13. The International Hasidic Women's Seminary,
which enrolled its first class in the 2011-2012 academic year, ceased
operations after only two years.
Designed to provide a second-year education experience for
English-speaking Chabad female high school graduates who have completed an
intensive first-year religious studies course elsewhere, the program collapsed
as a result of a management dispute that left the seminary without professional
leadership. Its suspension continues,
reflecting financial constraints that preclude the employment of a qualified
dean and a recruiter/enrollment manager, as well as the lack of accreditation
by a western college that would enable students to earn credit toward a
baccalaureate degree.
The Dnipropetrovsk
seminary included classes in hassidut and education, along with volunteer work
in the local Jewish community. A renewed
program would require an expanded curriculum and a formal relationship with a
degree-granting institution in a western country or in Israel.
14. In addition to three computer laboratories in
School #144, World ORT operates a computer education or IT
(information technology) laboratory in the Menorah Center that offers a
curriculum geared mainly to local adults.
Natalya Medvedova, the director of ORT operations in
Dnipropetrovsk, observed that the Menorah Center program had expanded
significantly during the last year from two to nine courses. Among the subjects offered are programming,
Excel, bookkeeping, graphic design, 3D computer modeling, and web design. Fourteen different groups had completed
such courses, said Ms. Medvedova, and another four were currently meeting. Individuals who successfully complete their
coursework receive ORT certificates, which often are very useful in career
advancement. All courses require tuition
fees, but the cost is significantly lower than charges in commercial IT
programs. Each ORT class enrolls a
maximum of 12 students.
During the summer, stated
Ms. Medvedova, ORT offered an intensive programming course in the Menorah
facility for middle-school age youngsters.
Turning to ORT programs in School #144, Ms. Medvedova stated that ORT had
installed a small photography, film, and sound laboratory during the
current school year. Although the
facility was cramped for space, students enjoyed using the professional
equipment now available to them.
Natalia Medvedova directs
all World ORT operations in Dnipropetrovsk.
She is pic-tured at right in the ORT photography and audio studio in
School #144.
Photo: the writer.
15. Tkumah - The All-Ukrainian Center for Holocaust
Studies is the most
comprehensive Holocaust research center in Ukraine. Under the leadership of Dr. Igor Schupak,
its director, Tkumah opened its nearly 3,000 square meter (approximately 10,000
square feet) Museum of Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine in October
2012. The Museum is located within the
Menorah Center, and the openings of the Menorah Center and the Museum occurred
concurrently.
As
its name suggests, the Museum is designed to present a comprehensive history
of Jewish life on Ukrainian land. Exhibits about the
Holocaust dominate the Museum, but ample space also is committed to an
expansive history of Jewish life in Ukraine (with, perhaps, overstated emphasis
on the role of Chabad in Ukrainian Jewish life). Jewish ritual objects are displayed and
explained. Correctly foreseeing that the
majority of visitors would be Ukrainians, the content of the museum is intended
to be descriptive, instructive, and accessible; its perspective is Ukrainian. The displays include the Khmelnytskyi pogroms
(in 1648), other pogroms in Ukrainian history, collectivization, the Holodmor, the Soviet terror, and, of course, the
Holocaust.
The Museum attracts 12,000 to 15,000 visitors annually,
said Dr. Schupak. About 90 percent of
them are non-Jewish. He had hoped for
more visitors from other regions of the country, Dr. Schupak acknowledged, but
the expense of tourism in current circumstances has limited the ability of
people to travel.
In addition to
maintaining the museum, including periodic changes in some exhibits, the Center
for Holocaust Studies conducts research, publishes about 15 books annually,
and organizes about 20 seminars every month. The seminars focus on research, pedagogy
(teacher education about the Holocaust and about tolerance), additional ethnic
communities (such as Armenians), and World War II. A popular lecture series, originally entitled
Sunday University, continues to operate, but its name has been changed to Sunday
Club so as to avoid intimidating people and to encourage discussion among
participants. Another popular venture, a
History Club, engages a number of international speakers every year.
Dt. Igor Schupak, a native of nearby Zaporizhyzhya, completed his Ph.D.
degree at a Canadian university and was recruited by Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki to
organize Holocaust research in the area and develop Holocaust teaching
materials and exhibits.
Photo: the writer.
A continuing primary project of the history and education
departments of Tkumah, stated Dr. Schupak, is the integration of Holocaust
study into Ukrainian history education at all levels. Organizations and colleagues in Germany are
playing important roles in this endeavor.
Dr. Schupak noted that historians in Nazi Germany
emphasized the Jewish roots of some Bolshevik revolutionaries and that current
Russian commentators attempt to portray some contemporary Ukrainian patriots
as fascist or Nazi sympathizers in an effort to delegitimize Ukrainian
independence. Continuing on this theme,
Dr. Schupak stated that post-Soviet Russian ideology on Ukraine
maintains the Soviet line that Russia is the older brother and that all other
ethnicities within the old Soviet borders - including both Ukrainians and Jews
- are junior or secondary. Antisemitism
and an anti-Ukraine bias are implicit in Russian nationalism.
Questioned
about financial support of Tkumah, Dr. Schupak said that the principal
donor is the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (usually
referred to as the Claims Conference).
The local Chabad community also is a significant sponsor, he added. Although he is grateful for all funds, Dr.
Schupak stated, certain past and current donors have created problems because
they have attempted to control the Tkumah agenda.
16. The American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee (JDC) operates a Jewish community center, located on two floors
of the Menorah Center. Its largest
single component, known as Solomonika, is an activity center for Jewish
children and adolescents. Eighty to 150
school-age children participate in various dance and art classes, chess clubs,
and other activities every day after school, said Vadim Farber, the
Solomonika director. Teens have special
evening programs, including leadership development units that prepare youth
leaders, Mr. Farber continued. Solomonika
also sponsors holiday festivals (usually in collaborative ventures with the
Jewish Agency and the Israel Culture Center) that involve entire families. In response to a question, Mr. Farber said
that many programs for children and youth require fees, but that charges are
adjusted for those families who cannot pay the standard price.
 
Youngsters in the photo
at left participate in one of several Solomonika chess classes for specific age
groups. A Solomonika arts and crafts
room is seen in the photo at right.
Both
photos: the writer.
The
Tikvah (Hope) program serves developmentally challenged children
and youth under the age of 18. About 50
individuals are enrolled in this activity, most of whom meet once weekly in
groups arranged according to age and level of disability. Tikvah focuses on social development and
recreation, rather than on education.
One of its signature programs is animal therapy. Mr. Farber stated that Tikvah is free of
charge to its participants and their families.
Another Solomonika program serves adults with intellectual
impairments.
A Jewish family service, which might
be expected to operate under the same administrative roof as the hesed, is
managed by Solomonika instead. In ordinary circumstances, the family service
provided about 100 poverty-stricken families with food, medicine, and/or
clothing assistance, said Mr. Farber, but its client load has more than doubled
due to the presence of Jewish internally displaced persons in
Dnipropetrovsk. Originally from
areas in eastern Ukraine currently under the control of Ukrainian separatists,
about 400 such families have registered with JDC. The goal of JFS, continued Mr. Farber, is
that these individuals integrate into the local population or move onward to
other cities; JFS services endeavor to steer them in that direction. Some success has already been achieved, he
said, but it is likely that some individuals and families will require
long-term assistance.
Vadim Farber, originally
from nearby Krivoi Rog (Kryvyy Rig), manages a complex program in the Dnipropetrovsk
JDC Solomonika center.
Photo:
the writer.
17. Project Kesher is a Jewish women's
organization that promotes Jewish identity-building, leadership development,
women's health, and general non-partisan activism through affiliated groups in
Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Moldova, and Georgia.
The writer spoke with Ella Sidorenko, a longtime leader of the
Project Kesher group in Dnipropetrovsk.
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