Dnipropetrovsk
Founded in 1778 on the banks of the Dnipr
River, Dnipropetrovsk was known until 1926 as Ekaterinoslav, in honor of
Catherine II (Catherine the Great) whose troops conquered the territory. As the
Soviet Union consolidated its power in the 1920’s, place names associated with
the tsarist period were changed to reflect Communist control.
Currently the third largest city in Ukraine, following Kyiv and Kharkiv, the
population of Dnipropetrovsk is slightly over one million. It was a closed city
until mid-1990 due to its extensive military industry, particularly Yuzhmash,
a producer of intercontinental ballistic missiles, booster rockets, and related
products.
Dnipropetrovsk
continues to be a center of heavy industry, hosting factories producing cast
iron, rolled metal, pipes, mining and agricultural machinery, large appliances,
and transportation equipment. Other prominent industries in the city include
food processing and apparel manufacture, the latter for European firms.
Notwithstanding the current economic crisis that affects the local economy,
just as it affects the remainder of the country, economic conditions in Dnipropetrovsk
are somewhat less severe than in most other areas of Ukraine. The oblast government
is considered among the most enlightened and capable in the country; private
enterprise is encouraged and supported, thus diversifying the economy and
providing some hedge in conditions of economic turbulence.
Historically, the
city has been an important source of leadership for the former Soviet Union and
for post-Soviet Ukraine. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, former Ukrainian Prime
Minister Valery Pustovoitenko, and former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma all
spent significant portions of their careers in important leadership positions
in the city. Yulia Tymoshenko, a past Prime Minister of Ukraine imprisoned
under the former Yanukhovych regime, is a native of the city.

Panoramic view of the city as seen
from the tower of the National Mining University. Three stepped towers of the
Menorah Center are visible at right. (The towers appear as beige in color.)
The city rises on both sides of the Dnipr River. As is true in most Dnipr
River cities, the more developed side is on the west bank (which appears in the
foreground of the above photo.)
Photo:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dnipropetrovsk_Panorama.jpg. Retrieved July
19, 2013.
Jews have lived in the
region of Ekaterinoslav, part of the old Pale of Settlement, since the late
eighteenth century. By 1897, the Jewish population of Ekaterinoslav had reached
41,240, more than one-third of the population of the entire city at that time.
Pogroms occurred in 1881, 1882, 1905, and 1918; the 1905 attacks were the most
devastating, killing 97 and wounding more than 100 people. Prior to the
consolidation of Soviet authority in the 1920’s, the Jewish community was
highly organized, maintaining a diverse network of Jewish religious,
educational, and cultural institutions. It was an important center of both
Zionism and the Chabad movement. A small Karaite community had its own prayer house.
More than twenty
years after the demise of the Soviet Union, Dnipropetrovsk is once again an
important center of both Zionism and the Chabad movement. The State of Israel
enjoys a robust image in the city, reflecting substantial emigration from Dnipropetrovsk
to Israel, continuing bonds between local Jews and their family members and
friends in Israel, the presence of many Israelis as teachers and other
community professionals, a stream of capable shlichim (emissaries) of
Israeli organizations, and the Zionist stance of Chief Rabbi Shmuel
Kaminezki. Regularly scheduled commercial air service connects
Dnipropetrovsk and Ben Gurion airport in Israel. Estimates of the current Jewish
population of Dnipropetrovsk range from 25,000 to 40,000; it is the second
largest Jewish population center in Ukraine, surpassed only by Kyiv.
Dnipropetrovsk is the
center of the Chabad movement in Ukraine. Honoring the historic presence
of Chabad in the city that continued into the 1930’s, the late Lubavitcher
Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson appointed Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki to the
post of Chief Rabbi of Dnipropetrovsk in 1990. Rabbi Kaminezki is widely
recognized as the most effective large-city community rabbi in all of the
post-Soviet successor states.
1.
Symbolic of the role of Chabad in the city is the Menorah Center, a
Chabad Jewish cultural center that opened in October 2012. Designed to appear
as seven-branch menorah (candelabrum associated with Jewish ritual), the
Menorah Center comprises 538,000 square feet (approximately 50,000 square
meters. Although the complex has been referred to as a Jewish community center
- the largest Jewish community center in the world (крупнейший
в мире), according to Chabad - it is a
unique structure, bearing little resemblance to Jewish community centers in
North or South America. It is, instead, an office complex, conference center,
banquet hall, hotel, Jewish museum, and small shopping mall. It hosts a senior
welfare center and soon will be home to a medical clinic serving seniors and
children.
It has no dedicated sports facilities or premises intended for ongoing
children's activities. Parking space is very limited. Con-struction costs,
said to be more than $60 million, were covered entirely by Ihor Kolomoisky and
Hennady Bogolubov.
The
Menorah Center overshad-ows the red-roofed Golden Rose Choral Synagogue in a
busy area of Dnipropetrovsk.
Photo: Chabad of Dnipropetrovsk.
Although the structure appears to have seven
separate towers, it is a single L-shaped building with an 18-story center and
three progressively smaller sections branching out on two sides from the
center. A long and wide ground-floor corridor extends through each 'wing' of
the building, meeting where the two wings join. Multiple sets of small
elevators are located along the corridor. Entries into small elevator
vestibules, shops, the hotel, and other functional areas are separated by stone
replicas of facades of former synagogues in the area. Shops include an upscale
kosher restaurant, a more modest kosher coffee shop, a small kosher grocery
store, Judaica items, florist, travel agency, and bank branch. A wide stairway
leads to the Museum of Jewish Holocaust and History in Ukraine,
and a passageway connects the Center with the synagogue. Another passageway
leads directly to the conference space and banquet halls. Security is visible,
but unobtrusive.
Entrance to the Menorah Center is gained most
easily through street-side doors in each of the two end-towers, although doors
in the end-tower at left are accessible only by ascending two flights of outdoor
steps that would be difficult for mobility-impaired individuals to mount.
Vehicular access is available at the rear of the structure.
The Menorah Hotel is a four-star
facility accommodating 80 guests. Its elevators and door key system are
programmed to be Shabbat-compliant. Because the hotel is connected to the
synagogue through the Menorah Center, some religiously observant individuals
and families take advantage of Shabbat package rates. A planned hostel
in a different section of the Menorah Center failed to attract guests and has
been converted into a 16-room two-star facility known as the 7-Days City
Hotel, featuring accommodations available at modest prices.
The conference and banquet facilities include
two connecting ballrooms that together seat 1,500 people. A tiered
theater with a professional sound system accommodates 320 individuals. Smaller
conference rooms and informal meeting spaces exist throughout the complex.
 
Partial views of one of the banquet halls and the professional Sinai theater are seen
above.
Photos: Chabad of Dnipropetrovsk.
Office and meeting space in the Menorah
Center is available to both commercial and community tenants according to a
two-tier rent system. Community groups (such as the Joint Distribution
Committee, the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Hillel student group) pay a
discounted rate for permanent offices as well as for occasional additional
space that may be leased by the hour or day for special purposes, such as a
conference or dinner. Commercial tenants paying a market rate include
lawyers, an information technology company, and various shops.
According to Svetlana Yermakova, the
professional manager of the Menorah Center, 90 percent of the complex was
leased by March 2014 - and she anticipated that the remainder would be rented
within the next several months. Commercial tenants occupy 53 percent of the
space, the Museum of the Jewish Holocaust and History occupies 16 percent,
Jewish organizations that receive a community discount account for ten percent,
and offices of the Menorah Center itself occupy two percent.
Additional commercial tenants who will pay full rent are being sought.
In response to a question, Ms. Yermakova
stated that the complex employs 80 personnel fulltime, not including
hotel staff or security. The security staff includes 36 individuals.
The facility is monitored by 600 video cameras, mounted at various
points inside and outside the building. The Menorah Center maintains excellent
relations with all relevant police and external security forces, said Ms.
Yermakova. No security issues have arisen since the building opened, she
stated.
Asked
if she had been surprised by any experiences in the building, Ms. Yermakova
said that heating costs during the 2013-2014 winter had been 20 to 30
percent lower than anticipated, a circumstance that she attributed to technology
in the structure that automatically regulates heating according to existing
temperatures in each section of the complex separately.
Educated
as an attorney, Svetlana Yermakova previously managed a 300-room hotel in Kyiv
and a conference center substantially larger than the Menorah complex. She
also had worked for Hennady Boholubov, who recommended her for the Menorah
Center position. Initially, she said, she did not understand the concept of a
Jewish community center, but she is now a great admirer of Rabbi Shmuel
Kaminezki who brings the Jewish population together through the Menorah Center
and is a "special man" and a leader in every sphere, both inside and
outside the Jewish community.
Photo: the writer.
In response to a question, Ms. Yermakova
stated that accounting is done separately for the hotels and for the remainder
of the Menorah Center. The Menorah Center, she continued, broke even in
September 2013 and began to show a profit in October. It continues to
be profitable, although income doubtless would have been greater if the ongoing
recession had not affected bookings of the conference center and banquet halls;
organizations and individuals were understandably trying to reduce costs in
this time of economic uncertainty and thus were limiting programs that used
such facilities.
Evading a question about the breakeven
occupancy rate at the main hotel, Ms. Yermakova said that the hotel was
profitable before the current economic crisis when its monthly occupancy was 35
to 40 percent. Following the Russian occupation of Crimea in February,
occupancy dipped to between ten and 20 percent. Advance reservations suggest
that the April rate will be about 25 percent, she continued. Because its room
rates are less expensive, City Hotel occupancy was higher, 50 to 60
percent, she said.
As
of midsummer of 2014, individuals associated with Chabad in Dnipropetrovsk were
claiming a Menorah Center monthly profit of close to $40,000 (not
including the two hotels). The profit was to be returned to the local Chabad
community to cover various expenses in education, welfare programs, and other
areas. At the same time, it was known that Menorah Center management was asked
to trim some employee salaries, reduce maintenance costs, delay payments to
vendors, and undertake other cost-cutting measures.
Rabbi
Shmuel and Mrs. Chana Kaminezki pose in a small well-stocked kosher market
located on the ground floor near one of the entrances of the Menorah Center.
The market includes kosher foodstuffs produced in Ukraine and imported from Israel.
In addition to the grocery store, the Menorah Center also includes a Judaica
store, a florist, and other shops.
Photo: the writer.
To date, the Menorah Center has proved to be
an important focal point for many Jews in Dnipropetrovsk. Its clean and modern
facilities accommodate a number of Jewish organizations as well as public and
private events. Further, its commercial and communal space attracts the larger
population. Nonetheless, doubts continue to be expressed about the financial
viability of the enterprise,
and concern is voiced about the wisdom of building such a massive and
conspicuous symbol of Jewish wealth in a country where antisemitism is rarely
far from the surface.
Grigoriy Ivanovich Petrovsky (1878-1958) was a
prominent local pre-revolutionary political agitator, exile, and subsequent
political figure in the city. His family name was combined with that of the
Dnipr River to produce the current city name of Dnipropetrovsk.
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