Asked about emigration among Jewish
young adults, Ms. Beskorvanaya responded that "50 percent of the best
people" are leaving Ukraine in search of economic stability. They go to Israel, Germany, or Canada. The more committed they are to Jewish life,
the more likely they are to go to Israel.
She believes that Israel is "pushing" young Jews to settle
there. Life in Israel is "tough,"
she said. She wonders if Israel is aware
that some participants in the Masa program are exploiting it just to get a free
vacation in the sun and near the sea. She
is not interested in Israel; she prefers to travel elsewhere.
Another
fluent English-speaker, Ms. Beskorvanaya discovered at the age of 22 that one
of her grandfathers is Jewish. She said
that she "feels" Jewish, but her commitment to Judaism, the Jewish
people, and Israel is shaky. At the time
of her meeting with the writer, she had already given notice of her intent to
leave Moishe House and move into a Kyiv studio apartment. Compared to other Russian-speaking Moishe
Houses, the pro-gram that she supervised in Kyiv was very weak.
Photo:
the writer.
Although
she is grateful for the international Jewish financial support of Moishe House,
Ms. Beskorvanaya believes that Jewish philanthropy is too narrowly
focused on Jewish programs. Instead of
spending donated funds on Shabbat observance, it would be better to commit this
money to assisting internally displaced people, non-Jews as well as Jews. Instead of gathering clothing and food for
elderly Jews, she averred, she would like Moishe House to provide such items to
elderly people, including non-Jews, who live in small, neglected villages.
Additionally,
Ms. Beskorvanaya believes that the Moishe House apartment, as nice and
well-located as it is, should be replaced by a real house with a yard. Those who live in Moishe House and are
responsible for implementing its programs should be provided with a good Jewish
education, as well as training in conflict resolution. Residents also should be given more
independence to plan programs of their own choosing, rather than be expected to
follow Moishe House guidelines so strictly.
65. Rabbi Motti Neuwirth, who is
associated with Chief Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich and the Grand Choral Synagogue on
Schekavitskaya street in the Podil area of Kyiv, directs a program for young
adults between the ages of 25 and 35 that attempts to bring them into an
observant Jewish lifestyle. Known as Morasha
(Heb., heritage, legacy), the program attracts 90 unique young
people every week, approximately half of whom attend on any given day. Morasha convenes in a small, but clean and
well-furnished center in the basement of one of the synagogue buildings.
About 60 people are enrolled in stipend-based
classes that require regular attendance, Rabbi Neuwith said. Forty to 50 young men up to the age of 30 or
31 study in pairs (chevruta) 12 hours monthly. Five men live in a rent-free apartment,
committed to learn 40 hours each week while maintaining their regular jobs; all
of these men are well-educated professionals, noted Rabbi Neuwirth. Several women reside in another apartment,
studying part-time; their curriculum includes Jewish history and law in
addition to basic texts. Some of the
women, Rabbi Neuwirth said, are non-Jews intending to convert to Judaism.
Rabbi Motti
Neuwirth supervises a range of programs designed to attract young Jews to
Orthodox Judaism. Originally, he focused
on day school graduates, but now reaches out to a much broader seg-ment of the
Jewish population.
Photo:
the writer.
Some
students participate in trips to London or Israel in which they
"shadow" successful professionals who combine their careers with an
observant lifestyle. While abroad, the
students reside with local Orthodox families in order to learn how to maintain
halachically Jewish households.
Aliyah
to Israel continues
among his students and, in fact, is increasing, stated Rabbi Neuwirth. He has lost many of his best pupils to Israel,
he said, so he and his colleagues have created new programs in Israel to assist
their absorption. First, they developed
their own Masa track, which supports future olim (immigrants to
Israel) in a study program that also introduces them to Israeli life and
potential careers in the Jewish state. Next,
they have created a small community of their own in Jerusalem that helps their
olim find apartments, establish a social life, etc. They may even provide a rent subsidy and
other financial assistance for an initial period.
In
addition to focusing on an intensive learning experience designed to bring
young Jews to an observant lifestyle, Morasha also does some general
outreach to the broader Jewish population, said Rabbi Neuwirth. For example, it arranges Shabbat dinners in
private homes and larger community-wide holiday observances. Some of its concerts attract as many as 600
people, Rabbi Neuwirth stated.
Synagogue-Related
Programs
66. Rabbi Yaakov Dov
Bleich, a native of Brooklyn and a
Karlin-Stolin hasid, is the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine. He arrived in the country in 1989 and
presides over the Great Choral Synagogue
in the Podil district of Kyiv, an area of significant Jewish population prior
to World War II. In the more than 20
years that he has served in Kyiv, Rabbi Bleich has developed a number of Jewish
community institutions, including the Orach Chaim day school, a Jewish summer
camp, an assisted living residential center for elderly Jews, a matza factory,
the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, the Union of Jewish Religious
Organizations of Ukraine, and the Kyiv Jewish Religious Community. However, some of these programs are now
jeopardized due to economic stress, Jewish demographic decline, and a lack of
receptivity among local Jews to orthodox Judaism.
Rabbi Bleich's native
American English and familiarity with American culture have facilitated easy
access to American representations in the Ukrainian capital. He also represents Ukrainian Jewry in several
international Jewish organizations. He
remains respected among Ukrainian officials.
Yet he is increasingly an outsider, absent from the country for weeks at
a time while attending to family matters, fundraising, and participating in
international Jewish events. Further,
he is a Karlin-Stolin hasid in a country in which Jewish religious life is
dominated by Chabad. Rabbi Bleich was
out of the country during the writer's visit to Kyiv in April 2015; in his
absence, she spoke with Yevgeny Ziskind, the long time administrator of
the synagogue.
Rabbi Yaakov
Dov Bleich is the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine.
Photo:
Conference of European Rabbis, n.d.
Mr.
Ziskind described the economic situation as moderately worse than it was
in 2014. The Karlin-Stolin community
will make further budget cuts during the summer that will be implemented in
2015-2016, he said. Foreseeing their
likely dismissal, some teachers have already returned to Israel or are planning
to do so, stated Mr. Ziskind.
Speaking
of synagogue revenue-generating enterprises, Mr. Ziskind said that the budget
hotel on synagogue property was doing fairly well. Hotel management works diligently with the
Jewish Agency, JDC, and other Jewish groups to attract their business for Kyiv
events, such as conferences and field trips.
The restaurant, an independently-run enterprise within the hotel,
enjoys a good reputation, but is unable to attract a capacity crowd. Responding to last year's reduced orders for matza,
the matza factory cut back on production this year, only to find that
demand exceeded supply - notwithstanding the fact that they had increased the
price of the matza. Considering
widespread economic distress that had trimmed purchasing power and increased
Jewish emigration, management had assumed that demand would continue to be
relatively low.
Local fundraising, said Mr. Ziskind,
remains very difficult. Many businessmen
now are bankrupt and unable to contribute to the community. Rabbi Bleich spends more and more time in the
United States, trying to raise funds there; he has engaged a consultant to help
refine his fundraising strategy.
Yevgeny
Ziskind, administrator of the Schekavitskaya street synagogue, often is alone
in the synagogue while Rabbi Bleich travels.
Photo:
the writer.
Many
young adults, Mr. Ziskind stated, are emigrating to Israel. Some males leave to avoid being drafted into
the Ukrainian armed forces, but many also see no future for themselves in
Ukraine. Some who remain in Kyiv for now
are thinking about going in the future; they are "sitting on their
suitcases," said Mr. Ziskind, using a common Russian expression.
Regarding
internally displaced Jews from eastern Ukraine, Mr. Ziskind stated that
two floors in the synagogue's hotel were turned over to displaced Jews, about
20 people at a time, during a three month period in the summer of 2014. Most of them emigrated to Israel, but a few
returned to Donetsk. Rabbi Bleich
considered operating a summer camp for internally displaced Jewish youngsters,
but was unable to raise funds for such a venture. The Karlin-Stolin community is not now
engaged with any individuals from that population group, Mr. Ziskind said.
Questioned
about the general mood
(настроение) in
the city, Mr. Ziskind stated simply that it is "not good". The major problem for him, he continued, is
that it is impossible to plan anything. There
is no certainty even about next month.
He is concerned that Russia may try to grab more land, perhaps by taking
Mariupol and then moving onward. No
other country is helping Ukraine.
67. A native of St. Petersburg (then known as Leningrad),
Chabad Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman studied in an underground quasi-yeshiva
as an adolescent and subsequently moved to Israel where he entered a Chabad
yeshiva. Rabbi Asman also studied in a
Toronto yeshiva, but some Chabad adherents claim that he never completed
rabbinic studies according to Chabad standards and never received Chabad smicha
(ordination). Nonetheless, he
settled in Kyiv and became rabbi of the famed Brodsky Synagogue (the
Main Choral Synagogue) even as it remained under the control of a puppet
theater.
After a successful
struggle to gain possession of the building, Rabbi Asman presided over removal
of the puppet theater and subsequent restoration of the synagogue. Well- located in downtown Kyiv, the building
is a familiar landmark. It now contains
a large classic prayer hall, a kosher dining hall and restaurant, a mikveh, several
class-rooms, and offices.
The Brodsky
Synagogue in Kyiv is pictured at right.
Photo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodsky_Synagogue#/media/File:Brodsky_Synagogue.jpg.
Retrieved April 13, 2016.
 Above left:
Rabbi Moshe Asman, at left, with a colleague from New York, Yuriel Shtern.
Photo:
the writer.
Above right:
The new synagogue in the village of Anatevka, completed after the writer's
visit to Kyiv. Few additional buildings had been constructed by spring 2016.
Photo: www.jta.org/2016/03/15/news-opinion/world/in-real-life-anatevka-ukraines-jewish-refugees-build-a-community.
The
writer's visit to Rabbi Asman at the Brodsky synagogue was dominated by Rabbi
Asman's presentation of plans for a new village, to be called Anatevka,
that he planned to develop west of Kyiv as a community for internally displaced
Jews from troubled areas in eastern Ukraine.
He envisioned a settlement accommodating 200 to 300 Jewish family
units. Youngsters would attend a school
to be constructed on site, and adults would work in new industries to be
developed in organic farming, production of agricultural drones, and computer
technology. New buildings would be
erected with new materials and methods heretofore unknown in Ukraine. English and Hebrew would be working languages,
along with Ukrainian and Russian.
Perhaps the village also would be used as a transit center for Ukrainian
Jews en route to Israel.
Local
Jewish support
for Rabbi Asman's Anatevka project is minimal.
Observers cite the proposed village's isolation and lack of employment
opportunities, noting that development of the envisioned technology sector
requires far greater resources than Rabbi Asman possesses. The more capable internally displaced Jews
have already found employment and are unlikely to be attracted by life in a
ghetto-type village devoid of basic amenities, such as a grocery store, gas
station, or post office. Rather than building
a thriving new Jewish community, it is said, Rabbi Asman is constructing a new
shtetl to be populated by individuals whose skills are ill suited to
contemporary life and whose future may be one of dependency. Rabbi Asman, however, seemed determined to
press forward in the project, and he and friend Yuriel Shtern had begun a
fundraising campaign to enable construction to begin.
To
some degree, Rabbi Asman's decision to build a new Jewish village may have been
formed by his recent experience in working with Jewish internally displaced
people, mainly from Luhansk, in the historically Jewish town of Spola,
about 100 kilometers south of Kyiv near Cherkasy. Between 100 and 200 people had passed through
a hastily developed transit facility there, which received some support from
the Joint Distribution Committee.
The Great Choral Synagogue on
Schekavitskaya street in the Podil district of Kyiv should not be confused with
the Main Choral Synagogue in the same city. The latter, better known as
the Brodsky synagogue, is larger and more centrally located. Built with funds
contributed by Lazar Brodsky of the wealthy sugar industry family at about the
same time as the Schekavitskaya street synagogue, the Brodsky synagogue was
confiscated by Soviet authorities in 1926 and converted into a workers’ club.
It later became a variety theater and a children’s puppet theater. After substantial
international pressure, the Brodsky synagogue was returned to the Jewish
community in the 1990’s and restored. Rabbi Moshe Reuven Asman, an independent
Chabad rabbi, presides over the Brodsky synagogue.
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