His teaching
methodology focuses on individual and small-group instruction. Boys who
need special help receive it individually or in small groups from Rabbi Chazan
and several associates, just as all boys are educated individually and in small
groups. Thus, no youngster should feel humiliated because he is taken aside
for "special" instruction; all boys are taught in this manner. Rabbi
Chazan strives to be respectful of individual boys; he observed that discipline
in Ukrainian schools was "severe" and "stifling".
All applicants
to the yeshiva are screened for intellectual capacity, Hebrew-language skills,
and maturity. For those who apply from abroad, Hebrew-language interviews are
conducted by Skype. For Chabad boys residing in Ukraine, Rabbi Chazan and his
associates interview and observe candidates at Chabad-operated winter camps for
boys in Ukraine. Rabbi Chazan noted that most Ukrainian Chabad boys have
superior Hebrew-language skills because many of their yeshiva day school
teachers are Israelis.
The boys reside and
learn in a suburban area in an oddly-designed two-story rental building
originally intended as a small country inn accommodating only a few families at
any time. Of fairly recent construction, building materials appear somewhat
shoddy and flimsy. Capacity of the building is severely limited and may
restrict natural growth of the yeshiva. It is planned that the residential
yeshiva will move into the structure now used as a dormitory for Beit Chana
when Beit Chana moves into its new premises,
but several years will be required before all necessary renovations can be
completed.
For now, boys enjoy
recess periods in a poorly-maintained adjacent outdoor basketball court and a
large not-quite-level backyard. They also are taken on excursions to a local
indoor swimming pool and certain other recreational venues.
In discussions with
several Chabad rabbis whose sons are enrolled in the yeshiva, the writer found
enthusiasm about Rabbi Chazan and his teaching colleagues and with the style of
learning embraced by the yeshiva. They observed that their sons were learning
at appropriate levels, were pleased with the general atmosphere, and were
maturing.
7.
Under the sponsorship of Tzivos Hashem (Heb., The Army of G_d), a
Chabad children’s organization, Rabbi Yossi Glick manages several
children’s programs in the city. The best known of these are separate residential
facilities for Jewish boys and girls from troubled home situations. Often
referred to as “social orphans,” most of the youngsters are from single-parent
homes in which the custodial parent is unable to provide adequate childcare due
to substance addiction, impoverishment, or other problems. Some parents are
imprisoned. A few youngsters were previously cared for by aging grandparents
unable to cope with the needs of active, growing children.
Rabbi
Yossi Glick, a native of Australia, manages several Chabad children’s programs
in Dnipropetrovsk. He also is the business manager of the new residential
yeshiva katana.
Photo: the writer (in May 2012).
The total number
of youngsters residing in the homes has dropped from 40 boys and 28 girls
some years ago to 14 in each during the 2013-2014 school year. The reduced
census parallels a general Ukrainian Jewish demographic decline and follows a
pattern observed in several Jewish children's residential facilities in other
Ukrainian cities. Each of the two Dnipropetrovsk facilities is supervised by young
adult counselors, most of whom are only a few years older than their charges
and none of whom has relevant education/social work/psychology background.
Both homes are guarded by security personnel throughout the day and night.
Rabbi Glick readily
acknowledged finance-related shortcomings in management of the homes.
The program cannot afford to engage properly-trained staff; those who do serve
usually leave after one or two years, thus depriving youngsters of supervision
continuity. Further, the program lacks capacity to advise youngsters on
post-high school opportunities and usually loses track of residents within a
year of their departure from the homes upon graduation from high school at age
17.
Almost all of the
residents attend the machon or day yeshiva. Recreational opportunities outside
school are severely limited due to lack of funds. Visits to families usually
are limited to occasional Sundays; Rabbi Glick has found that longer visits to
dysfunctional homes cause psychological/emotional problems for the children that
persist upon their return. Further, Rabbi Glick said, such visits may be
expensive for the residential programs because parents or other relatives
sometimes steal the clothing or shoes that the child is wearing or bringing and
then sell these items in a street bazaar. The residential program then must
replace the missing apparel.
In general, said
Rabbi Glick, financial constraints have forced Tzivos Hashem to curb its
assistance programs to all impoverished Jewish children throughout the city,
including those living with family members. For example, they no longer
distribute food parcels to single-parent families or grandparent-led families.
8. Старший брат, старшая сестра (Older Brother,
Older Sister) is an outgrowth of the Dnipropetrovsk Kehilla Project
of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
Adapted from Jewish Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Boston, the
Dnipropetrovsk program is completing its Bar Mitzvah year, funded entirely by
an allocation from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish federation in
Boston.
Tanya
Kaplunskaya,
director of Older Brother, Older Sister, said that the project is well-known in
the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish community; she even is approached by people on the
street who recommend a particular child in need of an older companion. The
current uncertain situation in eastern Ukraine, she continued, generates great
stress, even among children; they fear for their own futures and welcome
additional attention from a big sister or big brother.
Tanya Kaplunskaya, a psychologist by
training, is a member of a family long involved in Dnipropetrovsk Jewish life.
Photo: the writer.
In all, said Ms.
Kaplunskaya, the current roster includes 70 pairs. Most of the older
brothers and sisters join the program through the Hillel student
organization, she stated, and the remainder connect through Jewish Agency young
adult programs.
Through contacts in the Jewish day school and elsewhere, she learns of children
who would benefit from such a relationship. Her background in psychology
enables her to evaluate both volunteer older siblings and candidate younger
siblings and then make appropriate matches.
Aware that many
students and other volunteers in Ukraine lack the resources to plan and carry
out the two-person outings that characterize many JBB/BS relationships in the
United States, the Dnipropetrovsk program offers a number of large events
in which many pairs participate, such as excursions to ice skating arenas and
amusement parks. Light refreshments are served at these gatherings, which
generally take place once each month and at holidays. Her monthly budget,
which covers all event-related expenses, is between $600 and $700. Ms.
Kaplunskaya added that many pairs also go on walks and engage in other low-cost
activities on their own.
Two little brothers
have Down syndrome, said Ms. Kaplunskaya, and a third child is confined to a
wheelchair. Although almost all participants, both younger and older siblings,
have some Jewish roots, Ms. Kaplunskaya noted, not all are halakhically Jewish.
Ms. Kaplunskaya has
led several seminars on child development and psychology for volunteer
older siblings and for their parents. She would like to organize a Shabbaton
for children, the children's parents, and the volunteer older siblings, but
such an undertaking would be very expensive and she sees little likelihood of
receiving funding for it. Few participants, she observed, would be able to pay
their own expenses and, thus, substantial individual subsidies would be
required.
9.
A Special Needs Educational Resource Center, located in a wing of the Beit
Chana Jewish Women's Pedagogical College,
enrolls 60 Jewish children, adolescents, and a few young adults. Some of the
children are autistic, said Director Tamara Olshanitskaya, and many
others are intellectually impaired or have other disabilities. The number of
youngsters with cerebral palsy actually is declining, Ms. Olshanitskaya said,
due to better obstetrical care. A few clients have not been diagnosed
precisely, Ms. Olshanitskaya continued, but it is clear that these youngsters
are severely impaired and unable to attend conventional public schools.
Tamara Olshanitskaya, left has
directed the Resource Center since its inception. She has spent considerable
time in the United States, where her daughter and grandchildren now reside.
Ms. Olshanitskaya said that her own friends in the United States worry about
her during the current unrest in eastern Ukraine, but she hopes for the best
and "жизнь
продолжается"
(life continues).
Photo: the writer.
Participants are
assigned to one of four groups, depending on age, type of disability, and
degree of impairment. Some children are prepared for entrance into public
school special education classes, but others are so seriously impaired that
public schools are unable to accommodate them. Some private schools exist for
disabled youngsters, Ms. Olshanitskaya said, but they generally are very
expensive; further, the smaller size and more welcoming atmosphere of the
Resource Center is much more comfortable for many families.
The Resource Center
premises include eight teaching/therapy spaces in five classrooms of various
sizes as well as one sports hall. Additionally, it has an outdoor play area
with equipment designed for special needs youngsters. The program
offers literacy skills, speech therapy, art and music therapy, physical
education, and massage. A psychologist is on staff, and an experienced
pediatrician provides basic medical care. The pediatrician, Ms.
Olshanitskaya stated, is outstanding; he charges a reduced rate to the Resource
Center, but will make house calls at night for his young patients and also
intervenes with hospitals when necessary. Mothers trust him, Ms. Olshanitskaya
continued, a sentiment that is often missing in Ukrainian medical care. The Jewish
Medical Center also provides primary health care to Resource Center
youngsters, a service that will expend when the JMC moves into its new
premises.


In the above photo at left, youngsters
participate in a music class, using tambourines and other basic instruments.
Most of the adults in the photo are parents, grandparents, or volunteers. In
the above photo at right, a boy receives individual tutoring in basic math and
reading. Note his wheelchair, a plastic yard chair in a wheeled frame.
Photos:
the writer.
Families are referred
to the Resource Center by hospitals, clinics, and sanitaria specializing in
care of disabled children, stated Ms. Olshanitskaya. Often, she continued,
fathers abandon their families at the birth of such youngsters. The demands of
special-needs children are such that the mother is unable to work outside the
home, thus leaving the mother and child (as well as other family members) in
poverty. State pensions provided to the handicapped do not cover even basic
expenses, Ms. Olshanitskaya noted. Many of the mothers are severely depressed
and worry constantly about the fate of their children if they (the mothers)
become ill or die.
Ms. Olshanitskaya
arranges some social activities, as well as counseling, for parents and other
caregivers. The Jewish Women's Microenterprise Loan Fund and Project
Kesher also offer programs to Resource Center mothers.
The Resource Center
cannot afford the social workers, psychologists, and special education teachers
that it needs. It is very dependent upon volunteer helpers, among them
retired teachers, each of whom comes to the Center several days each week to
work with individual children. Parents and grandparents of client children
also have responsibilities that sometimes extend beyond their own children.
Ms. Olshanitskaya
also noted the centrality of a specially-equipped passenger van to the
Resource Center. A gift of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Jewish
federation in Boston, the van is fitted with two lifts that bring
wheelchair-bound youngsters into the van and then discharge them efficiently
and comfortably. The van transports Resource Center youngsters and their
parents between their homes and the Center. The Center could not operate
without it, Ms. Olshanitskaya said.
Ms. Olshanitskaya
also expressed gratitude for a new activity, an adaptation of the warm home program,
initiated for senior adults by the Joint Distribution Committee and
subsequently operated by Action for Post-Soviet Jewry.
In the Resource Center warm home project, Ms. Olshanitskaya continued, three to
five Resource Center young-sters in the same age group, along with their
mothers and two to three RC profes-sionals, meet in the home of one of the
children. The children and parents know each other from the Center and are
comfortable with each other, a key element of the under-taking, Ms. Olshanitskaya
said. One professional leads the children in arts and crafts and other
informal activities, while another meets with the mothers for adult-level
informal Jewish education, psychological counseling, and art projects of their
own. The Resource Center provides light refreshments (fruit and cookies) and
the hostess mother provides tea.
Gifts may be given to participants on their birthdays. Gatherings in
children's homes, noted Ms. Olshanitskaya, enable Resource Center professionals
to assess conditions in these homes, learn if children have their own space,
etc.
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