native
Russian-speakers. The rabbis in Podil, said
the Rosenfeld brothers, don't think. They
just talk and repeat what they have heard elsewhere, especially in their yeshivas. That methodology, the brothers continued, may
work for laborers and others who do not live in the intellectual world, but it is
not effective for the intelligentsia. Contemporary
Russian Jews require a much more sophisticated type of Jewish education.
Further, said Rabbi Pinchas Rosenfeld, only an approach to Judaism that is
rooted in Russian culture will encourage Russian-speaking Jews to re-claim their
Jewish heritage. Former haredim often come
to Galitzky to discuss these issues with them, the rabbis said.
In addition to creating and directing programs
at the Galitzky synagogue, the two brothers also develop Jewish program content
for the Jewish Agency and for JDC. Rabbi
Pinchas Rosenfeld also works with Hillel.
Rabbi Pinchas Rosenfeld acknowledged that they have attracted few local Jews to
a substantial Judaism, interest in Jewish history, or concern about other Jewish
matters. He sees no deep commitment among
indigenous Kyiv Jews to anything Jewish.
His two-year commit-ment to Galitzky ends soon and he is thinking about returning
to Israel to educate Russian-speaking Jews within Israel.
He would like to develop a program that is responsive and attractive to the
intellectual heritage of Russian-speaking Jews.
He is very frustrated in Kyiv and sees little point in continuing to work
there when he doesn't believe in what he is doing.
Whatever he does professionally, he said, must be rooted in Russian culture
and he would like to work in an environment where he is able to pursue that approach
intensively.
Israeli Rabbis Mikhail Rosenfeld
(left) and Pinchas Rosenfeld with the child of the latter are seen in an office
at the Galitzky synagogue.
Photo: the writer.
Current financial
supporters of the Galitzky program are the Genesis Philanthropy Group of Moscow,
the Pincus Fund of the Jewish Agency for Israel, the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund
((Joods Humanitair Fonds), and a few local people. A religious Zionist youth group in Israel provides
funds for summer and winter camps that enroll about 100 Galitzky students and young
adults, said the Rosenfeld brothers.
82. Limmud is very active in Ukraine,
holding at least one three-day conference annually.
The next Limmud event is scheduled for October in Odesa, said Iosif Akselrud,
who is the volunteer chairman of Limmud Ukraine. He anticipates an attendance of as
many as 600 people for the Odesa program, which will feature the 65th anniversary
of Israel as a theme. Presenters include
professionals and laypeople who will speak on Israeli history, culture, Zionism,
and other topics of interest. It is likely
that 60 to 70 percent of those in attendance will be Hillel veterans, said Mr. Akselrud.
83.
Moishe House in Kyiv continues to offer a variety of programs designed
to encourage Jewish young adult participation in Jewish life.
Some programs take place within their subsidized large apartment and others
mobilize participants as a group in the greater Jewish community.
Among the apartment activities are Shabbat dinners and services, havdala,
presentations by various local and visiting experts on Jewish topics, and Jewish
trivia competitions. Occasionally, they said,
they even engage in frivolus activities, such as forming a musical ensemble that
used tin cans, kitchen pots and pans, and comparable items as musical instruments.
In the broader community.
Moishe House organizes groups to participate in community-wide events, such as Israel
Independence Day celebrations. They also
assemble teams of volunteer to work on specific projects.
The
writer spoke with the four young women who reside in Moishe House Victoria Milanova
, far left, has lived in Moishe House
for several years. She is the office manager
at the Galtizky synagogue and previously worked for JDC; she is a native of Kirovohrad
and a graduate of Project Kesher programs.
Olga Bard, second from left, works at the European Jewish Union, an organization
founded and led by two Ukrainian oligarchs, Vadym Rabynovych and Ihor Kolo-moisky.
Olga is from Brovary, a small city to the east
of Kyiv. She was a Lewis Summer Intern at
the Jewish Fed-eration of Metropolitan Chicago.
Anna Pekina, second from right, is from Luhansk in eastern Ukraine
and now works in tourism in Kyiv. Anna is active in several Jewish community programs.
Her sister and her family live in Jerusalem.
Anna Taube, far right, is from Kharkiv and worked in the Jewish community
there. She now directs a puppet theater in
Kyiv, but would like to live in Jerusalem someday.
Photo: the writer.
Moishe House maintains
contact with interested Jewish young adults in their 20's and early 30's by email. The four residents stated that the program
is non-political and non-denominational among Jewish religious streams.
They collaborate with all Jewish organizations in the city, including the
Jewish Agency, JDC, Hillel, and others.
84.
JAFARI (Jewish
safari) is a private company that creates Jewish cultural and educational programs
for the Kyiv Jewish population. Known for
its mobile Jewish-theme scavenger hunts, its leaders, Masha Pushkova and
Marina Lysak, stated that business has leveled off in that domain and in
several other areas, a consequence of contemporary financial difficulties among
its primary client base.
However, interest has increased
in their private Hebrew ulpans, an upsurge that they attribute to growing
interest in emigration and aliyah to Israel.
They now manage four ulpan groups, each meeting twice weekly and each enrolling
between five and ten people. The demand is
there for additional ulpan sections, the two women said, but they cannot accomodate
more students in the space that is available to them.
They rent a room in the Sholom Aleichem Museum, they continued, which holds
a maximum of 15 to 20 people in less than ideal conditions.
They would like to have their own space in the center of the city, but that
is finan-cially unrealistic at this time.
Masha Pushkova, left,
works in a variety of Jewish and Hebrew cultural endeav-ors.
Marina Lysak, right, is an invest-ment manager whose involvement in JAFARI
is part-time.
Photo:
the writer.
Most
of their ulpan students, continued Ms. Pushkova and Ms. Lysak, work in regular
jobs during the day and come for lessons after work.
They use an "irreverent" approach to teaching Hebrew, they said,
employing informal discussion and music.
Some students have already completed basic JAFI ulpans, stated the two women, but
others are rank beginners. They also offer
"studio" ulpan classes for children, which have attracted an adult following
as well.
They
have a strong relationship with the Jewish Agency, they said, often creating
unique programs for JAFI camp evenings and special days.
One of the favorite activities, commented the two women, is a mini-Limmud
event in which campers are able to select from among several classes/activities
available to them.
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