44. The Hillel student organization
plays an important role in the lives of Jewish students in Kharkiv, a
university city. According to Yulia Pototskaya, the longtime and
respected Hillel director in Kharkiv, about 700 students participate in Hillel
every year, representing almost every institution of higher education in the
city. About 220 of these participate at least once monthly. Russian
"political tourists" have created some danger in the streets after
dark, said Ms. Pototskaya, so certain Hillel evening activities have been
suspended. However, everything is quiet in the office, she stated.
Asked
about the mood of students during the current turbulent times, Ms.
Pototskaya responded that many are afraid of war. They are very anti-Russian,
she said, perceiving Russia as the aggressor in the ongoing con-frontation.
Some Hillel students traveled to Kyiv to par-ticipate in the demonstrations on
Maidan; one was wounded and is now recovering, stated Ms. Pototskaya. Several
Kharkiv Hillel students actually moved to Kyiv to volunteer as cooks for the
protestors or to raise money for Ukraine.
Yulia
Pototskaya, the longtime Hillel director in Kharkiv, is very nervous about
Russian actions and intentions in Ukraine.
Photo: the writer.
Ms. Pototskaya has met some of the Russian
infiltrators who present themselves as students. However, she averred, they do
not speak or act like students. It is clear to everyone that they are not
ordinary university students.
Kharkiv Jewish young people, continued Ms. Pototskaya,
are very apprehensive about the future, especially in Kharkiv, which is so close
to the border with Russia. Many are "sitting on their suitcases," seeking
opportunities abroad. There is great interest in the MASA internship in
Israel program, she said. It is likely, she continued, that those who go
abroad for studies or for an internship will remain abroad.
45. Beit Dan is a JDC-operated Jewish
community center housed within a large JDC structure that opened in 2011. Yanna
Mastrenko, Director of Beit Dan, stated that activities of the Center focus
on transmission of Jewish culture and tradition. It aims to unify Kharkiv
Jewish society, she continued, encompassing all age and interest groups. Beit
Dan attracts about 5,000 participants each month, using both the new building
and an older facility, said Ms. Mastrenko.
A
fee-based preschool located in the older building and designed to
attract middle-class families enrolls 56 children between the ages of two and
five, Ms. Mastrenko stated.
Beit Dan also operates a program known as Mazel Tov for at-risk children of
preschool age; although families with children in Mazel Tov often are
underprivileged, they also pay a fee. For school-age children, Beit Dan
offers fee-based programs in various arts and in sports (although its
facilities do not include a sports hall). These and other age-appropriate
activities are available throughout most of the day during school vacation
periods, said Ms. Mastrenko. Adolescents may participate in activities
geared to their own age group, including volunteer projects (visiting elderly
hesed clients in their homes, collecting gifts for children in orphanages,
planning and operating holiday programs for orphanage children, etc.).
Yanna
Mastrenko directs Beit Dan, a JDC-operated Jewish com-munity center in Kharkiv.
Photo: the author.
Beit Dan also organizes holiday
celebrations and concerts in its large multi-purpose room, which is
equipped with a stage and advanced lighting and audio technology. Among its
other community activities are "Days of Jewish Culture" in the
city, various discussion clubs and study circles, and a Знакомство Club
("Acquaintance" Club, i.e, a Jewish dating service) "with good
results," said Ms. Mastrenko. Beit Dan also has organized a two-day
Shabbaton at a nearby resort and, in the past, has organized summer family
camps in Crimea. Ms. Mastrenko said that the 2014 family camp had been
scheduled for Crimea as well, but that Russian occupation of the territory
probably renders those plans unrealistic. A decision about an alternate site
would be made by JDC officials elsewhere, not in Kharkiv. In the meantime,
"Мы ждем." (We are waiting
[for a decision by others.])
Welfare
46. The JDC hesed in Kharkiv serves
9,000 clients, including 400 who live in smaller Jewish population centers
outside Kharkiv itself, stated Boris Murashkovsky, longtime hesed
director. The number of clients, he averred, continues to decline from year to
year as JDC tightens requirements for assistance; further, no new clients are
accepted in place of those who die. The majority of clients - 8,000 - are
elderly, 65 percent of whom are eligible for Claims Conference benefits as
Holocaust survivors. The additional benefits accorded Holocaust survivors
generate great bitterness among those who escaped the Holocaust and thus are
ineligible for these services; it is very difficult to explain this situation
to non-recipient clients, Mr. Murashkovsky said. 1,800 clients received hesed
home care, some for lengthy periods every day.
The
hesed operates an extensive day care system, Mr. Murashkovsky
explained. Four groups of 18 senior adults come to the hesed once each
week in hesed vans. Between 40 and 45 disabled children also
participate in hesed therapy in groups designed to meet the needs of youngsters
with specific handicaps. Also, he said, a special grant from World Jewish Relief
enables the hesed to provide programs for disabled Jewish young adults
between the ages of 18 and 40; these clients are organized in three groups
according to disability (mental, psychological, and physical) of six to eight
people each. Each cohort comes to the hesed twice weekly for therapy,
recreation, socialization, and Jewish culture.
Boris
Murashkovsky is one of the most experienced hesed directors in the post-Soviet
states.
Photo: the writer (in 2012).
In addition to structured day care for
elderly clients, the hesed also offers ballroom dancing, a choir, a drama
group, and other activities for elderly Jews who are mobile and can
commute to the hesed on public transportation. These programs provide
socializing opportunities for people who have become isolated after retirement.
Asked about the impact of inflation on
hesed programs, Mr. Murashkovsky responded that the previous exchange rate was
eight hryvnia to one U.S. dollar and now is 12 hryvnia to one U.S. dollar. The
cost of utilities is set to increase 50 percent in May and the cost of most
medicines already has increased 100 percent. Pensions, he said, are being paid
on time, but they have not increased to match the rate of inflation. As director
of the hesed, continued Mr. Murashkovsky, he is under pressure from employees
to raise their salaries to accommodate inflation, but he lacks the resources to
respond to these requests.
In addition to needing funds for salary
adjustments, the hesed has great financial needs in other areas as well,
Mr. Murashhkovsky stated. In particular, he said, they require additional
funding for home care, which is very expensive, and for trans-portation, that
is, the vans that bring day care clients to the hesed and then return them to
their homes.
Mr. Murashkovsky expressed gratitude for a
special grant from World Jewish Relief (Britain), now in its second
year, that finances the renovation and repair of up to 40 apartments for needy
Jews annually. WJR funds permit the upgrading of heating and plumbing systems,
as well as general renovations.
Mr. Murashkovsky said that people in Kharkiv
are under very serious stress stemming from the Russian presence in
their city. Further, he stated, as residents of an area bordering on Russia,
many Kharkiv citizens listen to Russian radio or watch Russian television,
which are full of anti-Ukrainian "propaganda," such as, charges that
Ukrainian leaders are fascists. Such inflammatory language, Mr. Murashkovsky
stated, fills people with dread. Referring to the small Right Sektor political
party, Mr. Murashkovsky averred that some fascists do exist in western Ukraine,
but that such people do not reside in Kharkiv. Antisemitism is not a
problem in Kharkiv, he said.
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