All current Beit Chana classes are held in a refurbished former preschool building.  Students commute to the school by a special bus from their dormitory, which is located in a more isolated part of the same general area.  The classroom building also hosts a special needs program for local Jewish children, which is supported by the Boston Jewish community.  Beit Chana is supported by Lev Leviev, the Israeli Ministry of Education, and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

In addition to its conventional teacher training program, Beit Chana currently offers a distance-learning/continuing education program in which 90 women are enrolled.  Many are already teaching and wish to upgrade their teachers’ college credentials to full bachelor’s degrees or, in some cases, to master’s degrees.  All students in the distance-learning program must participate in four onsite seminars during each academic year.  Rabbi Weber said that approximately 50 percent of the students enrolled in these classes are Beit Chana graduates.

Rabbi Weber expressed optimism about the capacity of the school to increase its enrollment.  The current economic crisis, he believes, will entice young women to prepare for a career in which future employment is almost guaranteed.  Further, he noted, Beit Chana tuition and housing will remain free of charge, although fees will be required of all future students in the continuing education program.

Rabbi Meir Stambler, Executive Director of the Chabad Federation of Jewish Communities in Ukraine, has developed plans for further development and expansion of Beit Chana into a comprehensive educational institution for Jewish girls and women.  The current dormitory would be converted into a classroom building.  A new residential structure on the same site would accommodate students in suites, foreign Chabad families in apartments, and continuing education students in hotel-type rooms for seminars.  Another new building would house a kosher kitchen and large multipurpose community hall, several smaller community rooms, a synagogue, library, computer center, and a sports complex, including a swimming pool.

The entire complex, he said, would be about 12,000 square meters in size and require $20 million to develop.  It would be established as a commercial organization in order to escape the myriad of complex regulations governing non-profit institutions in Ukraine.  Contracts would be signed with various local universities and colleges to provide undergraduate degree programs in education, psychology, sociology, law, logistics (warehouse management, customs brokerage, and similar fields), tourism and hospitality, foreign languages, human resources, finance and credit, and web-design and other computer technologies.  Master’s degree programs would be available in several of these areas as well.  Although some courses in Jewish studies would be required, Rabbi Stambler stated that the Jewish atmosphere would be less intense than is the case in most Orthodox institutions.  He envisions a first-year enrollment of 60 young women and an eventual capacity enrollment of 240.

Rabbi Meir Stambler, left, envisions a major expansion of Beit Chana into a comprehensive education center for Jewish girls and women.  Rabbi Moshe Weber, right, is Rabbi and Deputy President of Beit Chana.

Photo: the writer.

The Beit Chana pedagogical college would still exist, said Rabbi Stambler.  However, he continued, some [unspecified] changes must be made for it to remain a viable program.  Chabad preschools and day schools will continue to require teachers, so training of teachers remains critically important.

Another program in the new institution, Rabbi Stambler declared, would be a high school (grades 10-12) for the daughters of Chabad families in Ukraine and other post-Soviet states.  The high school would offer both secular and religious courses and would be accredited by education authorities in Israel.  Girls would be expected to take the Israeli bagrut (matriculation) exams at the end of twelfth grade.  Rabbi Stambler said that he anticipates opening the high school in time for the 2010-2011 school year and already has spoken with a potential principal from Israel who is highly respected in Chabad circles.

Other Chabad leaders in Ukraine view Rabbi Stambler’s plans as unrealistic in the current economic climate.  Although Rabbi Kaminezki has promised a major contribution to the project from proceeds of a small campsite that he intends to sell, the value of the campgrounds has plummeted in the last year and may not regain its prior value for some time.  Nonetheless, several Chabad rabbis in other cities said that they would welcome the development of such a high school for their daughters as no such facility currently exists in the post-Soviet states.  A Chabad boarding school would provide an agreeable atmosphere; further, good transportation links connect Dnipropetrovsk with many other cities so that girls would be able to return to their homes frequently.

28.  Hillel is now in its twelfth year of operation in Dnipropetrovsk.  Historically one of the weaker Hillel groups in Ukraine, Dnipropetrovsk Hillel seems to have been infused with new energy and new strength under the leadership of its new director, Olga Tovkach.  A native of Poltava, Ms. Tovkach has been working for Dnipropetrovsk Hillel since July 2008.

Ms. Tovkach believes that between 5,000 and 15,000 Jews study at various higher education institutions in the city, the precise number depending on one’s definition of a Jew.  Hillel welcomes anyone who is Jewish according to the Israeli Law of Return, and currently has 400 names of Jewish students in its data base. Approximately 70 participate in Hillel activities on a monthly basis, Ms. Tovkach said, and about 25 are activists.  Given that the current academic year is the first under her leadership, Ms. Tovkach considers these numbers adequate, but she hopes to increase the participation level significantly in the next few years.

After moving every few years from one facility to another, Hillel now has office and program space in the small community center attached to the Golden Rose Choral Synagogue.  It is eagerly awaiting more spacious accommodations in the Menorah Center currently under construction. 

Ms. Tovkach said that Hillel celebrates all Jewish holidays, often in cooperation with other Jewish groups, such as the Jewish Agency and Nativ.  They all share costs, she said.  Hillel sponsors an informal Shabbat dinner every week, offering kosher sandwiches after synagogue services on Friday.  They also have held a Shabbaton at a nearby resort and have participated with others in seminars on such subjects as leading seders.  Hillel sponsors various sports and volunteer programs, the latter sometimes including work with Jewish elderly through the hesed or at Beit Baruch.

In response to a question, Ms. Tovkach stated that about 25 or 30 Hillel students also attend the STARS program, but, she said, the impact of STARS is limited by its requirement that all participants be halachically Jewish.  The attraction of the National Business School program clearly is the stipend, she added.  Other than observance of Jewish holidays, Dnipropetrovsk Hillel has not yet created its own informal Jewish education programs. 

The international economic crisis and local inflation combine to weaken Hillel’s resource basis, said Ms. Tovkach.  Further, she feels that the heavy industry base of the Dnipropetrovsk economy has created a sharply bifurcated economic reality in the city in which the majority of people are either very rich or very poor and few are middle class; it is difficult to raise money under such circumstances, she said.  Fortunately, Rabbi Kaminezki has provided some assistance.[48]

Notwithstanding the strong ties between Dnipropetrovsk and Boston, Dnipropetrovsk Hillel has not yet had any exchange programs with Boston-area Hillel programs.  However, said Ms. Tovkach, a group from Cornell University Hillel visited Dnipropetrovsk for nine days during their alternative spring break.  Together, the local and Cornell Hillel students did volunteer work with Jewish elderly in Dnipropetrovsk and several small towns, renovated a children’s residential facility in Zaporozhiya, and worked in several JDC programs.

29.  Tkumah, the Dnipropetrovsk-based Ukrainian Holocaust Research, Education, and Memorial Center, is one of two major Holocaust-study institutions in Ukraine.  The other, the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, is located in Kyiv.[49]  In the absence of Tkumah Director Dr. Igor Schupak, who was traveling in Canada at the time of the writer’s visit to Dnipropetrovsk, the writer spoke with a Tkumah staff member.

Responding to budgetary problems even before the current economic crisis developed in late 2008, Tkumah moved from its former independent premises in June and is now located in the hesed.  Its space includes several small offices and a conference hall.  Its museum collection of Holocaust and other historical objects remains in storage, awaiting transfer to the Holocaust and Jewish history museum now under construction as part of the Menorah complex.

The objectives of Tkumah are: (1) to conduct scholarly research about the Holocaust through interviews of survivors, examination of pertinent documents, and expeditions to relevant sites; (2) educate contemporary and future Ukrainians about the Holocaust through publications, development of school curricula, training teachers, and seminars and conferences; (3) encouraging dialogue between Jews and other Ukrainian ethnic groups seminars and conferences for youth, adults, and historians; and (4) arranging museum displays and related programming about the Holocaust.

Tkumah is active throughout Ukraine and works in partnership with other Holocaust centers in the post-Soviet states, Poland, France, Israel, and other countries.  It is supported financially by JDC, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, the Rothschild Foundation Europe, the Philanthropic Fund of the Dnipro-petrovsk Jewish Community, and grants from several foreign embassies in Ukraine and other organizations.

Kovcheg (The Ark) is the title of Ukrainian-language proceedings of a 2008 Lviv-based student conference sponsored by Tkumah with financial assistance from JDC, the Claims Conference, and the Dutch Humanitarian Fund.  Participants included Jewish and non-Jewish Ukrainian students and Polish students.  The title indicates that everyone is together in one ark.

Welfare

30.   Hesed Menachem is centrally located in a former preschool building.  According to its director, Anatoliy Pleskachevsky, the hesed serves 8,000 elderly clients, 7,000 of whom live in Dnipropetrovsk and the remainder reside in such nearby cities as Dniprodzerzhinsk (see below) and Pavlograd.  The total number of those served is stable, said Mr. Pleskachevsky, but the number of Nazi victims is diminishing each year and thus the supplemental funding from the Conference on Material Claims Against Germany also is diminishing.

Approximately 5,000 clients receive smart cards entitling them to discounts at particular chains of supermarkets and drugstores.  An Austrian discount store with outlets in the city also provides price reductions to hesed clients.  Patronage or home health care service is extended to more than 700 homebound clients, said Mr. Pleskachevsky, and medical implements (such as walkers, wheelchairs, special orthopedic mattresses) are available to those who need them.

Economic pressure has forced the closure of dining room programs for seniors.  The popular warm home program, in which affinity groups of elderly gather in private apartments, still exists and has 120 participants, said Mr. Pleskachevsky, but full meals are no longer provided at these gatherings.  Guests are served tea and snacks.

Food parcels are provided once or twice monthly to 70 elderly Jews who live in small towns and villages in which no stores exist, responded Mr. Pleskachevsky to a question.  Special food items are added on holidays, and books and magazines sometimes are distributed as well.  Although all recipients are grateful for this assistance and attention, some are apprehensive about visits from a Jewish organization, continued Mr. Pleskachevsky.  Fearful of antisemitism, many Jews in small towns and villages have concealed their ethnicity from their neighbors over many decades and are concerned that unpleasantness might occur if their identity becomes known.

Anatoliy Pleskachevsky, right, is a 34-year veteran of the Soviet armed forces, having retired as a colonel after serving in the artillery corps in Afghanistan.

Photo: the writer.

About 780 seniors participate in day center activity at the hesed, each coming once monthly in a group of 30.  They are provided with transportation to and from their homes, breakfast and lunch, general medical care, and various social activities. 

More mobile seniors participate in various clubs and a choir, and about 80 elderly people gather for kabbalat Shabbat every Friday, said Mr. Pleskachevsky.  He noted that most of these activities are operated with the assistance of volunteers, many of whom are young retirees.  All holidays are celebrated, often with performances by local volunteer musicians. 

Sewing is a popular activity for some seniors at the hesed.  The woman in the white jersey and pink sweater is making a kipa.

Photo: the writer.

The hesed offers only very basic medical care, referring clients to some 54 different specialists.  Many of these physicians care for hesed clients without fees or at greatly reduced fees.  The hesed also extends assistance to hospitalized Jewish patients by providing medicines or bed linens that hospitals do not supply.

Hesed Menachem also houses some services for disabled children and children at risk, said Mr. Pleskachevsky, but most of these programs are operated by the JDC Jewish community center.  (See interview with Amir Ben Tzvi below.)   Developmentally disabled Jewish young adults meet periodically under the auspices of a program called Yedid, but this program is seriously underfunded, Mr. Pleskachevsky stated.

31.  The Beit Barukh Assisted Living Facility for elderly Jews opened in 2002, the first of only two dedicated housing facilities for Jewish seniors in all of the post-Soviet states.[50]  Beit Barukh provides accommodations, meals, medical care, and various social activities to its residents.  Some reside in single rooms, others in doubles with a roommate.  Each room has its own private bathroom.   The facility is located in a relatively quiet outlying district of Dnipropetrovsk on the site of a former preschool.  The original building was completely razed and then replaced by a clean modern structure. 

The Beit Barukh Assisted Living Center is seen at left.

Photo: Chabad.

Although the official capacity of Beit Barukh is 94, geriatric specialists from Boston recommend that the total number not exceed 75 to 80.  The current census is only 60, the peak census of 72 having occurred several years ago.  The lower current number is a response to the contemporary economic crisis.  According to Vyecheslav “Slavik” Brez,[51] Executive Director of the Chabad Philanthropic Fund in the city, the annual cost of maintaining an individual in Beit Baruch is $5000; the same care cost $2500 three years ago.

Economic constraints also forced the local Chabad Philanthropic Fund, the largest single source of support for Beit Baruch, to reduce its annual allocation from $400,000 to $330,000 for 2008-2009.  Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, the Boston Jewish federation, allocates $70,000 annually and also arranges for visits of geriatric specialists at no cost to Beit Barukh.  The Adopt-a-Bubbe program (see below) and foreign visitors provide many basic medicines required by residents.

Although residents lived in the facility free of charge from its opening in 2002 until the end of 2008, deteriorating economic conditions forced Dnipropetrovsk Chabad to impose fees on all residents at the beginning of 2009.  Each is expected to pay 40 to 60 percent of his/her pension; in practice, said Mr. Brez, the lowest monthly charge is approximately $38 and the highest is approximately $153.[52]  In response to a question, Mr. Brez said that little opposition arose among residents to the decision to charge fees.  Residents were approached as “partners” with the larger community, he said, and they realize that the fees are very small in terms of services received.  Further, Mr. Brez continued, most residents are aware through television of inflation and other economic problems in the country.  Because Beit Barukh takes care of their needs, residents have few other expenses in their lives.  In addition to the collection of fees from residents, management is achieving greater economy by postponing the purchase of any new equipment and any repairs to the facility.

According to Beit Barukh manager Alexandra Kizhner, Beit Barukh experienced a significant turnover in its population during the last year.  Eighteen residents died,[53] and eight left for other countries, most to join relatives in Israel or Germany.  Twenty new people moved into the facility, almost all of them from Dnipropetrovsk.  (One had come from Odesa, and a newcomer from Melitopol was scheduled to move in within the next week.)  Of the current residents, continued Ms. Kizhner, 34 are suffering from dementia, 13 each from cancer and diabetes, and 12 from various psychological issues. Eight are recovering from broken hips.[54]

Alexandra Kizhner is highly respected by the residents of Beit Barukh.  She had emigrated to Israel and worked in a senior housing facility there before returning to Ukraine.

Photo: the writer.

In response to a question, Ms. Kizhner said that the cost of food and medicine has risen 300 to 400 percent in the last several years.  Residents of Beit Barukh have been asked not to waste food, she said, and they have complied.

Ms. Kizhner introduced the writer to Sara Schwartzberg Smorodina, a new resident.  Ms. Smorodina, now severely hearing-impaired, was born into a family of artists in Dnipropetrovsk in 1915 and attended a Jewish elementary school through  seventh grade.      She  graduated from  the  conservatory in drama,  but pursued a career as an accompanist on the piano.  Evacuated to Ufa[55] during World War II, she continued her work there, but returned to Dnipropetrovsk as soon as she was able to do so.  Her first husband died during the war, leaving her with a son who subsequently died of cancer at age 33.  His family now lives in Israel, she said, and sends her packages from time to time.  She has outlived two more husbands.  She spent many years as a pianist accompanying female gymnasts at the Meteor sports club in their floor exercise routines, traveling with them as they participated in competitions.  She officially retired in 1984, but some of the former gymnasts still send her birthday gifts.

A relatively new resident at Beit Barukh, Sara Schwartzberg Smorodina continues to enjoy playing the piano.  She also loves poetry.

Photo: the writer.