Enumerating a list of national Jewish organizations in Ukraine, Mr. Zissels noted that most had established a specific niche, such as United Jewish Community in philanthropy and the Ukrainian Jewish Committee in Jewish defense.[125]  None of these organizations has produced a strong leader, he observed, a condition that also applies to the Ukrainian rabbinate.  Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki of Dnipropetrovsk and Rabbi Avrum Wolf of Odesa are very strong in their own regions, but neither of them exercises significant national leadership, Mr. Zissels commented.  Mr. Zissels believesthat strong national Jewish leadership is unnecessary in Ukraine because the country is small and the national government is weak and divided.

Iosif Zissels, left, is a longtime in Jewish activist in Ukraine.

Photo: the writer.

Commenting further on the Ukrainian Jewish population, Mr. Zissels estimated that one third of the wealthiest people in the country are Jewish.  A number of Jews are members of the Ukrainian parliament, he stated, but not all will publicly acknowledge their Jewish heritage.

Although aliyah to Israel has declined in recent years, said Mr. Zissels, he expects that it will increase in 2009 due to the economic crisis. 

82.  United Jewish Community of Ukraine was founded in 1999 by Vadim Rabynovych as a successor to his previous organization, the All-Ukraine Jewish Congress.  Mr. Rabynovych, a controversial figure, stepped down in 2008, designating Ihor Kolomoisky of Dnipropetrovsk and Geneva as his successor.[126]  Spending most of his time in Switzerland, Mr. Kolomoisky is “a rare guest” in Ukraine, said Yosif Akselrud, the part-time executive director of UJCU.

The goal of United Jewish Community, stated Mr. Akselrud, is to unite and support local Jewish communities.  Its major activities to date are a collaborative effort with the Jewish Agency in support of student/young adult activities in five cities – Uzhorod, Khmelnytski, Chernihiv, Kirovohrad, and Mikolaiv – too small to host Hillel groups, financial support of Purim celebrations in various communities and organizations, a Jewish newspaper and website, repair of Ukrainian synagogues, development of a Jewish community center in a Jerusalem neighbor-hood with a significant Russian-speaking population, and reconstruction of a noted Jerusalem synagogue that had been destroyed during the Jordanian occupation of east Jerusalem.[127]

Ihor Kolomoisky, right, is an infrequent visitor to his native Ukraine.

Photo: http://www.mw.ua/1000/1030/50996/. 

Retrieved June 12, 2009.

Well-informed individuals with whom the writer spoke in Kyiv expressed bewilderment about the future course of UJCU.  Mr. Kolomoisky is its principal donor; although he has relinquished power, Mr. Rabynovych retains some involvement in the organization and continues his financial support.  The resources of these two individuals, note observers, would enable the organization to exercise substantial influence in Ukrainian Jewish life if its donors elect to do so.  However, the organization has developed no significant mission statement and employs only a part-time executive director.  The engagement of its president in its affairs appears half-hearted at best.

83.  The Ukrainian Jewish Committee was founded in 2008 as a Jewish lobbying organization at the initiative of Alexander Feldman, who serves as its president; it is roughly modeled on the American Jewish Committee, said Eduard Dolinsky, its Director General.  Mr. Feldman, who previously was associated with the Jewish Fund of Ukraine, is a member of the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and frequently wears a kipa (Jewish head covering) to its sessions.  He represents his native city of Kharkiv and is associated with the political party of Yulia Tymoshenko, the current Prime Minister.

Mr. Feldman is the principal owner of Avec, a company with major interests in property development, food processing, and transportation.  He heads several foundations and is regarded as a serious donor in several facets of Ukrainian life.[128]  He is the principal principal sponsor of Ukrainian Jewish Committee.  Ten Jewish businessmen serve as vice-presidents and major contributors.  The organization is not intended to be a mass membership association, noted Mr. Dolinsky, but a more exclusive group of concerned active Jews.

Alexander Feldman, left, is seen in a photo on his founda-tion website.

Photo: http://www.feldmanfund.org/index.php?id=67&album=7&photo=56 Retrieved June 12, 2009.

The Ukrainian Jewish Committee lobbies the Rada, the executive branch, and any other sector of the Ukrainian government that has an impact on the Ukrainian Jewish population.  For example, said Mr. Dolinsky, UJC attempted to persuade the Ukrainian government to boycott the Durban II conference; it has written hate crime legislation that has been submitted to the Rada; it has lobbied the Ukrainian government to eliminate visa requirements for people traveling between Ukraine and Israel; and it encourages the Ukrainian government to provide security for Jewish institutions.

A major concern of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee is antisemitism, which Mr. Dolinsky expects to increase during this period of economic crisis.  He referred to the “alarming” recent elections in Ternipil, in which the Freedom Party of the well-known antisemite Oleh Tyahnybok captured 50 of the 120 seats on the Ternopil city council.  Another event that has attracted UJC attention was the discovery of six kilograms (13+ lbs.) of professionally prepared explosives in the Lutsk Jewish community center; the bomb did not explode, said Mr. Dolinsky, because one wire had been improperly connected to a timing device.  Regrettably he continued, the SBU (Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny or Служба безпеки України – СБУ, the Ukrainian government security agency, a successor in Ukraine to the KGB) refuses to consider the incident an act of terrorism, but has instead opened a criminal case on the much lesser charge of illegal manufacture of explosives.  Mr. Dolinsky believes that someone at the top of the SBU is trying to intimidate people into silence, noting that Ukrainian mass media have paid little attention to the event and that most other Jewish organizations have remained silent about it.  Mr. Feldman, said Mr. Dolinsky, continues to press the SBU about the matter.[129]

Mr. Dolinsky confirmed that MAUP (Міжрегіональна Академія управління персоналом or Interregional Academy of Personnel Management) is no longer publishing antisemitic books and magazines.  MAUP recognizes its mistakes and their new administration is unlikely to resume its former anti-Jewish agenda.  Ukrainian Jewish Committee, he said, is trying to persuade them to recall their antisemitic publications that remain in shops and kiosks.

The Ukrainian Jewish Committee chartered a plane to bring three groups of individuals to Israel in 2008: members of the Rada, parents of soldiers serving in the Israel Defence Forces, and Ukrainian Jewish and non-Jewish children to engage in “children’s diplomacy” with Israeli children.  In all, they spent four days in Israel and they were received by Shimon Peres, the President of Israel.  They plan to repeat this venture in 2009, said Mr. Dolinsky, but they will travel on a Ukrainian commercial air carrier, instead of a chartered aircraft, and it is unlikely that they will include children as part of their delegation.  They will lobby the Israeli government to raise the pensions of olim who arrive in Israel as seniors.  (They also will lobby the Ukrainian government to transmit earned pensions to Ukrainian Jews now residing in Israel.)

Eduard Dolinsk, right, is Director General of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee.  He previously was Executive Director of United Jewish Community of Ukraine.

Photo: the writer.

International Organizations

84.  The writer met with three officials of the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sochnut, JAFI), which maintains a large presence in Kyiv.  Bilana Shakhar directs the mission and also plays an important role in JAFI Jewish education responsibilities; Haim “Charlie” Fliker is the financial director of the Kyiv operation; and Mark Kaner, along with Ms. Shakhar, is an education emissary.  A comprehensive overview of the Ukrainian economic and political crises, ably presented by Mr. Fliker, led to a discussion of the impact of the crises on aliya. 

Approximately 190,000 Jews in Ukraine are eligible under the Israeli Law of Return to make aliyah, said Ms. Shakhar; about 55,000 such individuals reside in Kyiv and the area around Kyiv.  Aliyah from the periphery has increased 79 percent in recent months, she said, and aliyah from Kyiv itself has increased 21 percent; however, she noted, only 37 percent of these olim (immigrants to Israel) are Jewish according to halacha (Jewish law).  Interest in most youth and young adult programs, such asNa’aleh (high school in Israel) and Selah  (university in Israel) has increased significantly; unfortunately, she continued, many of these programs have con-tracted due to budgetary con-straints at the same time that demand for them is increasing.

Charlie Fliker, Bilana Shakhar, and Mark Kaner (left to right) stand in front of a Ukraine wall map in the JAFI Kyiv office.

Photo: the writer.

Notwithstanding the increased interest in Israel youth and young adult programs, Ms. Shakhar said, JAFI has learned that many Ukrainian Jews in this age cohort are unfamiliar with the variety of Israel study options that are available to them.  JAFI is bolstering its marketing efforts while hoping that existing programs are not further curtailed as a result of financial pressures.

Sochnut is recruiting physicians in response to a shortage of doctors in Israel.  Individuals with certain other specialized backgrounds also are eligible for focused aliyah and absorption programs.

Outlining local Jewish education efforts, Ms. Shakhar said that JAFI currently operates four ulpans in Kyiv with a total of 44 individuals and five ulpans outside Kyiv with a total of 52 people.  All students are charged $12 a month for tuition and materials.  Nativ, she noted, charges no fees for its ulpans.  The Open University of Israel, which operates in the post-Soviet states through the Jewish Agency, currently enrolls 157 students in Ukraine, of whom 117 are in Kyiv.  The Open University, she continued, offers 24 Russian-language distance learning courses, the most popular of which are in Jewish history and Jewish-Christian relations.  Students must pay about eight dollars for each Russian-language textbook – and some courses require three to five books.  The entire Open University program is now in jeopardy, she noted, because the charitable foundation of its principal funder had been heavily invested with Bernard Madoff.

The birthright Israel (Taglit) program is popular in Ukraine.  JAFI operated four Taglit groups enrolling a total of 451 young people in 2008, but the 2009 contingent will be limited to three groups due to financial constraints.

The Jewish Agency MASA program offers ten to 12 five-month Russian-language courses in Israel.  Some courses of study offered by Orthodox groups are free, but most of the more interesting and academically challenging programs require co-payments of $1,500 to $10,000; whereas these fees are reasonable for quality courses in business, computer technology, art, and English, they are too expensive for many would-be Ukrainian Jewish participants.  Nonetheless, about 150 Ukrainian young adults are participating in MASA, some interrupting their university studies to do so (similar to a junior-year abroad program) and others as a component of graduate studies.  Ms. Shakhar noted that Nativ offers a four-month Russian-language program at Ariel College free of charge.  In general, she added, a great need exists for more high-quality Russian-language programs in Israel that are free or very low cost to participants.

Regarding JAFI programs for local Jewish children and adolescents, four JAFI summer camp sessions enrolling a total of 452 youngsters were held in the Kyiv region in 2008.  The 2009 camp plan had not yet been determined, but the Kyiv office anticipates that budgetary issues will force a reduction in sessions and the number of children and teens served.

The Jewish Agency professionals expressed gratitude for the funding provided by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago that enables JAFI to offer a two-year Bar/Bat Mitzvah program to youngsters in that age group and another program, known as Sror, to younger children.  The Bar/Bat Mitzvah program enrolls 41 pre-teens, most of whom were recruited at JAFI summer camps; about 25 are present on any given Sunday, said Mr. Kaner. 

JAFI children’s programs include art, music, and computer classes, in ad-dition to Hebrew and other formal Jewish studies.

Photo: the writer.

Responding to Chicago concern that girls were not afforded a full Bat Mitzvah when the religious component was managed by Orthodox leaders, Rabbi Alexander Dukhovny of the Hatikvah Progressive congregation now has responsibility for religious instruction and once-separate programs for boys and girls have been merged.

Participating families in the two programs are transported between central points near their residences and the JAFI building by bus.  Most families, said JAFI instructors, are “working poor” or lower middle-class families who cannot afford to pay for the art, music, and computer classes, as well as other enrichment activities, that the JAFI programs provide.  Parents of participating youngsters are offered parallel seminars in Jewish culture and tradition.  They also are informed about aliyah options for themselves and Israel-based education opportunities for their children.  The family-oriented nature of the two programs provides a “soft” introduction for parents who have had no previous exposure to Judaism.  Some subsequently enroll their children in the ORT school and/or encourage them to participate in other Jewish education programs.

A new JAFI program during the 2008-2009 school year is a Sunday school for the children of Israelis living in Kiev.  Thirty children between the ages of four and 12 are enrolled in classes that encourage such youngsters to retain their Israeli identities.

The Jewish Agency is involved in collaborative programs with several other organizations.  The Perlina school, which does not have comprehensive computer laboratories, sends its pupils to the JAFI building for instruction in computer use; Perlina pays for the bus transportation and JAFI pays for the teacher.  JAFI provides premises for certain educational programs of Rabbi Asman.  It also offers a number of joint programs with Hillel, and works with Limmud in its programs.

85.  The Israel Culture Center attached to the Consulate of Israel in Kyiv offers an expanding list of programs.  Supported by Nativ (formerly Lishkat Hakesher, which has close ties to the Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman), the Israel Cultural Center organizes its own Taglit and MASA programs.  It is initiating an adapted version of the Israeli Scout program next fall for Ukrainian Jewish teens between the ages of 14 and 17 in six Ukrainian cities, hoping to attract 20 to 40 participants in each location.  Young people between the ages of 18 and 23 will be recruited as leaders; they will attend two training courses, one of which will be held in Israel.