76. Rabbi Aleksandr Dukhovny has led
the Progressive/Reform movement in Kyiv and Ukraine for 15 years.
Within the past year, his congregation (known as Hatikvah) and the
headquarters of the Progressive/Reform movement in Ukraine have moved into
permanent, attractively designed and furnished program and office space in a
renovated office building in Podil.
The premises include a prayer hall seating 120 people, several large program
rooms, a small youth center, a kosher kitchen, and offices.
The complex is served by two modern elevators.
The new premises, said Rabbi Dukhovny,
have been "revolutionary" in that they have attracted many new
people to the congregation. Between 30 and 50 people attend Saturday
morning Shabbat services, after which a potluck lunch is served. The
Shabbat lunch, the rabbi observed, has become a "major event." A
"Sunday school" for children is held at the same time as Shabbat
services on Saturday, thus educating children at the same time that adults
worship in the prayer hall. These concurrent programs, followed by the potluck
lunch, make Shabbat a real family experience.
In response to a question, Rabbi Dukhovny
said that Shabbat programs have been cancelled several times in fear of
Russian-instigated antisemitic provocations. Congregants, he continued, are united
in their support of a sovereign Ukraine, and many members were among the
demonstrators on Maidan.
Congregants
pay dues on a scale reflecting their financial capacity. No one is
turned away, and the congregation provides some assistance to those in need. Several
individuals who are financially comfortable, stated Rabbi Dukhovny, have
sponsored specific programs at the congregation.
 
Rabbi
Aleksandr Dukhovny, a native of Kyiv who trained for the rabbinate at the Leo
Baeck Rabbinic Training Seminary in London, is seen at left in a 2013 photo.
At right is the new prayer hall or sanctuary of Hatikvah Congregation in Kyiv.
A modern depiction of the Tree of Life encloses the congregational Torahs. The
premises of the congregation are so attractive and comfortable, said Rabbi
Dukhovny, that both the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Com-mittee
have held events there. The building is well-served by public transportation.
Photos: the writer.
In addition to weekly worship services and
the related Sunday school, Hatikvah operates several other programs. A Netzer
youth group is overseeing the Bar/Bat Mitzvah of 13 youngsters this year; he
had hoped for a larger number of teens in this program, said Rabbi Dukhovny,
but the tense political situation has deterred many families from permitting
the participation of their children in necessary preparatory study. Netzer
offers leadership training to somewhat older teens, and holds special sessions
twice weekly for young people 17 and older who want to be camp counselors.
Kyiv youngsters will be among about 400 kids from all over the former Soviet
Union who attend summer camp in the post-Soviet states, declared Rabbi
Dukhovny.
Among the most productive Jewish educational
and community-building programs is a Shabbaton, Rabbi Dukhovny
stated. Hatikvah is organizing such a Shabbaton for the end of May, he
continued. He expects about 20 families to attend, most of whom have children
enrolled in the Hatikvah Sunday school or in one of the two public preschools
associated with the Progressive movement in Kyiv.
Asked
about the fate of three Progressive synagogue buildings in Crimea now
that the peninsula had been occupied by Russia, Rabbi Dukhovny said that the
three congregations - in Simferopol, Kerch, and Yevpatoria - now were without a
rabbi as Rabbi Mikhail Kapustin had been forced to flee Crimea and
subsequently accepted a position serving a Progressive congregation in
Bratislava. Based in Simferopol, Rabbi Kapustin had traveled to the other
congregations as well and had built up a strong Progressive presence in
Crimea. However, he strongly condemned the Russian occupation and posted his
views online. In response, his synagogue was vandalized and he was threatened with
violence against his person. Fearing an attack, he left. Rabbi Dukhovny had
spoken by telephone with remaining lay leaders in Crimea and found that some of
them welcomed the Russian takeover, believing that their economic circumstances
would improve when Crimea was absorbed by Russia. Rabbi Dukhovny admonished
them that they would find themselves in a "golden cage" when Russian
control was consolidated, but the most prominent leaders clearly favored
Russian rule. The Progressive Judaism office in Kyiv sent the Crimean
congregations matza for Pesach as well as new Russian-language hagadot, as they
had planned to do before the Russian action, Rabbi Dukhovny said; the matza was
accepted by Russian customs agents at the Crimean border and made available to
local Jews because it was food, Rabbi Dukhovny said, but the hagadot were
returned to the Kyiv office.
The
bilingual hagada at right was published by the World Union for Progressive
Judaism in 2007. It includes commentary and illus-trations. Russian customs
officials would not permit its entry into Russian-occupied Crimea.
Hagadah:
World Union for Progressive Judaism.
In all, said Rabbi Dukhovny, 47
Progressive Jewish congregations were formally registered in Ukraine;
however, he continued only 16 of them were active, among them the three
in Crimea. Without rabbinic leadership, the future of these three groups was
in doubt. The Odesa congregation soon would grow stronger as a new
Russian-speaking rabbi soon to be ordained at the Leo Baeck seminary in London
was expected to assume its pulpit during the summer.
Several Progressive congregations in western
Ukraine are strong, said Rabbi Dukhov-ny, notwithstanding the absence of a
Progressive rabbi in the area. He singled out Lutsk as particularly
noteworthy; it controls an old four-story synagogue building that is the de
facto Jewish center in town. This structure houses the JDC hesed and a
small Orthodox group, in addition to the Progressive congregation. The
Progressive congregation in Cherkasy, south of Kyiv on the Dnipr River,
also does very well, Rabbi Dukhovny noted.
Welfare
77. Hesed Azriel, operated by the
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is the primary provider of
welfare services to Jews in Kyiv and the surrounding region. In the absence of
executive staff, the writer met with Irina Yemets, deputy director of
the hesed, and Natalya Nagornaya, who is responsible for program
development in services for children, family, and the elderly.
Several other hesed professionals also participated in the discussion.
The meeting occurred in a conference room of
a non-descript building into which the hesed had moved two months earlier. The
previous building, a problem-prone structure atop a small hill in an area with
poor public transportation, was undergoing significant reconstruction
that required the transfer of hesed services to temporary premises. Hesed
staff had been told, they said, that the old building would be ready for
occupation by the end of 2014, but none of them believed that this timetable
would be honored. When asked about the nature of the reconstruction, no one
present was aware of specific plans. Some speculative discussion ensued, with
questions centering around possible changes in the entrance and lobby, installation
of an elevator, improvements to the third floor (a badly executed addition to
the original two-story building), and widening of the corridors.
None of those present had been consulted in planning the reconstruction.
Several individuals expressed doubt that the old hesed could be transformed
into an effective building; others said that given the reality of its location
in an area ill-served by public transportation, it was not worth the cost of
modernization.
Although no one seemed confident about the
future, hesed staff said that almost all services to clients were being
maintained for now in the temporary building, which is in the same district as
the old structure. The hesed currently serves 10,680 clients, 5,200 of
whom are eligible for services provided by the Conference on Jewish Material
Claims against Germany. As is true elsewhere in Ukraine, the number of
Claims Conference clients is diminishing annually as Holocaust survivors die.
About 1,500 clients (of the total 10,680) reside in Kyiv oblast (region),
outside of the city itself. Approximately 4,200 clients receive smart cards
that enable them to purchase groceries and medicines at a discount in certain
supermarkets and pharmacies. Another 220 people use JDC-issued debit cards,
a practice that will replace the smart cards as local financial institutions
develop appropriate technology infrastructures.
Patronage services (home health care)
are extended to 1,191 recipients of Claims Conference benefits and 338
non-recipients. At least 500 more people need home health care, said staff,
but they are ineligible for Claims Conference funding and JDC lacks resources
to provide such care to these individuals.
Twenty-two people receive meals-on-wheels through
the hesed. Additional Jewish elderly need this service, said hesed staff, but
funding is not available to expand its availability.
In addition to these regular benefits, JDC
has secured certain one-time special grants from various sources for
distribution as a "13th month" allowance in this time of extreme
economic stress in Ukraine. Hesed staff also has received a one-time 20
percent salary supplement.
The
senior adult day program continues at the temporary hesed, serving 326
clients who come in groups of 25 once or twice monthly. The number of client
visits depends on many factors, one of which is the ability of the hesed to
secure volunteer assistants to help in management of the program. Clients are
picked up at their homes in the morning and returned in the late afternoon by
special vans; while at the hesed, they engage in various social activities,
make appointments for medical care, receive hairdressing services, and consume
one or more hot meals. Holidays are celebrated, and occasional excursions are
offered to museums, botanic gardens, and similar attractions. The hesed also
offers various club activities to senior adults.
Members
of a hesed choir perform before a day center audience in the temporary hesed
premises. Refreshments await all after the performance.
Photo: the writer.
In addition to helping Jewish elderly, JDC
also assists approximately 1,000 at-risk Jewish families, stated JDC
staff. About 400 of these families receive occasional food parcels, medicines,
and/or winter relief (warm clothing, blankets, etc.). Children from about 600
families participate in JDC Jewish holiday celebrations and/or attend Sunday
school programs. A Pesach festival is to be held in April at a site
outside Kyiv for families receiving JDC services. One staff member said that
a new priority for JDC in working with at-risk families should be the
development of programs for mothers in these families; most of these women are
single parents, she said. They are under enormous stress, even in normal
times, and many feel abandoned and lonely.
In response to a question, JDC staff said
that the organization does not operate any programs for special-needs
children in Kyiv. However, said one professional, JDC in Lviv operates a
residential camp for 40 families with special-needs children.
This year, JDC created flash mobs in
the streets of Kyiv, handing out Purim goodie baskets to passers-by, all of
whom seemed very happy to receive these unexpected gifts from strangers.
JDC organizes a Jewish family camp
during the summer months, aiming to attract middle-class families into Jewish
life. All families must pay a significant portion of the total cost. However,
operation of the camp in 2014 is uncertain because it had been scheduled for a
resort area in Crimea that now probably is inaccessible to Ukrainians following
its occupation by Russia.
78. As noted previously, Rabbi Moshe
Asman of the Main Choral Synagogue (Brodsky) and Rabbi Mordechai
Levenhartz of the Simcha school and synagogue operate their own welfare
programs, reaching additional hundreds of needy Jews. Rabbi Levenhartz
coordinates his welfare work with Hesed Azriel.
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