59. The Perlina School is an independent,
private Jewish day school with an enroll-ment of 114 youngsters between the
ages of two and 11. It is anticipated
that two more grades will be added to the school in the next two years,
although the physical capacity of the school will be strained. The current building can accommodate 124
pupils, said Chabad Rabbi Yonatan and Mrs. Inna Markovich, directors of
the school. In common with the ORT
Lyceum (see above), the Perlina School occupies a former preschool
building. However, the Markoviches have
added a spacious, well-equipped playground and a sports field to its fenced-in
premises.
The Markoviches market Perlina as a small,
elite school emphasizing instruction in English (ten class periods weekly)
and a non-dogmatic approach to Judaism (four class periods in Hebrew and four
and one-half hours of Jewish tradition weekly, plus daily Jewish prayers). Tuition fees are in line with most private
schools in Kyiv, but only about one-third of families pay full tuition; scholarship
funds are raised to cover expenses for other youngsters.
Mrs. Inna
Markovich and Rabbi Yonatan Markovich, left and right, have largely turned over
daily management of Perlina to their daughter, Malka Zeiger, center.
Photo:
the writer.
Perlina
accepted a fairly large number of internally displaced Jewish children
from the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but most such youngsters moved on to
Israel with their families after about a month at Perlina, said Mrs.
Markovich. Eleven such children remain at
Perlina, Mrs. Markovich continued, and it appears that most of their families
wish to stay in Kyiv. Mrs. Markovich
stated that many of these pupils need "social help"; their homes are
tense and they cry easily. The school
psychologist works with them.
60. Another project of the Markoviches is a school
for autistic children, which opened in 2010. Known as Дитина з майбутнім (Ukr.; Children
with a Future), the school is housed in
a renovated two-story building previously used as a preschool. Enrollment at the school now stands at 42
youngsters, well above its official capacity of 32, between the ages of two and
eight. It is overcrowded simply because
it is the only institution of its kind in the entire country. The school is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00
p.m.
Children
at the school receive 40 hours of treatment weekly, compared with the 30 hours
that is common in comparable institutions in the United States, said Mrs.
Markovich. The results of such intensive
treatment are visible, she continued; improvement is achieved with all
pupils. Unfortunately, the school has no
means of extending its programs to serve older youngsters.
The
teacher:pupil ratio is 1:1, not including speech therapists, psychologists, and
other specialists. Due to the large number
of educators and other skilled professionals required for schools of this type,
the monthly tuition is $2,000, more than twice the cost of a good private
school for normal youngsters. Although
all families pay partial expenses, none pays the full cost. Enrollment includes Jewish and non-Jewish
youngsters. With the exception of kosher
meals, no religious practice is observed in the school. Jewish children are invited to attend
community-wide Jewish holiday celebrations with their families.
Mrs. Markovich said that, technically,
all Ukrainian public schools are required to accept autistic children in their
districts and provide appropriate education for them. However, funding for such special education
is non-existent, and school principals and parents exert forms of psychological
and social pressure on families with autistic children to withdraw these
youngsters from neighbor-hood schools. Mrs.
Markovich is in fre-quent contact with government education authorities to
raise awareness of special education needs, but no funding is forthcoming.
An
exceptionally friendly trained therapy dog, Daisy, joined the school during the
2014-2015 school year. Daisy seems to possess infinite patience.
Photo:
the writer.
Mrs.
Markovich attempts to work with the parents of autistic children as well. Many parents remain in denial about their
children's conditions, blaming strange behavior on unrelated illnesses, such as
diabetes, or on teacher incompetence if the child has been expelled from a
conventional school due to unusual behavioral patterns.
61. The writer was unable to visit the Mitzvah
School, a small Chabad school operating under the auspices of Rabbi Moshe
Asman.
62. Tanya Abovich, age 28, has been
director of Kyiv Hillel, the student group, since 2012. About 1500 young people are on its data base,
she said, and approximately 250 of these are activists, participating in at
least one Hillel activity every month.
Kyiv Hillel serves all Jewish students in the city, operating from a
large center that is well-located and easily accessible. The premises require some updating, she
commented, but she doubts that funds will be available in the near future for
that purpose.
Ms.
Abovich described her responsibilities as "strange;" her job
isn't really work, but rather an opportunity to "change people's lives." For many students, Hillel is their first
contact with Jewish life. Taglit (birthright
Israel) is especially important in building a person's Jewish identity; Kyiv
Hillel fills two and one-half Taglit buses (approximately 100 participants)
every summer. Masa, a longer
Israeli program of up to 12 months, enables young adults to become familiar
with Israel, even if they don't make aliyah.
She is grateful to be able to introduce Jewish young adults to these
experiences.
Between 65 and 70 percent of Kyiv Hillel
activists actually live in Kyiv and continue to reside in their parents' homes
while attending a university or institute in the city. Most of the remaining 30 to 35 percent, Ms.
Abovich said, are from smaller towns, such as Cherkasy or Chernihiv. Few students from smaller cities and towns
have had any prior Jewish experiences, she continued. Some of these places actually have Chabad
rabbis, she stated, but many student families do not relate to them. Ms. Abovich herself is from another small
city, Vinnytsya, but left it some years ago, as have all of her family members
and friends. In general, people are
fleeing such small population centers, she continued, because no opportunities
for the future exist in such places. As
a means of making students from these areas feel comfortable in Hillel and in
Kyiv, she always engages some of them as part-time Hillel student employees.
In addition
to directing Kyiv Hillel, Tanya Abovich also is a Ph.D. student in
linguistics. She plans to move to Israel
in about five years, she said. Her
parents are divorced; her father lives in Israel and her mother, a
"typical Soviet Jew," is very assimilated and remains in Ukraine.
Photo:
the writer.
In
response to a question, Ms. Abovich named a number of "favorite"
Hillel programs. First, Hillel offers a kabbalat
Shabbat (greeting the Sabbath) service every Friday evening at about 6:30
p.m. Approximately 50 to 60 students
attend each week; as far as she knows, it is the only Shabbat activity in Kyiv
that is exclusively for young adults.
She also likes larger Jewish holiday programs, such as a Rosh
Hashanah service that may attract 500 to 800 people, and Jewish-focus
concerts that draw as many as 1700 people; some of these events are held in
collaboration with other Jewish organizations, such as the Jewish Agency. A third "favorite" is a master
class on a particular subject, such as computer security, technology
start-ups, or Jewish cuisine. Fourth, in
conjunction with ORT, Hillel operates an IT school in its own computer
facility. Among the courses offered are
programming at several different levels and web design. Fees are charged to participants, but these
are lower than in commercial institutions.
Another appealing Hillel education program, Ms. Abovich stated, is a Hebrew-language
ulpan that also offers courses at multiple levels; Hebrew is increasingly
important because so many Jewish young people are emigrating to Israel, she
said. Finally, Ms. Abovich noted the
recent completion of the annual Good Deeds Week. With support from El Al Airlines, Hillel
focused this year on thanking service workers, such as bus drivers and subway
engineers, cleaners, bakers, and pediatric cancer specialists and other medical
personnel. Groups of Hillel students
would approach such people and give them handwritten thank-you notes and
chocolates. She observed that such
expressions of gratitude were especially valued by recipients in these
difficult times.
Kyiv
Hillel has welcomed internally displaced Jewish students from Donetsk and
Lugansk, stated Ms. Abovich. Many
such students are in despair over their interrupted academic lives, loss of
housing, financial difficulties, and separation from family and friends. Hillel tries to help them, even offering some
of them part-time work. However, Ms.
Abovich noted, everyone has financial problems and the Donetsk IDP's end up
competing with local people for jobs and scarce affordable housing. The situation in eastern Ukraine poses a real
challenge to society, she stated.
Asked
about the general mood
(настроение) among
Jewish young people in Kyiv, Ms. Abovich responded that everyone is
"consumed" by the economic situation.
Some panic even exists. Problems
are present in every profession. Job
mobility has vanished. She realizes that
she may be unable to find a suitable position in linguistics after she
completes her Ph.D. Economic distress is
driving young Jews to Israel, she said.
63. The Ukrainian Union of Jewish
Students, which is affiliated with the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS),
began to work in Ukraine in the 1990's, but suspended its activities after
several years. It has since renewed
operations in Ukraine under the volunteer leadership of Victoria Godik, who
is employed professionally as an instructor in engineering management at a
local university. Officially, Ms. Godik
is Chairperson of UUJS, as well as a Vice President of the European Union of
Jewish Students.
Victoria
Godik is the volunteer leader of the Ukrainian Union of Jewish Students. In common with Tanya Abovich (opposite) of
Hillel, Ms. Godik speaks fluent idiomatic English.
Photo:
the writer (in 2014).
WUJS/UUJS
aims to "provide a community for Jewish young adults and young professionals,"
Ms. Godik stated. Approximately 600
people are on the UUJS email list in Kyiv, she said, 150 of whom participated
in WUJS winter events. So far, Kyiv is
the only city in Ukraine with a UUJS group, but Ms. Godik anticipates that
another group will open in Odesa in the near future.
The
most popular UUJS events, said Ms. Godik, are business clubs, Sunday
brunches with speakers, social gatherings, seminars abroad, and ski trips. Clearly, the current economic situation
limits their ability to operate as many programs as they would like. However, UUJS schedules at least one local
event every month. It has no premises of
its own, but uses rented facilities, such as Jewish- or Israeli-focus
cafés. UUJS also conducts social
projects, such as visiting elderly Jews in their homes. During Chanukah, UUJS brought menorahs and
sufganiyot (Israeli jelly-filled doughnuts) to many older Jews in the city. UUJS also has extended assistance to some
internally displaced people from the east who are now in Kyiv.
In
late January, continued Ms. Godik, 40+ UUJS members joined an equal number of
their WUJS counterparts from other countries (small delegations from the Baltic
States, Belarus, Russia, France, Poland, and Israel) in a winter university
in western Ukraine and Poland that focused on Jewish history in the area. Included in their itinerary was a visit to
Auschwitz, the first time that most participants had ever visited a
concentration camp. The World Jewish
Congress paid for the Polish segment of the "university", and the
Ukrainian Va'ad sponsored
the UUJC delegation for the remainder of the journey.
Aliyah
to
Israel is increasing among UUJC members, Ms. Godik stated. Ukrainian economic conditions offer little
encouragement about the future in Ukraine.
Taglit (birthright Israel) trips and Masa experiences are
very useful for those young adults who are considering emigration to Israel;
UUJC participants exchange information about various Israel absorption
programs.
In
response to a question about the general mood
(настроение) in
the country, Ms. Godik said that many people are "unhappy" with the
Ukrainian government. Many more reforms
need to be implemented, people are "fed up" with corruption. In the course of her work at a local
university, she has seen many skewed government contracts that clearly had been
rigged to benefit specific companies and exclude others. Truly competitive bids are never
considered. The entire situation is very
"demoralizing," she said.
64. Moishe House, a gathering space and
Jewish program center for Jewish young adults, had moved into new premises in a
central location since the writer's most recent previous visit. The organization now occupies a comfortable
sixth floor loft apartment with modern furnishings and a balcony.
Anya
Beskorvanaya,
an aspiring commercial artist currently working part-time for the Joint
Distribution Committee, is one of two young women living in Moishe House. She and another young woman, not present at
the time of the writer's visit, are responsible for coordinating the Moishe
House program.
Ms.
Beskorvanaya stated that major program elements include Shabbat dinners,
lectures on Jewish topics, and theater evenings outside the apartment. They also engage in occasional welfare
projects, such as raising funds for food parcels to be delivered to needy Jewish
pensioners. Ms. Beskorvanaya said that
she was very grateful for the financial support from international Moishe House
and other Jewish organizations and individuals that has enabled them to engage
in these programs; generally, she said, non-Jewish Ukrainians do not help each
other in the same way. Jews always
pull together to help each other, she said, notwithstanding occasional
conflicts between Chabad and others, particularly concerning the place of
non-halachic Jews in the Jewish community.
Moishe
House attracts at least 25 people to its programs every week, sometimes as many
as 40, said Ms. Beskorvanaya. About 50
Jewish young adults are really active, participating several times every month. However, she noted, some people come just for
the free food that is offered and do not participate in any programs.
|