Perhaps appropriately in a city famous for its universities, Mr. Shoichet is quick to emphasize the academic achievements of pupils in the regular school.  Of 240 high schools in Kharkiv, he said, School #170 ranks 14th according to standardized tests and various academic competitions.  Its major weakness, he continued, is its computer technology program; an ORT computer laboratory once destined for the school was diverted by the Joint Distribution Committee to a local JDC Jewish community center,[76] leaving School #170 to purchase equipment on its own.  Unable to maintain its computer technology at a level consistent with contemporary standards, the existing computer classroom is obsolescent and, therefore, infrequently used.  Parents of youngsters at elite public schools in the city, explained Mr. Shoichet, purchase the best technology equipment available for these schools, but the majority of families with children at School #170 are unable to make significant financial contributions to any aspect of the school program.  In response to a question, Mr. Shoichet estimated that 90 percent of School #170 families have computers at home with access to the Internet.

Grigory Shoichet, left, is one of the veteran Jewish day school principals in the post-Soviet states and is highly respected by his peers.

Photo: the writer.

Pupils in School #170 have seven to 12 classes in Jewish studies, including Hebrew language, each week.  Several youngsters have done very well in international Bible competitions, said Mr. Shoichet.

A new development at the school, declared Mr. Shoichet, is the establishment of three small museums.  A current theory in education, he continued, is that many children find it easier to grasp material if they are able to absorb it through multiple media formats.  Therefore, School #170 has constructed museums on the Holocaust, Ukrainian-Jewish relations, and Hasidism.  These small museumsare visited not only by School #170 pupils, he said, but also by children from other schools who come on organized fieldtrips.

A Holocaust museum (at right) is one of three small museums developed by School #170 in Kharkiv.

Photo: the writer.

Lacking a conventional sports hall or gymnasium, the school also has developed a small physical training room with a modest amount of training equipment.[77]  Another recent addition to the school is a student-operated radio station.

47.  The yeshiva katana directed by Rabbi Levi Raices enrolls 45 boys in fifth through 11th grades.  (These boys are counted as part of the School #170 census.)  The yeshiva katanaoperates as a mesivta, that is, it offers a full program of general academic studies as well as a full religious studies program.  Fifteen of the boys, most from out of town,live in dormitory rooms that have been constructed within the old synagogue building in which mesivta classes are held.  Some boys who live at home, said Rabbi Raices, stay at the school for Shabbat.  (The old synagogue building is within easy walking distance of the Choral Synagogue.)

Rabbi Levi Reices, a native of New York, directs the yeshiva katana in Kharkiv.

Photo: the writer.

Rabbi Raices recruits boys for the yeshiva katana at the summer camp operated by Kharkiv Chabad.  Many come from troubled backgrounds, he acknowledged, and some are sent to the yeshiva by single mothers eager for a program that engages their sons in full-day studies and keeps them off the streets.  In response to a question, Rabbi Raices said that upon graduation, boys enter local post-secondary education institutions and enroll in STARS classes, enter the Chabad yeshiva in Moscow, or emigrate.  If additional funds were available, he continued, he would refurbish the old synagogue building, do more advertising for the yeshiva katana, and offer more educational opportunities for different segments of the local Jewish population.

In addition to directing the yeshiva katana, Rabbi Raices teaches a twice-weekly shiur (lesson) to elderly men at the synagogue.  Approximately 65 pensioners are enrolled, he said, each receiving pocket money and refreshments for attending the lessons.

48.  The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU; New York) operates a multi-faceted Zionist-oriented program in Kharkiv that focuses on Jewish adolescents and young adults.  No longer a priority of the OU, the program is threatened with closure by the end of June 2009; the OU has warned that it intends to terminate all funding at that time.  Enrollment in its day school, Lycée Sha’alvim, has shrunk from its peak of 220 pupils in 2000-2001 to 96 during the current academic year.[78]

According to Principal Yevgeny Persky, the Orthodox Union has lost interest in the school and has decreased its support for the program over the last three years.    The lycée has worked hard to reduce its expenses and to find alternative sponsors.  Although it is a private school, Mr. Persky was able to persuade municipal authorities to extend assistance in the form of suspension of rental payments[79] for two years and also offer a reduction in tax assessments.  Lycée Sha’alvim receives funds from the Avi Chai Foundation for extra-curricular activities and some Jewish studies programming and a grant from World Jewish Relief (United Kingdom) that addresses some of the needs of pupils from impoverished families; specifically, the WJR grant covers food, medical  and psychological support, and speech therapy.  A fundraising appeal among school parents yielded $16,000 to cover various repairs to the school building, but school families do not have the resources to provide large-scale general support.

Mr. Persky is approaching several individuals in Ukraine and abroad, as well as European Jewish organizations, in search of a new general sponsor for the school.  The current economic climate is not conducive to such efforts.

Declining school enrollment, said Mr. Persky and others with whom the writerspoke, reflects the remote location of the school, an unattractive building, a declining Jewish population in the city, the greater appeal of specialized schools, and an intensive Jewish studies program that is unattractive to assimilated Jewish families.  Children in grades five through eight have 10 classes in Jewish studies each week, and pupils in grades nine through 11 have 14 hours of Jewish studies.

Principal Yevgeny Persky spends much of his time pursuing alternative funding sources to support Lycée Sha’alvim.

Photo: the writer.

Most graduates of Lycée Sha’alvim attend universities or colleges in Kharkiv, said Mr. Persky, although a few enroll in programs in Israel or other countries.  Unfortunately, the economic situation of some graduates is such that they must enter the workforce immediately after finishing the lycée.

49.  International Solomon University was founded in 1992 as a commercial undergraduate and graduate degree-granting institution in Kyiv. It opened its first (and, so far, only) branch in Kharkiv in 1998. Its curriculum offers academic concentrations in Judaic studies (focusing on Jewish history), economics,[80] computer science, and law. The writer was unable to confer with its Kharkiv director, Dr. Boris Elkin, as he was out of town during her visit. The lSU premises also include an ORT computer center previously housed at the Beit Dan Jewish Community Center (see below) and a lyceum (specialized public school) that offers a secular Jewish studies program.

50.  Inaugurated in 2005, Akademia is a six-year degree program operated by Chabad for halachically Jewish young women between the ages of 17 and 24.  It offers two specialties, economics/management and the teaching of foreign languages.[81]  Current enrollment is 45 young women, most of whom are graduates of the Chabad Machon in Kharkiv, said Pearl Kolnak, director of Akademia.  Five students from out of town are accommodated in a rental apartment that serves as a dormitory; Ms. Kolnak stated that another apartment is needed for additional out-of-town students.

Akademia students are enrolled in Jewish studies classes during the morning.  In the afternoon, they are instructed in their specialty courses by professors from accredited university programs in Kharkiv.  These universities confer the actual degrees upon graduation.  Most instruction takes place in synagogue classrooms.

Ms. Kolnak expressed satisfaction with progress in the Akademia program since its inception four years ago.  Social events are held with young men enrolled in local STARS and other Jewish studies courses so that Jewish young men and women are able to meet each other.  So far, said Ms. Kolnak, these contacts have resulted in 10 marriages.

Pearl Kolnak directs Akademia, one of several college-level institutions operated by Chabad in Ukraine.

Photo: the writer.

51.  The STARS program enrolls 105 to 110 young men and women in separate classes, said Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz.  Although the sponsors decreased the monthly subsidy from $90 to $45 monthly with the understanding that the number of classes would be cut from twice to once weekly, Kharkiv Chabad has managed to maintain the twice weekly classes and has found another $10 to give each participant.  A Friday evening Shabbat meal is held once each month for male and female participants together and other social activities also engage both genders.  STARS participants enter the program with different levels of Jewish knowledge and some continue for a second year of classes, noted Rabbi Moskovitz; therefore, Chabad offers several different courses in order to accommodate everyone who wishes to learn.[82]

52.  The Hillel student organization in Kharkiv has long been viewed as one of the most activist in the post-Soviet states.  Yulia Pototskaya, its director, stated that Hillel has approximately 450 members, of whom 50 percent are active.  It is likely, she said, that Kharkiv’s many universities and other post-second educational institutions enroll between 1,700 and 2,500 Jewish students.

The most popular Hillel activities, she said, center around volunteer work, which includes cleaning and maintenance of old Jewish cemeteries and celebrating holidays with Jewish children at risk and with elderly Jews.  Hillel students are now volunteering in the broader community as well, Ms. Pototskaya continued.  For example, Hillel has worked with neighborhood children to repair and paint several neighborhood playgrounds in the city.  Residents of these neighborhoods sometimes express surprise at seeing Jews assisting the general population, she said.

By far the most demanding volunteer work has been the organizing and operation of three week-long camps, each for 100 disadvantaged children.  One group consisted of youngsters who live in state homes, a second was for developmentally disabled children, and the third was for juvenile delinquents.  Financial support for the camp programs has been secured from groups in Kharkiv and Kyiv, including the Kharkiv city council.

Other activities that appeal to Hillel members include participation in Limmud events, a vocal ensemble, dancing, and celebration of Shabbat.  Perhaps because of economic pressures, continued Ms. Pototskaya, Kharkiv Hillel is receiving fewer international visitors than was the case in previous years.  However, Hillel members from universities in Michigan and Florida spent part of their 2008 summer vacation working with Kharkiv Hillel members in building a playground and repairing the local hesed in Konotop, a town located northwest of Kharkiv.

53.  Beit Dan is one of the first JDC-constructed Jewish community centers in the post-Soviet states.[83]  Opened in 2002, it hosts a number of small-group cultural and social activities for the general Jewish public.  A multi-room modern ORT computer center on the ground floor was not open to the general community, but was restricted to use as an ORT professional training center.  The ORT center recently was moved to the premises of International Solomon University and its space at Beit Dan has been taken over by the Joint Distribution Committee for its administrative offices.

Beit Dan is located in a relatively remote area of the city some distance from municipal transportation lines.  It appears to have been poorly planned, lacking sports facilities and also lacking an elevator, although part of the building is four stories in height.

The logo on the Beit Dan building identifies the structure as a Jewish community center in English and a Jewish cultural center in Russian.

Photo: the writer (in 2002).

Rabbinic Presence

54.  Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz is Chief Rabbi of Kharkiv.  Associated with Chabad, he and his wife Miriam arrived in the city in 1990 and have built a community in Kharkiv centering around the city’s large choral synagogue.  The synagogue, originally constructed in 1903 and used as a sports facility during most of the Soviet period, has been extensively restored and includes various community facilities in addition to the large prayer hall.  The second largest synagogue in Europe, it also has become a popular tourist destination.

Photos: exterior

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kharkov_Synagogue1.jpg;

interior http://www.synagogue.kharkov.ua/photo.php?url=img/syna_01.jpg:

Both retrieved May 11, 2009.