Kyiv
Situated
on both banks of the Dnipr River in the north central part of the country, the
origins of Kyiv are lost in antiquity.
However, the Ukrainian capital is known as the “mother of all Russian
cities,” long pre-dating cities in Russia itself. Kyivan Rus – the city and territories around
it - is considered the forerunner of the modern Russian state. In 988, Prince Volodymyr of Kyiv designated Orthodox (Byzantine
rite) Christianity as the state religion of Russia and established its seat in
Kyiv. Kyivan Rus attained its greatest
powers in the eleventh and twelfth centuries when it was a trading center
between the Baltic and Mediterranean seas.
Sacked by Mongols in 1240, the lands of Kyivan Rus were successively
under Tatar, Lithuanian, and Polish control from the fourteenth century and
then annexed by Russia in 1686. The
third largest city in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Kyiv was
occupied and almost completely destroyed by German forces between September
1941 and November 1943. Historic
buildings and monuments were reconstructed by the Soviet victors and the later
independent Ukrainian state.
Now the capital of independent Ukraine, Kyiv
is the political hub of the country and an important center of Ukrainian
commerce, industry, culture, and education.
The city is known for its location on the Dnipr River, its historic
buildings and monuments, and the Kreschatyk, the broad boulevard that is its
main street. By the time of the writer's
visit in April 2015, the detritus of the previous year's violence had been
cleared from the center of the city, including the famed Maidan (Independence
Square) and Kreschatik.
Maidan
Nezalezhnosti is bisected by the Kreschatik, a wide and long boulevard that is
the main street of Kyiv.
Photo: https://www.google.com/?espv=2#q=maidan+kyiv&tbm=isch&imgrc=xuOIQUc-hXKN7M%3A . Retrieved
April 7, 2016.
The
general population of Kyiv includes about 2.8 million permanent
residents and an unknown number of unregistered migrants. The latter include internally displaced
people from the east, people from less well developed parts of the country, and
foreigners using the city as a transit point in attempts to move elsewhere.
Estimates
of the size of the Jewish population of Kyiv range from 25,000 to 70,000,
with most serious demographers agreeing on a number of about 35,000. Unlike many other large Jewish population
centers in the post-Soviet states, Kyiv lacks unambiguous Jewish leadership. The chief rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Rabbi
Yaakov Dov Bleich, frequently is absent from the city, and no other
individual has emerged as a credible leader of Kyiv Jewry. The majority of Kyiv Jews remain aloof from
organized Jewish activity.
Jewish
Education
56. The Orach Chaim Jewish day school
(School #299), operating under the auspices of Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich,
is the oldest of five Jewish day schools in the city. Khariton Gilgur, its longtime
principal, said that its current enrollment is 300 youngsters from
preschool through grade 11. This figure
includes 40 girls in a machon and 40 boys in a cheder. Classes are
coeducational in the regular day school through grade five and single-gender in
grades six through 11.
In
response to declining enrollment in the day school, the number of Jewish
studies classes (Jewish tradition and Hebrew language) was reduced to two
lessons each day on Monday through Thursday and three lessons on Friday. Another major issue in maintaining
enrollment, said Mr. Gilgur, is Rabbi Bleich's insistence that all pupils be
halachically Jewish; such a policy, Mr. Gilgur believes, is unrealistic in a
country where the rate of intermarriage has exceeded 70 percent for several
generations.
Through
relationships that Mr. Gilgur has cultivated on a district council and that Rabbi
Bleich has cultivated with the Lauder Foundation, Orach Chaim has obtained
funds to install unbreakable windows, new break-proof doors, and security
technology in its various buildings. It
is known, said Mr. Gilgur, that vandals approaching one of the structures were
deterred by the sight of the new security cameras. Such improvements in the school, Mr. Gilgur
continued, are greatly appreciated by parents, who are alarmed by the
"overspill" of the war in the eastern part of the country. Certain volunteer militias include criminal
elements, and weapons now are readily available outside the combat zone, he
said. It is, possible, Mr. Gilgur added,
that some criminal incidents are "provocations" instigated by
Russians or pro-Russians to spur unrest in Ukraine.
In response to a question, Mr. Gilgur
said that antisemitism continues, but is not a major factor in the lives
of most Jews. To some degree, he stated,
Russia has replaced Jews as the new enemy, but a difference exists in
that people are afraid to antagonize Russia and are not fearful of insulting
Jews.
Khariton
Gilgur is the veteran principal of School #299, a Jewish day school in Kyiv. He is apprehensive about the future of the
school and the future for his own family in Ukraine. The current situation, he said, is a
"tragedy without end."
Photo:
the writer.
Regarding
the general mood
(настроение) in
Kyiv, Mr. Gilgur said that life in the city has become very difficult. The economy appears near collapse. Some banks have closed. Inflation is very high. Many institutions, including the Orach Chaim
schools, and other community entities are not always able to pay salaries on
time. Crime has increased. Thus, he concluded, many people are very
tense.
57. The Simcha-Chabad
Jewish Academy was established in 1992 by Berel Karasik, then a
Chabad-associated local leader in Kyiv. The two-building institution is located
in the Dniprovskiy district of the city, on the east bank of the Dnipr
River. Simcha is affiliated with Tsirei
Chabad (Young Chabad), an Israel-based faction of the Chabad movement. The
school receives no financial assistance from Ohr Avner, the educational arm of
the Chabad-controlled Federation of Jewish Communities. The writer spoke with Rabbi Mordechai
Levenhartz, director of Tsirei Chabad programs in Ukraine.
Rabbi
Levenhartz said that the current enrollment at Simcha was about 300
youngsters, including 90 in a preschoool.
Approximately 20 pupils from internally displaced families from
eastern Ukraine attended the school at one time or another in recent months,
but 15 have left for Israel with their families and only five remain. Five children from local families previously
unknown to Simcha entered the school in 2014-2015, Rabbi Levenhartz said,
because their parents liked what they saw when they came to the school complex
to pick up matza in a welfare program.
The
school curriculum includes seven class hours in Jewish studies each
week. Four are in Hebrew language instruction, and three are in Jewish
tradition. An Israeli atmosphere
pervades the school. A notable weakness
in its secular program is the absence of a high-quality science and technology
program.
Nineteen
youngsters celebrated their bar or bat mitzvahs at Simcha this year,
Rabbi Levenhartz stated. A sponsor
contributed funds enabling them to mark the occasion with a group tour to
Israel. However, only 13 were able
to participate; the remaining six are from divorced families and were unable to
obtain the permission from each parent that is necessary for minors to leave
Ukraine. A number of other students
participated in a school Shabbaton that was held at the hotel in the
complex controlled by Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich.
Overall, enrollment in Simcha is
declining, stated Rabbi Levenhartz. Many
families have left for Israel, more in the last six months than in the
past ten years. Due to the crumbling
local economy, many have lost their jobs and some have lost money in banks that
have collapsed. They see no future in
Ukraine for themselves or for their children.
Most of these departing families, Rabbi Levenhartz commented, have no
family members already in Israel to welcome them. Also, many teenagers have left the school
on their own to join the Na'aleh high school in Israel program; he
expects that 15 to 20 high school students will leave Simcha during the summer
to enroll in Na'aleh. It is possible,
Rabbi Levenhartz continued, that Simcha will have to close a class because it
will be too small to receive the government subsidy that is given to classes of
a designated minimum size.
Rabbi
Mordechai and Mrs. Devorah Levenhartz deliberately selected a poor area of
Kyiv for their work. They have been in
Kyiv since 1998.
Photo:
the writer.
Fundraising
in the
current environment, said Rabbi Levenhartz, is terrible
(страшное); he has no local
sponsors anymore. Oligarch Vadym
Rabynovch ceased support of security measures suddenly, without
warning. Now, they have only a
"facade" (фасадка)
of security, said Devorah Levenhartz, wife of the rabbi. So far, they have had no serious incidents,
but some ne'er-do-wells just hang around the school and create an unpleasant
atmosphere.
Inflation also is terrible,
affecting everything that they need to buy.
A silver lining of sorts exists in that the dollar goes further than
previously, but, of course, they need more international assistance. They have cut back on the quality of food
served in the school, stated Rabbi Levenhartz; for example, fresh fruit has
become too expensive for them.
Speaking
of the welfare service that Simcha operates in the neighborhood, Rabbi
Levenhartz said that they feed approximately 100 poor elderly Jews every
day. Older people simply cannot live on
their government pensions. Some nearby
people, including families, receive food parcels. Simcha also sponsors celebrations for such
holidays as Sukkot and Purim. These
events usually attract about 120 people, most of them poor and some who are chronically
hungry. Many attendees take home food
from the festivities. Their list of
clients is coordinated with the local Joint Distribution Committee hesed
to ensure that the neediest receive assistance; JDC provides a subsidy for some
of these programs, Rabbi Levenhartz said.
Asked
about the general mood
(настроение) in
the city, Rabbi Levenhartz said that is one of uncertainty. Significant questions about politics and the
economy mean that it is impossible to plan ahead. No one knows will happen. This lack of confidence in the future is
spurring aliyah, he stated. Even people
in good professions requiring advanced education and training, such as doctors
and dentists, are leaving; it is not just poor people who are going to Israel.
58. The ORT Kyiv Technology Lyceum was
established in 2000 as a lyceum, an elite school with a competitive admissions
policy. It is located on the east, or
less prosperous, side of the Dnipr River in a generally unattractive part of
the city. The school currently enrolls
398 pupils in grades five through 11, an increase of almost 15 percent from the
previous year. As an ORT school, its
curriculum includes five to six class hours of technology weekly, along with
afterschool technology clubs, said Principal Yuri Kinkov. Students have done well in ORT technology
competitions and the lyceum is accredited by Microsoft and several other IT
companies for excellence in various IT disciplines.
The
Lyceum standard academic curriculum also is strong, Mr. Kinkov stated;
its students have done well in several city-wide high school competitions. The Jewish studies component of the school
includes a total of five weekly classes divided between Hebrew language and a
secular approach to Jewish tradition.
ORT students have been successful in Jewish day school competitions, and
the most gifted Hebrew students are rewarded with trips to Israel. Some students in the upper grades participate
in Holocaust-related trips to Lithuania and Poland, said Mr. Kinkov. The school observes all Israeli holidays, he
noted.
Mr.
Kinkov stated that some ORT Lyceum pupils transfer to ORT schools in Israel
under the Na'aleh high school in Israel program. He spoke with great pride of several Lyceum
graduates being accepted by the highly regarded Technion in Haifa
through a new Masa program designed to respond to the aspirations of
gifted high school graduates from Russian-speaking countries; gaining admission
through competitive examinations, participants are enrolled in a first-year preparatory
curriculum including Russian-language courses in science, technology, and
mathematics, as well as an intensive Hebrew course. Prior to the development of this program,
such an opportunity for Ukrainian students to learn at the Technion was only a
dream, said Mr. Kinkov.
The next major step for the Lyceum is a
much-anticipated move to a new facility in September. Currently accommodated in two former
kindergarten buildings designed to accommodate small children, Mr. Kinkov had
spent many years petitioning municipal authorities for premises better suited
to the needs of a technology-oriented school for older pupils. The Lyceum now is scheduled to begin the
2015-2016 school year in a four-story building about 20 minutes away from the
preschool structures. The renovated
building includes a sports hall and other facilities that the preschool lacks.
Yuri Kinkov,
principal of the ORT Lyceum in Kyiv, was looking forward to beginning the
2015-2016 academic year in new, more spacious premises designed to fulfill the
needs of a technology-oriented middle/high school.
Photo:
the writer.
In
response to a question about the general mood (настроение)
among parents and teachers in the lyceum, Mr. Kinkov said than 90 percent
of school families were in favor of current Ukrainian government policy, that
is, a strong military rebuke to Russian and pro-Russian forces fighting in
eastern Ukraine. One teacher has been
called up and is fighting in the east, and a number of other teachers and
parents are doing various forms of volunteer work in support of Ukrainian
troops. Antisemitism is not an issue in
Ukraine these days, he said.
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