In
response to questions about their backgrounds, Mr. Konyvets said that he had
attended the Moscow machon of the World Union for Progressive Judaism for
two years after hearing about it at a JDC youth conference. He currently is enrolled in a distance
learning mathematics program at an Odesa college; the curriculum requires that
he attend seminars in Odesa twice each year.
Additionally, he stated, he has been involved in several business
ventures, including a cleaning service (offices, boats), a recycling center,
and a visa service. Mr. Konyvets
observed that his prior experience in JDC and WUPJ had not prepared him for the
highly centralized Chabad-controlled Jewish community in Dnipropetrovsk. He believes that Chabad perceives local Jews
as clients, whereas Mr. Konyvets prefers a looser, less formal Jewish
communal structure where Jews have many options for living Jewish lives.
Mr.
Konyvets further noted that his mother is Jewish and his father is not
Jewish. Both parents were surprised, he
said, at his Jewish involvement. He has
four brothers, one of whom also participates in Jewish life, mainly through the
Jewish Agency. His maternal grandparents
also are actively Jewish, although they have no documents attesting to their
Jewish heritage.
Mr.
Shulman earned a certificate at a Kyiv business technicum (a post-high
school technical college) and currently works with Mr. Konyvets in one of his
business ventures. He previously was
active in Hillel and in a Jewish community center. Mr. Shulman had applied to a Masa information
technology program in Ariel and was waiting to hear whether he had been
accepted.
11. See the Light (Фонд
«Шиурей Тора
Любавич, or Lubavich Torah
Lessons Fund),
a youth group designed for halachically Jewish adolescents and young
adults, was initiated in Dnipropetrovsk in 2012. It operates under the energetic and creative
leadership of Dan Makogon, a local investor who now works almost
fulltime for the organization, both as program director and as primary
fundraiser. Although not technically a
Chabad organization, the group is very close to the Chabad power structure in
Dnipropetrovsk and in several other cities and follows Cha-bad policy in all of
its programming.
Dan Makogon,
a well-known Dnipropet-rovsk businessman, attracts halachically Jewish
adolescents to a Chabad asso-ciated youth group through technology-based
programming and relatively high-end vacations. Mr. Makogon stands near an
enlarged version of the STL website.
Photo:
the writer.
STL
has affiliates in 18 different Ukrainian cities, stated Mr. Makogon. However, its headquarters and most active
group are in Dnipropetrovsk, and some of its other chapters barely
function. Young people today, said Mr. Makogon,
all want to be "famous," an aspiration that is advanced by the use of
modern technology. Therefore, STL
attracts participants through a mix of formal and informal instruction in cinema-tography,
opportunities for exotic vacations, and an edgy, almost irreverent approach to
Judaism. Notwithstanding its
"edginess," all standards of Orthodoxy are observed, and technology
is used to explain and promote appropriate Orthodox behavior.
Dnipropetrovsk
STL produces periodic web-based news programs in its own studio, young men and
women working together to present stories in a style designed to appeal to
young people. However, boys and girls
usually occupy different sections of the room when attending formal meetings
and classes. Such was the case in a
recently completed six-day urban camp, when boys and girls from Dnipropetrovsk
and several other cities studied and participated in both technology-based and
more conventional classes on Jewish themes, such as kashrut and appropriately
modest fashion.
In
response to a question, Mr. Makogon stated that almost all STL members in
Dnipropetrovsk currently are enrolled in the Chabad Jewish day school or are
recent graduates of it. In Kyiv, he continued,
about 50 percent of participants are associated with day schools. In some smaller communities, no Jewish day
school exists, so STL exercises the principal role in creating a young person's
Jewish identity.
In
addition to urban camps or seminars that are held during school-year vacation
periods, STL also attracts participants by staging summer camps in fashionable
locations. For example, a 2015 summer
camp for boys convened in the Austrian Alps, where extreme sports joined
religious education as major program components. The corresponding session for girls was held
at a Black Sea resort owned by a Dnipro-petrovsk Jew. The majority of campers at each site were 14
or 15 years old. STL trained its own
counselors, some of whom were only 16 or 17.
Participants were charged about $70 for the three-week sessions, a small
portion of the actual cost. Other
incentives include tee shirts, school supplies, and small watches bearing the
STL logo.
Its
edgy programming serves as an enticement for new members. Current participants are urged to invite
their halachically Jewish friends to STL events and to promote STL through
their own Facebook or other social media connections.
12. The Beit Chana International
Humanitarian-Pedagogical Institute was established as the Beit Chana Jewish
Women's Pedagogical Institute in 1995 to prepare teachers and childcare workers
for Chabad-sponsored preschools and elementary schools throughout the
post-Soviet states. Initially, it
recruited its all-female student enrollment mainly from smaller cities and
towns, assuming that Jewish young women in such locales would be eager to
escape their often stifling small town environments for associate
degree-equivalent programs in a larger city (although both the Beit Chana academic
building and dormitory are located in outlying areas). Beit Chana offered free tuition and free room
and board in return for a commitment to teach in Chabad schools upon
graduation. Over time, the institution
was forced to confront both the conse-quences of lower educational achievement
of girls from such circumstances and demographic developments that sharply
reduced the number of Jewish young women in smaller towns. Further, many young women were reluctant to
commit to residence in an isolated gender-segregated dormitory with a religious
lifestyle, and some lacked interest in pursuing pedagogical careers.
Beit Chana never
reached its capacity enrollment of between 200 and 250 young women. It achieved its peak of 165 students some
years ago, and its 2008-2009 enrollment plummeted to 70. Acknowledging that the institution was
unlikely to survive without a “new vision,” Beit Chana made several changes
in its curriculum and operational procedures in recent years and intends to
evolve further in the future. First, it
earned accreditation to award full baccalaureate degrees, thus enhancing its
appeal. It now confers associate degrees
in pre-school and early elementary education as well as full bachelor's degrees
in education, practical psychology, and business management. Some subjects are taught in the form of
intensive seminars led by visiting Israeli specialists. Employ-ment in Chabad institutions is
guaranteed to all graduates. Second, it
scrapped its residential requirement, opening all programs to day/commuter
female students from Dnipro-petrovsk and environs.
Marina Mukhina, rector of Beit Chana,
has struggled with developing a curriculum that appeals to young women of
non-religious backgrounds. Financial
constraints within the Chabad community deter program expansion.
Photo: the writer
Third, Beit Chana
developed a master's degree program in education for current teachers; the
curriculum includes local classes, distance learning, and intensive seminar
sessions. Fourth, after many years of
seeking a workable relationship with an existing accredited full university,
Beit Chana signed an agreement with the Dnipropetrovsk-based Alfred Nobel
University in 2015. The new relationship
allows Beit Chana students to pursue full undergraduate and graduate degrees in
several additional fields. Finally, although plans to move to a spacious
two-building complex in the center of town have stalled due to financial
constraints, the Chabad community is still seeking in-town premises that will
enhance the appeal of the institution to potential students.
Marina Mukhina, rector of Beit Chana,
stated that 138 young women currently are enrolled at the institution
(2014-2015 academic year), an increase from the previous year's census of
120. Forty girls reside in the
dormitory, she continued. Although a few
dormitory residents are natives of Dnipropetrovsk, most are from other cities
in eastern Ukraine, such as Kharkiv, Krivyy Rig, and Zaporizhzhya. Some are internally displaced
persons
from Donetsk who might not have enrolled in Beit Chana if circumstances had
enabled them to remain in Donetsk. The
youngest student is 16, she responded to a question, and the oldest is 30. Most, she said, enter the institution between
the ages of 16 and 20.
The
regular faculty at Beit Chana was supplemented during the 2014-2015 academic
year by the presence of Israeli "house parents" in the
dormitory. An older couple, the house parents
were tasked with adding warmth to the residence by inviting boarders into their
apartment for informal gatherings, cooking lessons, tutoring in religious
subjects, and observing an example of a good, stable marriage.
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