Nonetheless,
Jews continue to leave the eastern regions, citing ongoing military activity,
economic distress, and general apprehension about the future. The routes that they take to leave the area
reflect instability on the ground. Some
cross the border into nearby Russia by bus, travel north, and then cross the
border back into Ukraine destined for Kharkiv, which is a short drive from
Russia. If they wish to go to Israel,
they then go to Dnipropetrovsk to the Mayak transit center (see below), where
they complete an application and orientation process. Others manage to reach Mariupol, a Sea of
Azov port city just outside the separatist area, where they can board a public
intercity bus for a 22-hour ride to Dnipropetrovsk. Whichever route they take, many departing
Jews depend on local Protestants for assistance of various kinds, including
trans-portation, border crossings, and intervention with local militia groups
demanding bribes for safe passage.
In
a stay of a month or longer at the Mayak (Маяк, lighthouse) center, a
resort with a capacity of 80 people that is rented by the Jewish Agency, Jews are
interviewed, provided with information about Israel, and enrolled in Hebrew and
Jewish identity classes. Those with
relatives already in Israel establish contact with these family members. Their Jewish ancestry is confirmed, Israel
entry visas are issued, and plans for their absorption in Israel are arranged. They then fly to Israel on flights leaving
from Dnipropetrovsk. Some of the Mayak
guests, said Ms. Nabitovsky and Mr. Lurie, are in such shock from their
experiences in the separatist areas and their harrowing departures across the
border that they may be unable to participate in any formal activities at the
center for several weeks. Instead, they
remain in their assigned rooms, emerging only for meals. Trained JAFI professionals work with them
until they are able to join others in the normal routine of the center and
consider the various aliyah (immigration) options available to them.
The
writer spoke with several individuals at the Mayak center awaiting flights to
Israel. A couple from Donetsk (seen at
far right in the photo on the opposite page) described heavy weapons in the
streets of their hometown, endless Russian propaganda on local television
claiming that the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian armed forces are fascists,
and no income. As a former Ukrainian
Master of Sport in judo, the man was entitled to receive a pension for his
sports achievements as well as a retirement pension, but he was receiving
neither. His wife, an economist, lost
her job. Realizing that continued
residence in Donetsk was no longer possible, they had enrolled in a Donetsk
ulpan before leaving the city en route to Israel. They were headed for Netanya in Israel, a
coastal city where the woman's sister was already attending an Israeli ulpan. In response to a question, the couple said
that they had three adult children. The
eldest, a nurse who remains in Donetsk for the time being, probably will join
them in Israel in the near future. A son
had moved to Russia; they did not know what he would do in the future. Their youngest, another daughter, was in a
tragic situation, they said; she had married a Jordanian and moved to Kuwait
with him. Subsequently, they divorced,
and the former husband was awarded full custody of their children. The daughter had no rights at all regarding
her own children. She remained in Kuwait
in the hope that she might see them sometime.
The couple expressed gratitude to the Jewish Agency for the support that
they were receiving and embarrassment that they were dependent upon charity.
A young man (second from left in photo
below) had been a student at an engineering college in Luhansk. The college was heavily damaged by bombardment;
as prospective engineers, the students attempted to repair the structure
themselves, but were unsuccessful. They
lived "for months" without electricity or water; they used
construction materials from damaged buildings to build fires in the street, which
they used for heat and cooking. However,
it was very difficult to find food. He
saw dead bodies in the street. The young
man said that his mother lived in Kyiv, but he was not planning to join her; he
did not mention his father. He planned
to go to Carmiel in northern Israel, where his grand-father, an uncle, and some
Luhansk friends live. He hopes to finish
his college program at an Israeli institution.
The writer spoke with
four individuals, right, who were staying at the Mayak center while preparing
for aliyah to Israel. See text for more
information.
Photo:
the writer.
A
qualified construction engineer in Donetsk, a woman (at far left in photo
above) had nonetheless worked for some years as a personal secretary because
salaries for personal secretaries were higher than compensation for
engineers. She planned to join her
daughter in Petach Tikvah, where the daughter had settled several years ago.
In
addition to working with internally displaced Jews who want to relocate to
Israel, the Jewish Agency continues to maintain its full range of programs
and services for local Jews, said Ms. Nabitovsky and Mr. Lurie. It operates Sunday schools for children,
along with parallel classes for parents.
Responding to increased demand, JAFI has opened additional ulpans
(Hebrew language classes supplemented by Jewish identity-building programs) in
different Jewish population centers, including several relatively small towns. Reflecting adverse local conditions, ulpan
students now are more diligent than previously; clearly, they are serious about
emigration to Israel.
The
Jewish Agency is pursuing a policy of cooperation and collaboration with
various partners in order to reach more people and stretch resources as far as
possible. It operates day camps during
school vacation periods, usually in partnership with local synagogues. It collaborates in various programs with
Nativ, the Israeli government entity that deals with Russian-speaking Jews. It also works with local Jewish day schools
in holiday programs and other activities.
JAFI
continues to operate its own summer camps, but local instability has
generated considerable parental unease about sending children to Ukrainian
locations far away from home
and about paying camp fees in advance. Another
summer program is a camp in Israel for 30 youngsters from Dnipropetrovsk
and Kharkiv. Na'aleh and Selah,
the Israel-based high school and university programs respectively, continue to
attract local adolescents and college-age Ukrainians, most of whom perceive
these programs as pre-aliyah gateways to new lives in Israel.
The
Jewish Agency supports certain grassroots activities by local Jewish young
adults. Taglit (birthright
Israel) remains very popular among Jewish young people; together with Nativ and
Hillel, JAFI operates programs for Taglit alumni. Working with Nativ, JAFI sponsored a Masa fair,
showcasing Russian-language Masa programs, as well as programs in other
languages that are open to participants who are fluent in those tongues. Masa, said Ms. Nabitovsky, is perceived by
many local Jewish young adults as a preparatory year in Israel prior to
aliyah. Some Masa programs are geared
toward people in specific professional fields, such as information technology
or medicine. However, she continued,
several of the more complex Masa courses require participant co-payments, which
many of them cannot afford; therefore, they enroll in other, less expensive
programs that may be their second or third choice.
Responding
to budgetary pressures, the Jewish Agency has been forced to curtail
placement of Israelis in emissary (shlichim) positions; such emissaries
require housing and travel allowances, school fees for children, insurance, and
other expenditures. Thus, Ms. Nabitovsky
and Mr. Lurie are the only Israelis representing the Jewish Agency in all of
eastern Ukraine. Local Jews employed as
JAFI staff have been trained to assume many emissary responsibilities, and
mobile aliyah teams of Israeli professionals visit communities periodically to
organize seminars on youth/young adult programs in Israel, manage holiday
celebrations (such as Yom Haatzmaut, Israel Independence Day), and
perform other tasks that cannot be done by the Dnipropetrovsk- based couple or by
local staff. Mr. Lurie observed that many
potential immigrants do not fully accept the authority of local staff,
perceiving them as lacking credibility because they have never actually lived
in Israel.
32. The American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee (Joint, JDC) also maintains its eastern Ukraine regional
headquarters office in the Menorah Center.
It is a very convenient and "efficient" location, said Yoni
Leifer, the JDC regional director, noting that the Menorah Center also
houses the JDC hesed
and Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki's office.
Joint currently serves 19,000 clients in
the region, Mr. Leifer stated, providing material support to all of
them. The support is extended through
debit cards, hesed-based programs, and home health care assistance for people
who are disabled. Food items and
medicines no longer are distributed as their handling has proved too expensive,
continued Mr. Leifer. JDC classifies its
clients in three categories: (1) victims of Nazi persecution and thus eligible
for funds from the Conference on Material Claims against Germany (Claims
Conference); (2) World War II veterans and thus eligible for govern-ment
bonuses; and (3) people who are ineligible for any special benefits. In all, said Mr. Leifer, about 35 percent of JDC
clients in the region receive Claims Conference funding, a percentage that has
decreased over the years as Holocaust survivors die. The Claims Conference supplements provide
recipients with resources three times greater than those available to
non-recipients.
Yoni Leifer, who
previously headed JDC operations in Belarus and Kaliningrad, became director of
JDC in southeastern Ukraine in late 2013.
Photo:
the writer.
Of
the total 19,000 JDC clients in the region, 7,000 to 8,000 reside in
Dnipropetrovsk itself, and about 5,000 still live in the conflict zone (Donetsk
and Luhansk areas). The remainder reside
in smaller cities, such as Zaporizhzhya. About 350 internally displaced Jews in the
region receive benefits and services from Joint, Mr. Leifer added.
The
local economic situation is dire, stated Mr. Leifer. The average pension several years ago
was about $200 monthly, he said; inflation has reduced its value to about $45
now. The cost of food has increased 150
to 200 percent, and the cost of medicine now is 200 to 300 percent higher than
in the recent past. Pensioners try to
purchase food and rarely have enough funds to buy medicine. Hearing aids and cataract surgery are
extremely difficult to finance, Mr. Leifer said. JDC aid helps pensioners in alleviating some
distress, but cannot restore the dignity that is offered by a healthy economy.
Regarding
working-age people, the middle class has disappeared, said Mr.
Leifer. Beyond the extraordinary
inflation that has so degraded income, the loss of Crimean beaches to Russia
has dealt a severe psychological blow to the middle class for whom a vacation
at a Crimean beach resort was regarded as almost a guaranteed annual
right. Comparable beaches in Bulgaria or
Greece are just too expensive, stated Mr. Leifer.
In
many cities and towns closer to the conflict zone, the economic
situation is even worse, Mr. Leifer said.
Non-residents are afraid to visit these places, so inter-city trade has
diminished. Contact with the remainder
of Ukraine has been reduced. In the conflict
zone itself, some people continue to work, but few are paid; they cling to
the unlikely belief that somehow better days will come quickly and they will be
compensated for lost income.
33. After transferring the location of its
eastern Ukraine Consulate from Dnipropetrovsk to Kharkiv in 2012, the
Government of Israel re-opened its Dnipropetrovsk representation with a
part-time Consul commuting from Kyiv in 2013.
In 2015, it reinstated the position of a fulltime Consul in
Dnipropetrovsk. In addition to
performing conventional consular duties, the Consulate also operates an Israel
Cultural Center.
The
most visible responsibility of the Israel Consulate is verification of a
potential immigrant's right to settle in Israel under the provisions of the
Israel Law of Return. If an individual
qualifies, that is, if the applicant has at least one Jewish grandparent or is
a first-degree relative of someone with at least one Jewish grandparent, the Consulate
will issue a visa to that individual and his/her family, enabling them to
proceed to the Jewish state and begin a settlement/absorption process. Due to the various upheavals that afflicted
Ukraine during the last 100 years, many applicants lack formal proof of Jewish
ancestry. The Consulate investigates all
claims, a process that may require several months.
A
senior official of the Consulate stated that priority for consideration of visa
application is given to individuals from the conflict area, particularly
Donetsk, and other people whose homes are some distance from Dnipropetrovsk,
such as in Mariupol and Kramatorsk.
Almost by definition, such individuals are living in local hotels,
hostels, or with other families as the distance between their former residences
and the Consulate is too great for a regular commute. The official estimated that between 80 and 85
percent of all Dnipropetrovsk visa applicants are from these eastern or
southern regions.
Regarding
programs of the Israel Cultural Center, the official mentioned Israel
holiday celebrations, often in cooperation with other groups, such as the
Jewish Agency and/or Rabbi Kaminezki. The Consulate also hosts lecturers and artists from Israel; some of its
lectures concern the Israeli economy, medical system, technology, and other
subjects of interest to potential immigrants. It operates two ulpan classes in Dnipropetrovsk
and one in Zaporizhzhya. Its Scout
program, a version of the Israeli Scouts, enrolls 100 youth from
Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Krivoi Rog, and Melitopol; for most participants,
the Scout program is their only connection to Israel or to Jewish life in
general. The Consulate also recruits
young people to various study programs in Israel and offers several Na'aleh
(high school) and Sela (university) programs sponsored by the Israeli
government. Dnipropetrovsk has developed
a nascent information technology sector, said the official, that produces some
well-qualified candidates for IT education and Israeli IT companies.
In
response to a question about the general mood in Dnipropetrovsk, the
official stated that a sense of uncertainty prevails; people are concerned
about the economy, the military situation, and various social forces. People felt more secure when Dnipropetrovsk
oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky was governor, he said; they were confident that Mr.
Kolomoisky could protect them. The new
governor is unknown. No one knows what
to do, no one is planning for the future.
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