Judy Patkin, Linda Kantor,* David & Beth Ann Salzman,* Maura Freibaum
Members of the Myriam’s Dream Foundation
Arkadievna Dezhmova, born in 1927, with a gift of food from Adopt-a-Bubbe.
Action for Post-Soviet Jewry
24 Crescent Street, Suite 306
Waltham, MA 02453
(781)893-2331
ActionPSJ@aol.com
ActionPSJ.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
1. Table of Contents 2
2. Trip Impressions 3
2. Ukraine - September 14 – 22 5 – 32
a. Dnipropetrovsk 5
1) Golden Rose Synagogue Food Packages 5
2) Chesed Menachem 6
3) Beit Hana – Special Needs Initiative 8
4) Holocaust Memorial 9
b. Pavlograd
1) Home Visits 10
2) Progressive Congregation – Kabbalat Shabbat 13
Melitopol
1) Progressive Congregation 14
2) Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visits 16
c. Zaporozhe – Progressive Congregation 18
d. Kharkov
1) Mendel Rohr Synagogue 20
2) Synagogue Medical Clinic 20
3) Progressive Congregation – Rabbi Mikhail Kapustin 22
e. Poltava
1) Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visits 24
2) Warm House 26
f. Dnipropetrovsk
1) Jewish Day School #144 29
2) Yan’s Choir 29
3) Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki 29
4) Beit Baruch 30
5) Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki – Medical Clinic 31
Belarus – September 23 – 26 33 - 43
a. Baranovichi – Home Visits 33
b. Minsk – Marina Kitaichik 36
c. Bobruisk – Orthodox Congregation 37
d. Mogilev
1) Progressive Congregation 38
2) Home Visits 39
3) Jewish Sites 40
e. Pinsk
1) Rabbi Moshe Fima 40
2) Girls’ Boarding School 41
3) Cemeteries, Holocaust Sites 41
f. Minsk
1) Holocaust Site, Former Synagogues 42
2) Day Center for Special Needs Children 42
TRIP IMPRESSIONS SEPTEMBER, 2005 - Judy Patkin
Everywhere we went there were signs of business thriving, color on the streets, people well dressed, and expensive cars, including SUV’s. However, the people we saw with Adopt-a-Bubbe were quite a contrast. Poverty doesn’t always show on the street. Some people I had seen last year were much sicker this year, and one man was near the end of his life – miserable and tired of the pain and struggle – perhaps not much different than it might have been in the U.S. He didn’t want to let us leave. A woman who last year had broken her hip, had died. It is still a very hard life for pensioners and the unemployed.
The declining health of the pensioners we are serving is hard to watch. It is especially difficult to know that more could be done to give people a better quality of life and some pleasure as they age. One man was bedridden from a stroke he had suffered four years ago. His speech was good and he seemed to be able to use both legs to stand, but he stayed in bed so much that he was terribly weak. There were also heart and circulatory problems which were not being adequately treated. I couldn’t help but feel that there should have been therapy for the stroke symptoms and some medication to help him become ambulatory and not feel so hopeless. A short visit from Americans doesn’t cure all ailments.
The Joint was providing patronnage service for many of the most-needy cases, and this seemed to be true wherever we went. In most instances, it was greatly appreciated and people told us they didn’t know what they would have done without the extra help for shopping, cleaning, laundry, and cooking. However, food is another matter. The Joint is doing far less to distribute food, both in Ukraine and Belarus. Meals on Wheels has been cut tremendously, and in many cities not in evidence at all. Packages were delivered once a month in some parts of Ukraine and twice a year in parts of Belarus. In many places, food is a welcome supplement, but it can hardly sustain anyone if it is so infrequent.
Although there are Cheseds (Joint-run community centers for pensioners and others) in the major cities, many parts of them seemed empty, and what good is a wonderful Chesed program to people without enough to eat or enough medicine to keep them healthy. When we questioned family backgrounds, too many relatives had died for lack of adequate medical care, and those we saw in front of us needed better access to the basics - blood pressure, heart, and ulcer medicines, asthma treatment, and more. We were told over and over again that the price of food and medicine was continuing to rise, and their pensions were not keeping pace with the increase. Often western medicines are not available at any price.
My understanding is that the Joint has been given the task of taking care of the pensioners in the FSU, that they would not be emigrating, but cared for in place. If so, the program is failing, and it is definitely being cut more and more each time I visit. Where are the millions of dollars going which we contribute through our Federations to the Joint?
In well-organized and wealthier cities, like Dnipropetrovsk, the synagogue is picking up some of the slack in food distribution. However, most places do not have the resources to step in and take over. Our own Adopt-a-Bubbe program is badly needed, but we cannot begin to match the dollars to feed the thousands in need.
People are so grateful for the food and medicine we do provide. I was thanked over and over again. I think part of the thanks was just for showing up and caring about their plight. They are afraid of being forgotten, and they are already destitute. We need to do more to get others to travel and understand just what life is like – to talk to the people we are serving. Life is not always grim, and we need to keep up with the changes going on and try to meet new challenges.
We have begun to change by setting up a pharmacy program in Dnipropetrovsk. In a few month’s time, we should be able to see just how well it is working, and perhaps we can duplicate it in other cities. Again, money is the key ingredient.
The Progressive Movement is in many more places, and we visited people connected with progressive Judaism in several cities – Pavlograd, Melitopol, Zaporozhe, and Kharkov in Ukraine, and Mogilev in Belarus. These groups are starting from scratch and many are struggling. Few of those we visited receive any financial or spiritual help from the World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). They need decent places to meet, progressive siddurs, tallitot, kippot, Russian-Hebrew progressive Torah commentary (this is being worked on by WUPJ), seder plates, Havdalah candles, Shabbat candles, Chanukah candles, and more.
There is much interest in joining a progressive congregation. Jews, who are intermarried and not halachically Jewish, feel comfortable and accepted. They like to be able to sit with men and women together. Once they learn the service and some of the music, they participate eagerly. Young people like the youth groups and ethnic dance groups.
We wonder why the WUPJ doesn’t link synagogues in the West with these fledgling groups. And why aren’t they listed on the WUPJ Web Site? Many of their needs are modest and easy to fulfill. They need visitors from the West who can teach and talk with them. As Americans living in the Diaspora, we have much to share.
Travel is becoming more and more comfortable. Hotels in the larger cities are clean, better equipped and their staff friendly and helpful. Prices for hotels and food are still reasonable, although transportation is feeling the crunch of the rising cost of gas. There is no excuse for not going and being a part of this great transition.
The young people we met are happy and thriving. They are charming, intelligent and full of energy. We need to support those trying to rejoin Jewish life. Some of this can be done through the Jewish Day Schools and some through the Progressive Congregations. There will definitely be another generation of Jews growing up in the FSU. They are not all pensioners, and they are not all emigrating.
TRIP REPORT UKRAINE SEPTEMBER 14 – 22, 2005
Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - Dnipropetrovsk
a. Arrived in Dnipropetrovsk with all our luggage – that’s a relief. Sometimes large pieces get bumped off the flight from Vienna because the plane is small. Met by Yan and Tanya Sidelkovsky and our translator, Masha. On Thursday, Dave & Beth Ann Salzman came – also without a problem.
The embankment on the Dniepr River in front of Hotel Dnipropetrovsk has been converted into a wonderful park and walk way. There are fountains and green plantings. Many people seem to already be taking advantage of it. We were told that it was just dedicated last Friday, and even Kuchma (former president of Ukraine) was here to partake of the ceremonies.
There is a great deal of new construction in Dnipropetrovsk and you see many enormous cranes at work on both sides of the river. Construction crews seem to work into the night. The small synagogue will soon be surrounded by high rise apartments and businesses. Yan said that they would even be building over the area behind the synagogue between the synagogue and the mikvah, creating an overpass between buildings. The crew near the synagogue was blasting away with a loud radio as we were eating supper one evening.
Although there were reports of graffiti on both synagogues recently, it has been cleaned up, and there is no trace of it. Yan said it even covered the wall near the small synagogue – “Jews go to Israel,” and worse. I hope to have a disc with these photos on it.
b. I met with Oleg Rostovtsev, who is making a video of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry’s work. Oleg flew in from Kiev to meet with us, and he leaves again for Kiev this evening. Oleg’s assistant will accompany us on our Adopt-a-Bubbe visits to add more film to the project. We discussed what story I wanted told with this video. Some of it has already been shot, but more will be taken on our trip by his assistant. I’ll meet with Oleg again on Wednesday of next week.
c. Yan went over the schedule with me. We’ll stay in Dnipropetrovsk for a couple of days and leave sometime late Saturday afternoon for Melitopol.
d. We ate dinner at the small synagogue – a magnificent spread – and then walked to the Golden Rose Synagogue before heading back to the hotel.
Half of the walkway beside the synagogue is covered by a sheet metal fence. There is new construction in many places, including the opposite side of the Dniepr River. There is quite a building boom going on.
The Golden Rose Synagogue is putting together packages of food for Rosh Hashanah. There was a list of the contents in the synagogue lobby and a table in the synagogue was filled with the contents of a single package. Several men were stacking the bags in the coatroom. It’s an impressive package with over a dozen basic foodstuffs as well as a container of honey for the holiday.
Contents of Rosh Hashanah Package:
a) Tinned Sprats
b) Tinned Sardines
c) Can of Tomato Paste
d) Pasta
e) Tinned Fish
f) Honey
g) Green Tea
h) Black Tea
i) Corn
j) Peas
k) Cocoa
l) Faux Caviar from Vegetables
m) Butter
n) Pineapple
o) Raisins
p) Apple Juice
q) 2 Bottles of Oil
r) Leaflets including the story of Rosh Hashanah
They were distributing 5,000 of these packages, and they went to all pensioners and the handicapped in the Jewish community. People were checked against a computer list before they could pick up their package. They estimate that between 40 and 100 people would be unable to come to receive this food, and these individuals would be followed up separately by volunteers and Chesed’s patronnage workers. Also, several hundred would be delivered to outlying villages through the Joint, which routinely services this area.
These packages are much more comprehensive than those the Joint has been putting together, although the synagogue only does this twice a year – for Rosh Hashanah and for Purim. We later saw the Joint holiday package, which had only four items in them. There is a special plastic bag, which tells them where the food is from. A previous package was delivered in May on Veterans’ Day. The cost of the packages is privately sponsored by the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish Federation.
e. We now have water! It has been shut off for a couple of days (to clean the system), which people tell us happens every year, but I have never experienced it before this trip.
2. Thursday, September 15, 2005 - Dnipropetrovsk
a. We toured Chesed Menachem with the director, Grigory Kogodakh, a young man who has been in this position for two years. The Joint has 7,200 pensioners on their lists and another 300 in small villages in the oblast. There are 250 employees at the Joint.
1) Chesed Menachem has been in existence for 12 years – since 1993. I was here in 1993, and there wasn’t much happening then. I think their programs really got started around 1998.
2) We saw the room with sample crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, commodes, etc. provided by Yad Sarah in Israel. Grigory said that most of this was now purchased in Ukraine. There was also a baby carriage and a few other children’s items which are on loan through the Mazel Tov program for babies and young children at risk. According to Grigory, there are 1,500 pensioners who receive help with equipment through this program. It is on loan – no charge.
3) The Mazel Tov program was started five years ago, and there are 600 babies in this category. I think this number covers all the babies within the five-year period. When we looked in on their playroom filled with climbing equipment, there were only four children – toddlers – playing.
4) We met with a small group of pensioners – about 25 people – who were at the JCC for the day. This particular program serves 800 people/month. They play chess, do craft work, and socialize. One woman was having her blood pressure taken. They receive two meals on this day.
5) Joint Medical program: According to Grigory, pensioners can ask for medicine at any time, and receive what they request within a couple of days. There is no financial limit to the program. They just bring a prescription to the coordinator, who is not a physician. There were packages of ordered medicine on the shelves – bottles and tubes in a small plastic bag. There were probably around 50 packages waiting for someone to pick them up. They no longer seem to use the list of basic medicines, which an American physician had organized a few years ago. Medicines are purchased at a local pharmacy where they have a special arrangement with a Jewish owner. They can even order medicine on-line, and have it delivered the next day. They handle over 1,000 orders of medicine a month. Although this sounds like a lot, it is not much out of a list of over 7,000 pensioners. Grigory did mention that it was difficult to obtain certain medicines from abroad. I found this whole explanation very hard to believe. A small group of five women were waiting outside of this office, but it turned out that they were waiting to have haircuts! No one was in line to order medicine.
We know that pensioners are charged so they pay for a certain percentage of their aid from Joint. It is set depending upon the level of their pension, whether there are other family members around, etc. It can range from 20% to 60% of the cost of the medicine or care. This is part of a plan by Menachem Lepkivker to save money, but it is a real hardship on the people who need the help.
6) We visited a few downstairs rooms, which had several service areas. One was a laundry with a line up of washing machines, dryers and ironing apparatus. There is a paid employee doing the work. Bed linens were the only items being washed. Laundry service is part of home care. There are 830 people receiving home care, and many are bedridden. If the pensioner has home care, the patronnage person can bring their sheets in to the center. It was not clear just how often this could happen., but patients who were incontinent had access more often than others. There are 140 patronnage people who provide the home care. They clean, bathe and dress the pensioners, if needed, and do small chores, and cook.
7) Other rooms downstairs were not in use. They included a shoe repair section, a sewing area, a therapy room with lots of electrical stimulation equipment alongside narrow beds (they also do massages here), and a repair shop, which services the building.
8) We looked in on a Yoga class. They had just finished their exercises. One woman, who was 79, demonstrated a couple of moves. This is a young-looking group of pensioners, and they were extolling the virtues of keeping up with their exercises. There are 22 in this group, which meets twice a week from 10:00 – 12:00 noon. This class is full, and there is a waiting list for those wanting to join.
9) The Joint has a Tikva Club for special needs children. On this day there were only four children there who were painting. They have a list of 120 children. Chesed sends out a bus to pick them up and they can stay from 10:00 A.M. until the evening. They learn Jewish traditions, have physical training exercises, and can even go swimming. Some of the parents of these children work.
10) We saw the packages which were being prepared by the Joint for Rosh Hashanah distribution. They were preparing 2,500, and they contained tinned sprats, rice, oil, and a container of honey. They usually distribute 30,000 meals per month.
b. We next went to Beit Hana, the Jewish Women’s Teachers’ College, where we met with Tamara Olshanitskaya, vice-principal of Beit Hana and director of the Special Needs program and a translator, Katya. Katya teaches two classes of English at Beit Hana and does other administrative work. She learned her English locally at the university, and it is quite good. We toured the Special Needs Education Resource Center, which is on the opposite side of the Dniepr River. It is a much more comprehensive program than the Tikva Club run at Chesed.
1) There were only a few children here today – four in one room, and perhaps another two in other areas. The explanation was that some were ill, others were still on vacation. They really expected more, and were surprised themselves that so few came.
2) In one room, children were rolling on the quilts on the floor and reaching for toys. In another area, they crawled under ropes. We left the quilts which Judy Wolf had given us to bring here. In another room, Yuri, the art instructor, was working with a young boy by putting paint on his palm and encouraging him to palm paint.
3) Tamara showed us several new areas. The enclosed patio off of these room has been tiled with stone and has some play equipment – adapted swings and a flower garden which the children in a wheelchair can access to water. There is also a plastic table and chairs there.
4) They now have another whole section of the ground floor, which I think used to hold offices. There were half a dozen more rooms, one of which had a piano and was used for informal concerts. It looked as though they were still adapting their program to this enlarged space. They have a couple of computers, and we were shown a Power Point presentation on bears, which a teenager with cerebral palsy and autistism put together on his own. His parents were originally told that he was uneducable. He also lacked speech, but now he talks non-stop. He is obviously very bright. He just needed a way to communicate, which is what this center provided for him. As Katya said, we wish we could get him to keep quiet sometimes.
5) We also toured the children’s village – the outdoor play area which has play ground equipment sent from Boston, gardens and sidewalks. It is quite extensive. There is even a small building which looks like a castle and has one large room inside. Tamara said that most of the special needs children did not get out to play, so this was created as a miniature town for them.
c. After picking up the Salzmans at the airport, we drove to the Holocaust site at the far edge of Gagarin Woods. It is a black and white granite stela with engraving in Hebrew and Russian. Jews were rounded up and held in the center of Dnipropetrovsk in a department store before being marched to this ravine. The dates are 11-14th of October, 1941, two weeks after the killings at Babi Yar in Kiev. About 11,000 Jews were murdered here. It’s a tragic and important part of Jewish life here, and most families were touched by it.
d. We stopped by the Golden Rose Synagogue. Rabbi Dan Zakuta and his wife, Sarah were there to greet us. They came to Dnipropetrovsk from Kirovograd to attend the wedding of a Beit Hana student. Both Rabbi Zakuta and his wife thanked us profusely for the clothing, kosher children’s vitamins and toiletries we had shipped to them in Kirovograd. Several boxes have been sent to this community, which seems especially poor. We told them about the shoes which are being collected for school children, and they said they would be delighted to receive any kind of shoe in a variety of children’s sizes – sneakers as well as leather shoes. They were especially pleased with the good quality of the children’s clothing we had sent. It was good to hear their thanks and to know we are doing something right. Sarah is pregnant with their 3rd child.
e. The whole group then went to the Azerka Market, which is enormous and sells just about anything you can think of in small booths. There must have been hundreds of stalls and tables with all kinds of food, clothing, electronics, carpets, etc., etc. It was fun to walk through and see the great variety.
f. Supper at the small synagogue – another wonderful spread of salads and salmon. Afterwards we walked over to the Rainforest Food Market, which carries a little bit of everything. It’s not quite as large as the market on Karl Marx or near Yan’s apartment, but it still was quite good.
3. Friday, September 16, 2005 – Dnipropetrovsk & Pavlograd
a. Today we breakfast at the small synagogue and then go to the Golden Rose Synagogue to meet out driver, Artyom. We are going to Pavlograd and will meet with Nella Zatz for our Adopt-a-Bubbe program and Kabbalat Shabbat with Leonid Serdukhovsky’s progressive congregation in the late afternoon. This will be the first time that the people from Myriam’s Dream Foundation get to see our program in action.
b. Pavlograd is about an hour from Dnipropetrovsk. The city was founded in 1784, and is highly industrial. Planes, rockets and satellite equipment were manufactured here. Because the economic base of the city was military equipment, it was a closed city and people were not allowed to emigrate until the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. Many Jews hid their nationality so they could obtain employment. The U.S. government sponsored a program to pay to dismantle the rockets, and that has been completed. Leonid Serdukhovsky said that people were uneasy since President Yuschenko fired his cabinet, because the situation, which was hopeful after the Orange Revolution, is now unstable. No one is certain what will happen. It’s very difficult to get anyone to invest in business right now. They also feel an increase in antisemitism since Yuschenko took office. Only Ukrainians obtain government posts and get new jobs.
Two hundred years ago, Pavlograd had a Jewish population of around 11,000. Before WWII, it was 7,000 and after the war only 2,000 were left. We went to the Holocaust site near a factory where 2,100 Jews were murdered in December, 1942. The monument says, “They so wanted to live.” It was constructed in 2002, and has a large menorah and Magen David against a brick wall. A nearby apartment building was constructed over the mass graves. This part of Pavlograd was the Jewish ghetto.
There are about 1,000 Jews in Pavlograd now, but official figures put the number at 148 because most people don’t want to admit to being Jewish. Approximately 30 people come to the progressive service on Friday afternoon. Five years ago, there were around 2,000 Jews in Pavlograd and 60-70 people attended services. However, many have left for Israel and Germany. They are losing the young people.
Leonid Serdukhovsky’s wife is Natasha. They have a son, Vitaly, whom we met today. Vitaly is studying at the Institute in Pavlograd, and also working as the driver of a mini-bus. Their daughter, Valentina, is studying criminology and psychology in Jerusalem. Vitaly has also been in Israel, but came back to study. Natasha used to work at a military plant and had to sign a document that she would not emigrate for 10 years because of “secrets.”
c. Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visit in Pavlograd with Ludmilla Arkadievna Dezhmova. Her last name was previously Mezhevodskaya, but it was too Jewish, so it was changed. Ludmilla was born in 1927 and is 78 years old. She told us that she’s not starving – she’s fine. Nella Zatz, our Adopt-a-Bubbe coordinator, comes to see her often. Ludmilla has many illnesses - diabetes, high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, pancreatitis, and osteo chondritis (spinal problem). Nella brought her dietetic candy and vitamins. We left her “Sweet & Low,” dietetic hard candy, and a packet of toiletries. Nella had a large bag of food and household items for her – a broom, light bulbs, a nice cut of beef, cheese, lemons. There were all items which Ludmilla really wanted.
Ludmilla used to receive help from the Joint for free, but now she has to pay a certain percentage for her patronnage worker who helps her with cleaning, laundry, shopping and cooking. Ludmilla has difficulty walking and never leaves her apartment. She complained of blood clots in her legs, which limit her ability to walk. She pays 25% of the cost for care.
When WWII began, she was 13, and was evacuated with her family to the Caucasus. They were dropped at a railroad station and taken to various villages. As the German army approached, they were further evacuated to Budyanovsk. Her father found them there and took them to the local hospital where Ludmilla and her mother worked as nurses. They trained on the job. If they worked, they were fed half a kilo of bread, and received much less if they didn’t work. Her father was taken back into the army again and he had many medals. He was very good with horses and joined a Cossack division. As Ludmilla explained it, he was an Evreski (Jewish) Cossack! The mother and daughter ended up at a hospital in Nalchik, Chechnya. They had to walk again over mountains and more than 1,000 km. to the Caspian Sea. They endured bombings and there were lots of injured people, including Ludmilla herself. Ludmilla was the youngest nurse at the hospital and the staff was very fond of her. She worked in a hospital laboratory. In Azerbaijan, the soldiers they treated often had malaria in addition to the war wounds, and they treated them for that as well. The staff didn’t eat very much because they were giving their food to the soldiers.
Ludmilla’s father was raised as a Jew and went to synagogue. He was from a large family and had four brothers and three sisters. They had beautiful synagogues in Pavlograd, but they were all destroyed in the war. Her grandmother also had a Jewish upbringing in Dnipropetrovsk, and Ludmilla often went there for the Jewish holidays. Ludmilla used to attend Shabbat services and joined the Jewish community, but she no longer is able to leave her apartment.
Nella said that the Joint distributes packages of food every two weeks, but sometimes they come after three weeks. They contain very little and people have to pay for them, whereas the food from Adopt-a-Bubbe is free. They contain two kg of chicken, which is frozen, and when it thaws they find that a lot of the weight was water. There is also 200 gms. of butter, 200 gms. of cheese, 10 eggs, one kilo of flour and one kilo of sugar. Nella’s grandson, who is diabetic, also receives the sugar. Occasionally the package contains fresh vegetables or fruit, but not very often. If they put in some fresh food, something else is taken out.
Although pensions have all been raised, the price of everything else was also raised, so they actually end up with less money left over. In addition to food prices rising, the cost of utilities is also higher.
Ludmilla used to live in a larger apartment with two rooms and a kitchen, but it was a bad place and was always damp. She changed to the present apartment two years ago, which has less space, but is much nicer. Since she moved to a smaller apartment, she was able to use the extra money for selling the old place to pay off her many debts. Now she can manage much better, and is no longer in debt. She was supposed to go to Israel, but changed her mind because of the Intifada.
Ludmilla had two children, but one was stillborn. Her son is living in Dnipropetrovsk, but she did not want to talk about him at all. She has one granddaughter, who is 25 years old and the apple of her eye, but the granddaughter hardly ever comes to visit. There’s a large picture of the granddaughter hanging on her wall, taken when she was much younger. Ludmilla said that it is too expensive for the granddaughter to travel from Dnipropetrovsk to Pavlograd. However, she does have former students who visit with her and keep in close touch. Ludmilla used to be a teacher of Russian language and literature, for students from age 10 to 15.
Ludmilla told us that she is very thankful that she no longer has to think about food and about cleaning. She is obviously unwell and cannot stand for very long.
d. Adopt-a-Bubbe or Zayde Home Visit in Pavlograd with Vitaly Alexandrovich Mashakov was born in Pavlograd in 1932 and is 73 years old. His family name used to be Brachsmere, but that was too Jewish, so it was changed. His father trained as a military pilot and when he was posted, he sent for his wife and son to join him. Vitaly was five years old. When they reached the train station where his father was stationed, there was no one to meet them. It was a place called Cheguna, near Kharkov. His mother finally found the headquarters and she was told that her husband had been “repressed” or arrested with no reason given. They never saw him again. The mother and son were labeled as the wife and son of an enemy of the people, and their lives became much more difficult. Vitaly was in tears as he recalled his past. He had difficulty getting an education and a job. He was accepted at aviation school because he said that his father died in the war, but they discovered the father’s arrest and expelled him after one year. They told him to go work in a factory. Vitaly entered a technical school in Dnipropetrovsk and became an electrician. In 1951, he joined the navy and served on a large ship as a cook. Whenever the ship docked, he was not allowed to meet any other people because he was still the son of an enemy of the people. Vitaly felt that all his life he was miserable and ignorant – he never received the education he wanted. He worked for 43 years as an electrician, so his pension is the lowest one possible – 332 hrivinas or about $66.
Vitaly still has his grandmother’s old sewing machine – nothing is thrown away. Because his mother was a soldier during WWII, he was raised by his aunts and grandparents. They were evacuated to Nizhny Tagil in the Urals. His grandfather died there. They could not locate his father’s sister after the war. He used to have a communal apartment on Karl Marx Street in Pavlograd, but a businessman bought the apartment and gave him money. He used the money to purchase the apartment he lives in now. Vitaly married and had a son, but he was really estranged from his family because he was on board ship so often. The son died at age 33.
Vitaly complained about a drilling noise from people working on a business site below his apartment, which is on the second floor. He tried to get them to stop, but he only angered them. Sometimes it is much worse than what we were hearing and it goes on for hours.
Vitaly has asthma and uses inhalants which we supplied. He also has arthritis. He said that the only part of his body which doesn’t hurt is his hair and his fingernails. If he obtains medicine from the Joint once a year, he pays 25% of its cost. If he obtains medicine twice a year, he has to pay 30%. This past spring he felt very bad and had to call for emergency help. The ambulance came and he felt a little better, but by 1:00 A.M., he had to call them again. This time they took him to the hospital. The doctor gave him a long list of medicines to purchase which cost 17 hrivinas. Vitaly didn’t have it, so the doctor asked him what he was doing there. Vitaly was dismissed from the hospital around dawn and walked home. He apparently has a heart problem because he takes nitroglycerin.
Vitaly lives on the second floor of his building and goes out whenever he wants. He meets friends in the park, goes to Chesed and gets food from the Joint. He has a lot of tools in his apartment, which he uses to fix things there.
Nella brought Vitaly a large package of food – chicken, a whole fish and many other items. Vitaly likes to cook.
e. We had a late lunch at a restaurant with Leonid and Natasha Serdukhovsky and Nella Zatz. We also had a videographer along, Boris, who is Oleg Rostovtsev assistant. He filmed the Adopt-a-Bubbe visits. We were able to talk with Leonid after we ate.
Chesed rents space in a former nursery school, but they will lose their lease next September when the school takes back this space. He doesn’t know what they will do then. As it is, they are down to only one large room now for all their activities. They would like to have a computer class, but don’t have the space for it, so they are meeting at a school.
The progressive congregation is shrinking as the Jewish population in Pavlograd declines. They used to have 60-70 people at the Friday Kabbalat Shabbat, but now are down to 25 or 30. Rabbi Dukhovny, the progressive rabbi from Kiev, came to visit about two years ago, but didn’t stay long and doesn’t offer much help. Dr. Friedkis came from the Dnipropetrovsk Golden Rose Synagogue to give some lectures on Jewish tradition and 30 people attended. They seem to get the most support from Rabbi Kaminezki in Dnipropetrovsk. If someone in the Jewish community dies and there is no one to say kaddish, then it will be said in Dnipropetrovsk for them. Leonid goes to the synagogue in Dnipropetrovsk for the Jewish holidays. He also picks up the chabad newsletters and magazines there and brings them back for his congregation. They receive modest funds from the Joint, which are used for the oneg.
After our lunch, we drove to the agricultural school where the progressive congregation meets for Kabbalat Shabbat. It was a lovely service led by Larissa Aponovich, the daughter of Nella Zatz. Larissa is fluent in Hebrew and the congregation sang the prayers enthusiastically. There were many ages represented from one young girl to young singles and older pensioners. They have Shabbat candlesticks and a real kiddish cup, which were not seen on previous visits. Two loaves of challah were served, and apple juice was used instead of wine. After the service, three women who are excellent singers treated us to several Jewish songs, as well as one Ukrainian one. The last time Judy had heard them sing, none of their songs were Jewish. There were plates of hard candy and cookies for everyone to share. A tzedakah box was passed around before the service began and most people seemed to put something in. This group has made tremendous strides in becoming a welcoming congregation. It is too bad that their numbers are shrinking.
After the service, a physician in the audience stood and praised Adopt-a-Bubbe for the aid we provide. A woman came up to us to see about getting a large sum of money for medicine, and the mother of a young man wrongfully imprisoned asked us again to try to approach Rabbi Kaminezki about getting her son rehabilitated. They cannot emigrate to Israel unless this happens.
Saturday, September 17, 2005 – Shabbat services at the Golden Rose Synagogue, dinner with the Kaminezki family, and travel to Melitopol.
a. Rabbi Kaminezki gave a discouraging account of the political situation in Ukraine. It is very unstable and President Yuschenko is not well. Kaminezki feels that he is on a high dose of pain killer.
b. We left for Melitopol, a three-hour ride, late in the day, arriving at the home of Volodya and Ceilia Bogomolny around 9:30 P.M. for dinner. Svetlana Marshak (leader of the Progressive Congregation), Anya Nelkina (Chesed & Adopt-a-Bubbe coordinator) and Elena Drosunya (Adopt-a-Bubbe coordinator) were there as well. Boris, the videographer is also with us.
There are 1,500 Jews in Melitopol. Due to the Intifada, not many are emigrating now, but a few join other family members in Israel. Many people from Melitopol live in Ramat Gan. There used to be a special ship for emigres leaving from Odessa for Haifa, but it no longer sails because so few are leaving.
c. The Progressive Congregation has been in existence about six months, and there are 30 congregants. There are more pensioners than young people. More would come if they had a larger space. They meet in the old synagogue, which has no heating and badly needs repair. In the winter, people are bundled in warm clothing, but they still come. They have a few progressive Hebrew-Russian siddurs, which they received from Zaporozhe, but Sveta Marshak has Xeroxed copies for services. They also receive two progressive newspapers in the mail – one from Odessa and another from Kiev. They read and discuss the Torah portion each week from a book. They use the audio tape of the progressive service and the congregants now know the songs and sing along. A friend bakes challah, and they use a very nice handmade challah cover.
We asked if Rabbi Dukhovny, the progressive rabbi in Kiev, has been in touch with them. Volodya said that he phoned Rabbi Dukhovny twice, but he never called back. The only funds they receive are from Action for Post-Soviet Jewry. They received support from the progressive leader in Zaporozhe, Levi, and he came and lectured on Jewish tradition and the difference between orthodoxy and progressive Judaism. However, Levi has emigrated to Israel. We should be meeting with his replacement tomorrow in Zaporozhe. Boris Borisovich came a few times from Zaporozhe and gave the dvar Torah with comments.
Twenty years ago the synagogue building was empty, and the city gave it to a company which makes false teeth. In 1994, it was given back to the Jewish community, and at that time, the tooth factory didn’t want to give it up. The Jewish community was given two rooms. One is now used for services and the other is used by the Joint for storage. Now the tooth company is dying and the Jewish community actually gets the whole building back in three weeks, if they apply for it. However the factory pays for security, taxes and utilities (electricity), which cost about $5,000/year, so it would be quite a burden for the progressive group to take on. They need $30,000 to repair the synagogue. They send letters to other organizations and put articles in the newspaper about the synagogue, hoping to spark some interest in funding the repairs.
We were informed of the main scandal in the Jewish community - the fight between the progressive community and the chabad rabbi, Rabbi Ilya Kremer, who came from Brooklyn to Melitopol in 2000. Rabbi Kremer is the son of a former secretary to the late chabad Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, so he is well connected politically. Rabbi Kremer felt that they don’t need a synagogue – they could rent space. He is unwilling to accept anyone who is not halachically Jewish. This even split families. He would accept a son with a Jewish mother, but wouldn’t accept the father who only has a Jewish father. Jews want to come back to their Jewish roots. They went through the Holocaust and they want to be Jewish. Another man participated in WWII and was participating in the progressive service. Kremer threw him out and he cried. He complained to Menachem, the head of the Joint in Dnipropetrovsk and in several regions, including Melitopol. Menachem just told him that he has no problem with Chesed and told him not to complain. The Holocaust took place in Melitopol for two weeks beginning October 14. Rabbi Kremer refused to take part in the memorial service at the site and refused to say kaddish. He said that it wasn’t a holiday for him.
Kremer has 10 men, whom he pays to come for a minyan on Shabbat and three people during the week. He would invite some Jews to come for a holiday and not invite others. Their own grandfathers and grandmothers were murdered in the Holocaust, and they weren’t good enough to be considered Jewish. Rabbi Nahum Ehrentroi, the chabad rabbi in Zaporozhe, told the progressive group in Melitopol that a rich rabbi would come and repair the synagogue. They waited, but no one came.
There is an article in the August 25 – September 1, 2005 edition of the Melitopol newspaper titled, “Scandal in the Jewish Family.” It’s not even a Jewish newspaper. They are embarrassed to show their fight to the whole community. The article starts by saying Muslims cannot find a place to build, but the Jews have another problem. They have a synagogue, but it’s used as a tooth factory. The real problem is that Rabbi Kremer knows that the Jewish community doesn’t want him, and he’s afraid that they will try to get rid of him. He’s also afraid that a progressive rabbi will come to Melitopol. Kremer complained to the government bureau about Volodya Bogomolny, the president of the Jewish community and asked them to look into Bogomolny’s finances. Volodya said that the rabbi has a year to year contract with the Jewish community, and they would like to forget about signing another contract with him. His present visa just ended on September 15, 2005. Volodya has copies of letters which Kremer is writing to the Melitopol government complaining about Volodya. They hope Kremer will return to the U.S. Not all chabad rabbis are like this. For instance, Rabbi Kaminezki in Dnipropetrovsk pays for a bus to bring members of the progressive congregation in Pavlograd to Dnipropetrovsk for services.
Volodya has family in Canada – his mother’s sister went there. Volodya and Celia’s two daughters are married and live in Israel. The younger daughter was married there this year. When we were in Melitopol last year, we saw the wedding dress Ceilia was bringing to Israel.
We left $700 with Volodya Bogomolny for the progressive congregation. He thought he would spend $200 of it for the Rosh Hashanah holiday and he had other projects in mind for the rest of it. We left coffee and toiletries with Ceilia Bogomolny. For Adopt-a-Bubbe, we left a collection of sweaters and long sleeved turtleneck shirts, some shoes, two large bottles of vitamins, Sweet & Low, socks, toiletries and a women’s jacket. We left the Chesed staff coffee and chocolates.
We asked how many people were helped by Adopt-a-Bubbe. With the last distribution, 22-25 people were helped, but the number varies according to need. Some people need more help than others. Four to five volunteers help to distribute the aid. There are 500 people on the Chesed list kept by the Joint. Seven of those are bedridden and 53 are unable to leave their apartment.
We were asked whether help could be given to a younger person who needed funds for hospitalization. This can cost as much as $150 or $200. They are asked if they have money before they will be admitted to hospital. We answered that they would have to decide on a case by case basis, but $200 is a lot of money to spend on one person.
d. Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visit in Melitopol: Alexandra Borisovna Goldenberg was born in 1939, and is 66 years old. She is very unsteady on her feet and walks slowly with a cane. She complains of dizziness. Her blood pressure is up and down, and her ankles and one hand were swollen. She is a diabetic. Alexandra has prescription medicine for hypertension, which she sometimes gets through the Joint and sometimes purchases on her own. The last time she got medicine from the Joint, she paid 25 hrvinas or $5 for it. She also gets vitamins from Adopt-a-Bubbe. There was a strong odor of urine as we entered the apartment. We felt that her eyesight was very poor. There was nothing to read in the apartment and her TV and radio were on when we entered.
Alexandra was born in Korosten, near Kiev, but has lived in Melitopol since 1947 – 40 years in this same apartment. She never married. Her older sister died 10 years ago at age 66. An aunt died at age 83, and her mother died in 1976 at age 71. She is very isolated. She said that her neighbors do not visit – one had recently died and another was old and ill. She sometimes goes outside. Her pension is 350 hrivinas or about $70/month. It used to be larger – over 400 hrvinas, but pensions were set at a new level recently and hers was decreased. She doesn’t know why. Alexandra receives packages from Adopt-a-Bubbe and has patronnage help from the Joint once a week. She pays 13 hrvinas or $2.60/week for the patronnage help, which assists her with laundry, cleaning, cooking, etc. She also receives a package of food from the Joint once a month. Alexandra used to have savings during the Soviet time valued at 8,000 hrvinas or $1,600. Now it is reduced to 1,000 hrvinas or $200 due to inflation. She said that many people have debts because they cannot pay their rent or utilities. She always manages to pay her rent, even if she doesn’t have food. Her rent and utilities together are 70 hrvinas or $14/month. She also pays a friend 30 hrvinas/month or $6 towards the purchase of a TV set – it’s locally made.
Alexandra was evacuated to Saratov during WWII. Her family lost all their documents in the chaos, and she remembers that it was very difficult to secure new ones. Her aunt, who was a physician, was given a job in Melitopol after the war, so they came to where she lived. Then the aunt had a quarrel with her employer and left for a small village. Alexandra became a nurse in the emergency room. We left Alexandra some toiletries and socks.
e. Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visit in Melitopol: Iosif Davidovich Dubrov and his wife, Evgenia Bensionovna Dubrova. Iosif was born in 1919, and is 86 years old. He was in bed when we arrived. He had a stroke four years ago which left him paralyzed on the left side. He has no vision in his left eye. He also has Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, hardening of the arteries and an eye problem. Iosif said that he felt very bad today. Evgenia was born in 1924 and is 81 years old and is also in poor health. She has cataracts, but cannot have surgery because it would mean leaving her husband, who needs her. Her right eye was closed. She also has asthma and a heart problem. Evgenia has a daughter in Germany, and Iosif has a daughter in Russia. Both of them were born in Melitopol. Evgenia was evacuated to the Stalingrad region, where she took care of cattle. Her husband was taken into the army in August 1941, and returned in 1946. He worked in a plant after the war which made refrigerators. Later on he worked at another factory which manufactured washing machines. His pension is 600 hrvinas or $120/month. Evgenia was an assistant bookkeeper in a sewing factory. She did this both before and after the war. Her pension is 370 hrvinas or $72/month. They have a patronnage worker from the Joint three times a week. She is a very good lady, and Evgenia was afraid they might lose her if she decided to emigrate. They pay the patronnage worker between 46 and 50 hrvinas or $10/month. Volodya Bogomolny said that only one year ago, everything the Joint provided was free. They were required to pay a percentage of the charges last June. This is an experiment of Menachem, who heads the Joint in Dnipropetrovsk, and covers the oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporozhe, Lugansk and Donetsk. Everywhere else service and food are still free. We left them toiletries and socks. Adopt-a-Bubbe gave them two sets of bed linens. As we were leaving, Iosif sat up in bed. He said that his back was bothering him. He would like to walk a little, but is afraid of falling and needs some help. His wife is too frail for this. The patronnage worker helps him to walk across the apartment, but it exhausts him. He doesn’t have a walker.
f. We drove about two hours to Zaporozhe and met with members of the Progressive Congregation at a restaurant. Their congregation is called Shalom. Boris Esterkin was the only person whom we had met before. Boris Kapsun is president of the congregation. They have been in existence for four years. Dmitry or Dima Metilka took charge of our gathering. He is a young man in his 30’s. Yelena or Alona Skorobogatova was the only woman present. She is also young, and has been studying at the Machon in Moscow, where they train progressive lay leaders. She was now interning at Congregation Shalom, and would return after this year for another session at the Moscow Machon. Yelena leads the services, and about 20 people attend. For Pesach, 50 people attended the seder. Pavel Bakalchuk is a business who funds some of their activities. Leonid Miropolsky came. His wife, Larissa Miropolskaya is the Kesher representative. Leonid is familiar with Jewish tradition. Nina Konti was the head of their community, but she moved to Kiev.
They rent space for 500 hrvinas or $100/month. Rabbi Dukhovny from Kiev helps with $150/month. They would like to rent a larger space so they can accommodate more people. They estimate this would cost around $400/month or $5,000/year. They could rent two rooms or one large room, which could be divided in sections. The place they are renting is only available one day a week. They want to rent space which is available every day, so they can carry on more activities. This is what they are looking for. The place they rent now allows them to rent a larger space on occasion at the same price, so they will do this for the High Holidays, Sukkot and Simchat Torah.
g. Pavel Balachuk created a pharmacy a few years ago to help the Jewish community. Jews can purchase medicine at wholesale prices at this pharmacy, or they can bring a prescription from a certain physician at the synagogue and get it for free. The pharmacy is non-profit, and is not connected in any way with the Joint. Yan used to pass medicine from Boston to Boris Esterkin, which was handed out free to the Jewish community. They really appreciated these medicines because it was difficult to find them in Ukraine. Their medical program also includes non-Jews who are married to Jews. Some people obtain medicine every week and some may use this system once a year. It depends upon their need due to illness and their income. They still would like funds for things like heart surgery and for rehabilitation for heart patients.
Another of Pavel’s projects, which he funds with a friend, is providing food packages for 250 people in the Jewish community every month. The list of recipients includes 1,086 names, so each person usually receives a package once every four months. This list is their own and it includes mixed marriages. These packages are provided free. Their contents may vary somewhat from month to month. A typical package contains 1 kilo sugar, 2 kilos flour, 1 liter oil, 1 liter juice, tea and tinned fish. There are occasionally other more unusual items. For instance, last month they purchased eight tickets to provide camp for eight children. Boris Esterkin said that when they began to organize as a Jewish community in 1991, it was difficult to make up a list of needy people because everyone wants something for nothing. The list includes pensioners, those on small pensions, and the unemployed. There are approximately 2,000 Jews in Zaporozhe, but it’s inaccurate because some people have emigrated. Second-hand clothing is easy to come by now – there are thrift shops which sell them in most cities. However, they would like to obtain more medicine, and they’ll contact Yan for more supplies.
h. The Joint has been reducing their programs here, and it’s a problem. The Joint says that they should develop their own
programs. They would like to develop their own program utilizing funds from new wealthy people, but people are so used
to receiving help for nothing from the Joint that they don’t help and don’t give. The Joint developed so many programs
that they can’t control how much is spent and who got the aid. In the beginning, the Joint played a very good role, but
now they are bribing the authorities and their position is more and more negative. The Joint is running a business here by
charging for its packages of food and its services. The progressive synagogue doesn’t want to operate that way.
i. We were told that chabad is splitting the Jewish community in several cities. Lev Leviev, the main contributor to chabad, and especially their Jewish Day Schools, doesn’t know what is done with his money. He revitalized many Jewish communities. The people we spoke with were very critical of Rabbi Nahum Ehrentroi. When the rabbi came to Zaporozhe, they didn’t know what branch of Judaism he represented. They already had a good Jewish Day School, and they presented the rabbi with a business plan for the school. Rabbi Ehrentroi takes the money for this school for himself. He could have used the funds to renovate the synagogue, which needs it. Rabbi Ehrentroi’s attitude toward the Jewish community was O.K. at first, but now he is splitting the community. He takes all the tzedakah for himself. When the orthodox community tried to find out what financial arrangements the rabbi had, he refused to divulge all the facts. Rabbi Ehrentroi has applied to purchase the land which the synagogue sits on. He wants to tear down the synagogue and build a new one. If you sold the rabbi’s house, you could build two new synagogues. He spent one million dollars on his house. The rabbi doesn’t deal with the spiritual needs of the community – only with commerce. When authorities found out he was more of a businessman than a rabbi, they tried to get rid of him.
j. The progressive congregation would like an English-Hebrew Torah with commentary, since they are unable to obtain one in Russian-Hebrew. They can also use haggadahs. A photo showed them with Xerox copies.
Sunday, September 18, 2005 – Kharkov and Poltava
a. Travel to Kharkov (3.5 hours) and later in the day to Poltava (2.25 hours), where we’ll stay overnight.
b. Arrived at Kharkov Mendel Rohr Synagogue, where we were given a tour of the sanctuary by the president of the synagogue. Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz had been suddenly called to Moscow, so we didn’t meet him, but we did see his wife, Miriam, who is very pregnant with their ninth child. The synagogue was built in 1913, and in use as a synagogue until 1922. It was first used as a Workers’ Club and later as a sport hall. A second floor was built, which completely obliterated the beautiful structure of the domed roof. It was given back to the Jewish community in 1990, and was finally re-dedicated in 2002. The new structure is very beautiful with lots of wood and a soaring ceiling. It is the second largest synagogue in Europe, the first being the one in Budapest. Some of the Hebrew wording painted on the arch of the ceiling is, “There will come a day when the Shofar will call all exiles,” and, “I believe a day will come when the Messiah will arrive.” In ten days they will be celebrating the arrival of a new sefer Torah from Israel with a parade from the Rabbi’s home to the synagogue.
There are over 500 students in the Jewish Day School, and over 100 in kindergarten. Twenty – 25 are in nursery school, 100 are in the lower school, 300 are in high school, 80 boys are in the Yeshiva, and less than 100 in the girls’ Mahon.
The Holocaust site in Kharkov is called Drobitsky Yar, and is a distance from the city center. More than 16,000 were killed there in November, 1941.
We met with Victoria Gold, whose daughter, Elena, is being treated with medicine provided by Action for Post-Soviet Jewry. Elena is 20 and suffers from schizophrenia. The medicine will run out in February, so we need to obtain more. The physician who helped us acquire a large quantity of this medicine, will be in Dnipropetrovsk in November, and Yan will try to arrange for a meeting with the family. Elena has been ill for two years, and does not like to mix with people very often, so it will be difficult to get her to travel to Dnipropetrovsk. She is studying at the university level with a tutor.
Alexander Dikovsky, the manager of the Synagogue Medical Clinic, met us at the main synagogue and guided us to the other synagogue where the clinic is held. The building is also used for the Yeshiva students. We met Dr. Natalia Popova, a 2nd physician who holds clinic hours three days a week – Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:00 until 7:00 P.M., and on Sundays from 10:00 A.M. until 2:00 P.M. The doctor and Alexander are very pleased with the medicines we send, and Boris took some video of what they have on hand, and interviewed both of them. We spent some time with the clients waiting for their turn at the clinic.
Grigory Branik, born in 1932, was waiting for a general check up. He has atherosclerosis and twice a year receives a course of medicine in a hospital. He was formerly an engineer, and his pension is 350 hrivinas or $70/month.
Yefim Moiseevich Shedrov, born in 1924, had surgery on his prostate in the year 2004. There were complications with the surgery and he takes medicine regularly, including heart meds. He fought in WWII from the outskirts of Stalingrad to Bulgaria between 1941 and 1945. In 1945, he was sent to the war zone in Japan. Yefim made shoes for 47 years. His pension is 516 hrivinas or $103/month.
c. Borish Rafaelovich Shapiro was born in 1966, and is a third degree invalid. As an invalid, he receives 284 hrivinas or $57/month. He was seated with his mother, Inna Bensionovna Koziminskaya, born in 1936. Inna has all kinds of health problems – cataracts, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, stomach and colon problems, osteo chondrosis (spine). She takes medicine every day. She was formerly an English teacher for 40 years and her pension is 385 hrivinas or $57/month. Her father died a soldier’s death in Stalingrad at age 35. Her mother died 30 years ago at age 70. She was also a soldier and contacted TB. Inna’s husband died three years ago at age 57, but they had been divorced. She considers herself to be a child of the war. Her family was evacuated to the south, and she is thankful that she survived the war. Their home was occupied by the Germans. After the war, they were given an apartment. It was a hard time. Inna said that in Chesed, they don’t pay for medicine, but they do have to pay for food. She receives a food package three times a month with vegetables, fruit and dairy products. The whole package costs around 75 hrvinas or $15, and she has to pay 15 hrvinas pr $3. Dikovsky commented to us that Inna used to be in great shape only a few years ago and was socially very active. Inna has an older sister in Ashkelon, Israel, but she cannot afford to go because she is too ill.
Arkady Shulman was born in 1938 and is 65 years old. He is hyperthyroid and takes medicine for this. He also receives medicine from the government. He gets a meal from the synagogue every day, but Shabbat, for which he pays Chesed 150 hrivinas or $30/month. His pension is 1,000 hrivinas or $200/month. Arkady is a mathematician and is very famous in Kharkov. He has children and grandchildren in Israel and America. His children are both doctors. He goes to services every Saturday and attends a special program with the rabbi on Jewish tradition. There are two groups with 50 men, and 60 women who meet twice a week. Miriam, his wife, also lectures. In addition, Miriam lectures to women at the university. Twice a week there are meetings at the synagogue with either a lecture, film, or a book discussion.
There are always many people at the medical clinic. They serve around 250 people a month and 4,500 people a year. There are another 500 who come just for a blood draw and blood pressure check. They do not do home visits. They have been wanting to enlarge this program and now have two physicians and a nurse. They have a dentist from Israel who has been here one and a half years now and does general dentistry for adults and children at no charge. He does not do false teeth. He brought all the materials for his work. He has helped 700 people. His salary is paid by people in Philadelphia. His wife works at the synagogue. He is expected to leave in another year.
d. We met with Rabbi Mikhail (Misha) Kapustin, the new progressive rabbi in Kharkov. He was born in 1980 and is 25 years old. He was recently in St. Petersburg for a conference with the six progressive rabbis now serving in the former Soviet Union. They formed a Rabbinic Council and Rabbi Mikhail Farbman is its new leader. All of these rabbis graduated from Leo Beck College in London, and Kapustin also spent a year at Hebrew University in Israel.
The progressive community has already existed in Kharkov for two years. In the beginning there were 10 people. Now there are 110 - 120 people in the progressive community who participate in various activities. Fifteen usually come to the Kabbalat Shabbat. On holidays, 25 – 30 will come. They range in age from 15 to 25 years old, but most are age 18 to 25. Other age groups do not come, and this is a priority of Rabbi Kapustin, who wants to create a more diverse group. The executive director of the Kharkov group is Dmitry (Dima) Baranov, born in 1974, and 31 years old.
When we asked where Rabbi Kapustin originally came from, he said it was rather complicated and this was his answer. His father was a naval officer, so the family moved a lot. Kapustin was born in the Urals and lived in the Pacific part of Russia, the Caucasus, the Crimea and in London. His family were refugees from the civil war in Georgia, and they moved or fled to Kerch in the Crimea in 1991. His mother died. He grew up in a secular family, which was culturally Jewish. Kapustin has a half brother from an earlier marriage, but the half brother is not Jewish. He studied in a program run by the Jewish Agency for Israel for one month, spending time in Poland, Greece and Israel. He led children from Kerch to Sevastopol for two weeks at camp, and he learned a little there. Kapustin thought about being orthodox. Then he went to a reform Jewish camp, and knew he had to leave law school, where he had studied for one year. Kapustin then studied at the Mahon in Kiev under Rabbi David Wilfond, who spent two years in Kiev as head of the progressive movement. After his two years at the Mahon, they recommended that he enter the rabbinate. He had already done his internship when he worked with his Kerch Jewish community. He graduated in July, 2005, and just began his job in Kharkov one week ago. His mother’s father was Mordukh or Morduchai. His father’s mother was Malka, who could neither read nor write, but was a moving force in her family. Malka met Golda Meir when she visited the Soviet Union, and spent 40 – 50 minutes alone with her, which was most unusual. Kapustin has a photo of his grandparents with the Chief Rabbi of Russia. His great-grandfather was a rabbi.
In the beginning the progressive community rented space and moved from place to place. The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) gave them funds. They have educational and religious programs, all of which are directed towards developing leadership. They have a Netzer (WUPJ youth) program, and a Joint leadership program. The number of people who show up for services is dependent upon the time of year. Fewer are around in the summertime. Rosh Hashanah will be the official opening with the new rabbi. They have a Torah scroll which the American women’s group, Kesher, gave them last year on loan, but it is probably a permanent or very long-term loan. Rabbi Kapustin took the Torah out of the ark, so we could see it, and we took several photos of him holding it. He is obviously very proud of it. The Torah has a very nice modern cover.
This next week, Rabbi Kapustin hopes to meet with Rabbi Moishe Moskowitz, the well established chabad rabbi in Kharkov. Rabbi Moskowitz has been in Kharkov since 1990. We all hope that this goes well. Kharkov is a large city of 1.5 million people with a Jewish community of around 40,000 – 50,000 Jews. There should be enough Jews to go around. The city is slightly larger than Dnipropetrovsk and has about the same number of Jews.
They receive funding from the Joint and from WUPJ – about half from each. Their rent in this building is $500/month for two rooms. This is a building of offices and is owned by one of their sponsors, so the rent is reasonable. Obviously, rents are high in this city. The Joint gives them funds for their activities. They have a Kabbalat Shabbat on Fridays, and Rabbi Kapustin will begin a Saturday morning service this year where they will discuss the Torah portion. He is fluent in Hebrew and can read the Torah. He said that everyone knows the melodies of the service. They have the audio cassette of the progressive service. Beth Ann Salzman gave him the CD which her daughter, a cantor who formerly worked at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham, MA, had made with songs and the Shabbat service using her own voice and that of a youth choir. We played a few parts of it, and Rabbi Kapustin recognized the melodies. They have a CD player, a TV and a video player. They video is in PAL format. It is better to send them music on a CD or DVD, which holds much more and is compatible with their equipment. We told him that Yan has an extensive library of Jewish music and could make copies of CD’s for him. Also Dnipropetrovsk has a Judaica store at their synagogue for any supplies they need.
e. They need kippot and tallitot – at least 15 kippot and 20 tallitot. They don’t have enough for their congregation. They could use a seder plate and need a Yad on a chain for reading Torah. They need another Havdalah candle, but they have one now and they have a Havdalah set. We will try to send some of these items to him. There were several kiddish cups and two Chanukahs on a shelf. The computer in the office is rather old (it has Microsoft Windows 98), and they could use a new one. It is connected to the Internet and that works well. They also have a small printer. Rabbi Kapustin has a laptop computer at home, which is about four years old, but it does not have an Internet connection. Sometimes he brings it into the office, so they can work with two computers. They do not have a copy machine, which they really need. They could probably use a 3-in-1 printer, copier, fax & scanner. We suggested that he speak with the Joint about getting a copier. They would love to have a library in Russian. We also suggested that he talk to the Joint about obtaining their library in a box, which was given to so many Jewish communities. Most of Rabbi Kapustin’s books are still in London. He has an English-Hebrew progressive Torah and commentary, but he would love to have one in Russian and Hebrew. Everyone is asking for this, and the WUPJ is working on one now.
Rabbi Kapustin expects to have a large group of visitors from the synagogue in London, the Northwood Pinna Liberal Synagogue, where he worked as an assistant while he was studying – 40 people are planning to come. He is trying to locate a bus large enough to hold them! The rabbi at this British synagogue is Rabbi Andrew Goldstein.
Two congregations in the U.S. have been linked to Kharkov. One is in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other is in California. We took the addresses and phone numbers with us to contact them when we get back home. The Jewish community of Cincinnati is the sister city of the Jewish community of Kharkov. So far, the Kharkov group has not received any help from either location. We’ll send them a trip report and Rabbi Kapustin has also asked for one.
We told Rabbi Kapustin about our own programs – Adopt-a-Bubbe and Myriam’s Dream. Linda Kantor presented an idea to Rabbi Kapustin to have the young people in his congregation foster a relationship with a pensioner and meet with them in their home at least five or six times and eventually talk about and write down their life experiences. Hopefully, some of these older people would find their way into the congregation. Rabbi Kapustin would need to make a proposal to Myriam’s Dream for modest funding for this. He liked the idea and will probably present it to his congregation at Rosh Hashanah. He is so busy with the High Holidays, that it will take some time to think it through and implement it. Yan said that those who would take on this project should have a few orientation meetings, and he would be glad to help with this. Yan used to do this kind of work with adults who worked with the Joint. Rabbi Kapustin said that several of his congregants had studied Social Work, and would be helpful with this as well.
We left Rabbi Kapustin with the feeling that he would be a wonderfully energetic and knowledgeable leader, and his congregation would have a whole new life. He is only the second progressive rabbi to work in Ukraine. The other is Rabbi Dukhovny in Kiev. Rabbi Kapustin also has plans to visit some other progressive congregations after the holidays. He is very happy with his work and he has an enormous task in front of him. We all wished him well.
f. We left Kharkov and traveled for a little over two hours to Poltava to the home of Faina Teplitskaya and her son, Leonya, who manage our Adopt-a-Bubbe program in this city. Faina had a table full of food for us, although it was after 10:00 P.M. by the time we arrived. We left her apartment for the Motel Poltava, where we spent the night. Tomorrow we’ll make some home visits with Adopt-a-Bubbe.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005 – Poltava: We stayed overnight at the Motel Poltava, which had a spacious and shiny lobby, but rather dirty rooms. However, the bedding was clean and there was plenty of hot water.
a. Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visits in Poltava: Anna Haimovna Kulik, born in 1927 and almost 79 years old. Anna was born in Poltava. She worked for a military plant for 47 years called Post Box #20, which was later re-named Union of Poltava, and which made parts for rockets. This factory is no longer in existence. She is a 2nd degree invalid because of a hip fracture in 1995. Anna had two operations on the hip, but still has a lot of pain. Her right leg is shorter than her left leg by about 5 cm. Anna also had her thyroid removed three years ago due to a goiter, and is on thyroid hormone replacement. Her husband died in 1985 from cancer under his tongue. He was 60 years old. Her pension is 357 hrvinas or $71/month. The lowest pension issued is 332 hrvinas or $67/month. Although she worked during the war, she did agricultural work, which was not considered part of the war effort. Hence her pension is not particularly high.
Her family received this apartment from the government when she was little. Her father was a shoemaker. She has two sisters in Russia – one in Moscow and one in Cherepayetz, a small town in the Vologardskaya area. Her mother’s parents were murdered in the Holocaust in Kherson. Her family was lucky to be evacuated from there, and Anna doesn’t know why her grandparents didn’t go with them. She was very little at the time. Her sisters used to come to visit, but now the older sister is 83 and is not so well, even though she could travel for free. This sister was in the military. There was a photo from her sister’s last visit with her sister’s grandson. Anna talks to her sisters on the phone about every two weeks. Sometimes she will write to her sister, and then her sister calls her. The sister had an eye operation and can’t see very well. She meets neighbors in her yard, but they don’t visit in one another’s apartments. They each watch different TV serials!
Anna takes blood pressure medication, pain killers, heart medicine, and thyroid replacement hormone. She also has pain from arthritis. It is difficult because medicine is very expensive. She needs vitamins, calcium and Tylenol for Arthritis, all of which Yan has and will make available to Leonya Teplitsky the next time he comes into Dnipropetrovsk. She receives help from Chesed, but has to pay a percentage for it. A patronnage worker comes twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays. The patronnage worker shops, brings medicine for her, does the laundry and cleans. Anna can take care of her own personal needs. She dresses herself, cooks and does a little laundry. She goes outside, but never leaves the yard. In the winter time, it is very hard to go out. Anna also gets food from Chesed in packages once a month. The typical package contains cooking oil, tea, coffee, butter, tinned sprats, 1 kilo sugar, 1 kilo flour. The patronnage worker buys fresh vegetables, fruit and dairy products for her. The patronnage worker arrived while we were there. Her name is Ira and she seemed very pleasant and competent. Ira picked up the dirty laundry to take it somewhere to wash. Anna said that Chesed has a contract with a laundry place. She usually brings it back in one or two days. Anna receives a package from Leonya and Adopt-a-Bubbe once every one and a half to two months.
Anna’s utility bills are discounted from 50% to 70% due to her wartime work. This includes the phone. She owns her apartment.
b. Adopt-a-Bubbe or Zayde Home Visit in Poltava: Yefim Israelevich Klepak, born in 1936 in Poltava, is 69 years old. Yefim speaks a little English. He taught physics, math and astronomy in a village school for three years and then in Poltava School #17 to the 5th through 8th form and the 11th form. He was a teacher in a technical school. Yefim’s apartment is full of toys and books, which illustrate the laws of physics. He showed us several of them, including a strobe light and spinning wheel.
Yefim was evacuated with his mother and two brothers to northern Kazakstan only 12 days before the bombing of Poltava began and the Germans entered the city. Due to the starvation, one of his brothers and his grandmother died in Kazakstan. Once Poltava had been freed of the Germans, they returned in January, 1943. Both of his parents were Jewish. His father went with the army to the front, but he survived the war. His father was a bookkeeper. His mother worked in a nursery school and also wrote articles for the newspaper. He also wrote articles for the paper. He is still writing about science – the secrets of nature, the spiritual life of people, etc. He loves the physics of games, and every surface in his apartment is filled with toys which move and demonstrate some law of physics. Yefim never married, and we surmised that a wife would never have allowed the clutter he lives with. Yefim’s brother, who is two years older, left for Germany. The brother has two children. A granddaughter is a musician and is studying in the United States right now with an American girlfriend.
Yefim cooks for himself and had a pot of kasha on the stove. He looks very intelligent and lively. He is very blond with blue eyes. He has been a 2nd degree invalid for 20 years. Yefim said that he contracted an infection in the brain when he was in the army and as a result has trouble with his eyes. He served in the Baltic countries. Because of the starvation when they were evacuated, he has always had stomach trouble. He also has back trouble, and a cataract in his right eye. He tries to fight his illnesses himself. He doesn’t want to go to a doctor. He meditates and does exercises.
In the 1990’s he used to receive a pension of 37 hrvinas, and then it increased to 75 hrvinas. Now it is 320 hrvinas (the lowest level of pension) or $64/month. He has been receiving food from Chesed for about a year. Sometimes medicines he needs are discounted between 10% and 20%. Once a month he receives a food package. He does not need a patronnage worker. He shops for himself, does his own laundry and cleaning. Yefim said that he has to keep moving as much as he can. About every month and a half he sees Leonya with help from Adopt-a-Bubbe. On today’s visit he received some new sheets, which he had requested. The Myriam’s Dream contingent left a warm sweater and several pairs of socks for him, and he was delighted. He put the sweater on right away.
Yefim said that he has friends, but many of them live far away or had died. However, his former students still come to visit. He also meets with teachers whom he used to work with, but they are now old and have their own problems. He said that he himself is physically old, but he has the heart of a young child and he feels young. He likes children’s toys and he likes to read fairy tales and listen to children’s programs on the radio.
c. After our Adopt-a-Bubbe Home Visits, we went back to Faina Teplitskaya’s apartment for a Warm House gathering. Faina had about seven pensioners for lunch. Faina said that she had lost her parents at an early age, so these pensioners became her adopted “parents.” September 23rd is the day that Poltava was liberated from the fascists in 1943. Although she herself was born after the war, these pensioners all had memories of the war years which they would like to share with us. Here are their stories:
Anna Stolovitskaya was in tears as she recalled that when Poltava was freed, she was in a concentration camp and was not released until May 5, 1945. Anna was an officer in the army and was captured and sent with other Soviet soldiers to Vaderburg, a camp near Dresden. She was also injured.
Anna received a letter from the government in Dresden inviting her to come to celebrate the end of the war. She refused. She cannot afford it and is too ill to travel. Also, she has such awful memories of the camp.
Louisa Abramovna Gurievich worked as a nurse in an American military Mash hospital for American pilots in Poltava. As the Germans approached, she was sent 45 km east with the hospital. There was a cemetery for the pilots who died, and later their bodies were disinterred and sent to America in 1946. By the end of the war, she was only 15 years old. She knew many American pilots by name and wanted to write letters to some to see if they were still alive, but she never knew their addresses. While she was working in the hospital, she was never allowed to have any casual conversation with them. There were very strict rules about how to behave. Her younger sister, Faina Notarius, was also in Poltava, and the soldiers liked to play with her and gave her candy. Louisa participated in the war for a year and a half. She remembers victory day, which came at 4:00 A.M. in 1945. She lived in a dorm with other nurses and heard shooting in the street. It was the Americans shooting into the air and the war was over.
Although Faina was only five years old, she still has memories of the end of the war. A group of Americans were near their house. When Louisa went to work, she was left alone. She remembers that the Americans were tall and very strong. One took her in his arms and brought her to his room and gave her candy and chewing gum.
Their father was in the army during the war. Their mother was in Poltava, but was very ill with a heart problem. When their father returned after the war, he was a 1st degree invalid (the most serious category), with two injuries in his chest. He died in 1946.
As the Germans approached, the mother and the two sisters went from Kremenchug to Poltava. Louisa said that her mother didn’t want to leave Kremenchug because she had a little daughter, but Louisa insisted. They went to the railroad station, but it was already closed. They had to walk 120 km to Poltava. They had absolutely no money. They found a train to Stalingrad and lived in a stadium there until they were taken to a school. Later they were relocated again as the Germans advanced. They lived in a school next to the Volga River. There was a ship going to Astrakhan, but there was no space for them. They later learned that the ship had been bombed and everyone on it had been killed. It was a very cold winter. They were taken 90 km further east.
When they returned to Poltava after the war conditions were very bad. Their mother had a bad heart and their father was almost blind. The first room they lived in was a cellar because Poltava had been destroyed and there was no place to live. It had one bed for six people. Louisa said that she had lived in seven apartments since the end of the war. She worked as a nurse after the war, and began her work at age 15. She has a jacket full of medals. One is for being a nurse in the Mash unit, another is for victory over Germany, another is Ukrainian for bravery, one is for the 60th anniversary of the end of the war.
Louisa’s husband died in 1995 from leukemia. Her 43-year-old son passed away two months after her husband died due to a stroke. Her sister, Faina, married in 1960 and also had a son in 1961, and another son born in 1969. Faina’s husband died in 1984. The younger son was 14 years old when his father died. He is in Israel, but is ill because he had a stroke. He is on disability payments from the government. The older son is also in Israel, and has had heart surgery. A daughter, Clarina, is 14 and is in the 9th form in school.
Israel Naumovich Kantor comes from a very observant family. The grandfather on his mother’s side was a rabbi named Halosukhin in the town of Gardich. There is a grave of a famous rabbi there – the Bratslav Alte Rabbi. Israel’s grandfather on his father’s side was Haim Hershman Kaplan, and he was a shamus. Israel fought in the war at the very beginning. He graduated from engineering school before the war at age 22. His family stayed in Poltava until they were evacuated to Uzbekistan. Israel fought at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus. He was in the 3rd and 4th Ukrainian front, and has many medals. He ended the war in the Czech Republic. He never experienced antisemitism – they shared all of their food. Although, now they have antisemitism in Poltava. They knew what was happening to the Jews. Israel never married. His brother died eight years ago from a heart attack. Israel used to teach Yiddish. He translated a couple of old letters dated 1959, which Beth Ann Salzman had from relatives.
Nelly Bass and her son, Igor Bass, who is handicapped. Nelly was born in 1940 in Poltava. She was evacuated with her mother and her father’s parents to Saratov oblast. Her father was killed in 1942. They came back from Saratov oblast in 1945 and lived in cellars, ate potatoes and bread. They had a special ration card for food. If you worked, you received 40 gm of bread. A child received 200 gms of bread. In 1947 there was real starvation. There were long lines for bread. The Americans sent food packages, but the portions were small and they didn’t receive many of them. The soldiers in the American hospital received better food. Sixty years later, she can still remember the day that they learned her father had died. People were swollen due to the hunger. She remembers a mother with young children who ate grass and cooked leaves.
Tatyana (Tanya) Baskaya was born in Poltava in 1928. She was sent to the front to work. Her mother was 40 years old. Her mother was taken away to the army and Tanya went into an orphanage at age 13. Her brother was 20 and had graduated from the university. He was sent to a tank division and was killed. Tanya and her mother were the last to be evacuated. At the railway station they were being bombed all the time. She and another girl hid under a table. They were saved by all the dishes stacked on the table. Both the railway station and their train were bombed, so they were taken to another station. There was a big pit and she saw a body without hands or feet. From there they went to northern Kazakstan. They lived in a little village in a house with a dirt floor. Several families were in one house. They worked on a collective farm and they stored food for the winter. Her mother moved to another place where she worked in a pharmacy and Tanya went to school. After the war, Tanya and her mother came back with her aunt. The aunt worked in a plant and they were given a room to live in with six people in it. Tanya never married. She went to the institute and graduated from the institute for civil engineering, and then worked. In 1999, Tanya had a heart attack. She was 61 years old then. She took no medicine then, but she does have anemia. She tried different medicines, but they didn’t help. Now she takes a good medicine.
d. We traveled back to Dnipropetrovsk, a three and a half hour drive, making a couple of stops to look at a market at the side of the road and a babushka selling pears and apples.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005 – Dnipropetrovsk – visited the Jewish Day School, heard Yan’s choir, and visited Beit Baruch Assisted Living Center
a. We began our day at Jewish Day School #144. The school has 500 pupils, quite a drop from the 750 we remembered in past years. Larissa Korolenko and a new (to us) principal, Leonid Ganapolsky, met us and took us through the building. Larissa has a son in New York and a new grandchild in Ashkelon, Israel.
Our first stop was the dining hall and kitchen complex on the lower level. They have new tables and chairs, of which they are very proud. Then we went upstairs to see 2nd graders studying math. They stand as we enter and say, “Good Morning,” in English. All students are learning English, Russian, Ukrainian and Hebrew. This group didn’t speak much English, but they were a bright and happy class of mixed boys and girls. We also saw a first grade class and an 8th form class of 14 year old girls. We saw many interesting posters on the walls, including the quilt which Boston had given to the school with the participation of many Boston students. There was a poster with photos of relatives of staff or children in the Jewish Day School who gave their lives, either as soldiers or in the Holocaust. The wording over the pictures said, “You gave us life and we give you immortality.”
b. We went to the Golden Rose Synagogue to hear Yan’s choir. There were fewer people present, but their voices made up for any absences. The acoustics are wonderful in the synagogue, and we thoroughly enjoyed the concert. The last song was “Shalom Aleichem,” which we all sang together.
c. We were able to meet briefly with Rabbi Kaminezki in his office. It seemed as though we were just getting into our talk when the head of Sochnut in the CIS, Karol Ungar, knocked on the door. He is new to this job, and seems to be on a whirlwind tour of the whole FSU. Unfortunately, that ended our own discussion, but we hope to take it up again tomorrow. We need to discuss the situation with medicine which our organization provides, so it can be improved and expanded. We were able to bring up the situation of the ex-prisoner in Pavlograd, who was accused of rape. I was told that not only is he innocent, but the actual person who committed the crime has confessed. Rabbi Kaminezki promised to look into it. He needs official rehabilitation papers so he can emigrate to Israel.
d. Our next visit was to Beit Baruch, the Assisted Living Center for the elderly. We were met by Alexandra, Helen and Victoria. We first had lunch and then toured the building. The tables were decorated in the colors of Ukraine – blue and yellow. We began our tour by visiting the woman who had hip replacement surgery in June, and now walks and dances. She has a new husband whom she met at Beit Baruch. Her surgery was due to the program which Dr. Lewis Lipsitz put in place while he was in Dnipropetrovsk on Sabbatical last fall. Alexandra pointed out another woman on a walker who had recently been operated on for a broken hip, and was going through rehabilitation at Beit Baruch. We were told that she would like to stay permanently, but who wouldn’t! It’s a wonderful facility. We saw the kitchen with its huge vats for soup and frying, its many ovens, and rooms for preparing meat, dairy and eggs.
We visited another pensioner, Ida Samuilovna Tsypkina, who later sang some Yiddish songs for us in the synagogue, upstairs. Ida is 82 and is very outgoing and engaging. We saw the exercise equipment in the downstairs exercise rooms. They now have some larger pieces in a second room – a treadmill, a reclining bicycle and a weight machine to exercise the legs. This was done thanks to Dr. Lipsitz, and there is a sign on the wall with his name.
They were very proud to show us the new pill boxes marked off for the days of the week. I think Bob and Doris Gordon delivered these last spring. The side of the box is marked with the name of the patient, and there is quite a stack of them. We asked if they were getting any medicine from our program, and they said yes – Tylenol for Arthritis and hypertensive medications. They call Yan when they need something, and he tries to meet their needs. The plastic pants which we sent last fall never got to them, so we’ll have to hunt further for them.
We were fortunate to see Arkady Schmist, who is working on a Holocaust monument on the grounds of Beit Baruch. He is carving it in granite, and was beginning to work on some Hebrew letters. He took some time to explain the symbolism of the piece. I understand that Boston has contributed some money to get this project started.
We met Alex Marmot, Yan’s son-in-law, at Beit Baruch. He has been working as a drug rep for a German firm, Berlin Chemie, for the last two years. Alex had been working as a cardiologist in Dnipropetrovsk. He was here to go over some new Beta Blockers to the people who order medicine at Beit Baruch.
e. We dined with Yan and Tanya Sidelkovsky at their apartment.
Thursday, September 22, 2005 – Dnipropetrovsk and leave for Belarus
a. Meeting with Rabbi Kaminezki at his office to discuss setting up a pharmacy program with the help of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry. We have been working with donated samples of medicine, a system which has been very helpful, but is not adequate for people with chronic conditions like hypertension. We continued our discussion with Rabbi Kaminezki to see if we could come to a decision about a program to purchase medicine in Dnipropetrovsk for those who are very needy. Dr. Evgenia Cherkasskaya is working in the JCC building behind the synagogue in a part-time medical clinic, and we want her program to continue as is.
A decision was made to hire a physician to oversee a program which will be housed on Mironova Street at the Boys’ Home. The boys are studying during the day, so the home is empty until 6:00 P.M. There will be a small office there with a sign. Rabbi Kaminezki said that he would take care of furnishing this office and putting up a sign. Action for Post-Soviet Jewry will pay this physician $100/month and make $500/month available for the purchase of medicine. Funds were left to run this program for six months, at which time we should be able to evaluate how it is working. The pharmacy will be open part-time, with the hours to be decided at a later date. It is important to obtain a competent physician, which will be the key to this program.
Rabbi Kaminezki said that a Jewish businessman is the head of several pharmacies in Dnipropetrovsk and has a warehouse which distributes medicine. He will arrange to have us use a pharmacy close to Mironova Street, where we can pay a low price for medicine. The patient will obtain a prescription from the physician and take it to the pharmacy. At the end of each month, the pharmacy will present a bill, which will be paid by Yan.
Our clients will be sent by Elena Grigorievna Bogoluba, who runs the emergency fund at the synagogue. She has a list of 400 – 500 people who are in need. When they approach her for help with medicine, she will send them to Mironova Street to be seen by the physician there, and to obtain a prescription. This should enable the pharmacy system to be available only for those truly in need. This program will undergo an audit by the same system used by Rabbi Kaminezki for other parts of the Jewish community.
b. We left Dnipropetrovsk on the afternoon flight for Vienna, after stopping to pick up Volocardin for a Holocaust survivor in America.
TRIP REPORT BELARUS SEPTEMBER 22 - 26
Thursday, September 22, 2005 – arrival in Minsk, Belarus
We left Dnipropetrovsk on the afternoon flight for Vienna, after stopping to pick up Volocardin for a Holocaust survivor in America. Fortunately, all of our luggage arrived in Minsk intact. We purchased the obligatory medical insurance at the airport in Minsk for $2, and passed very easily through passport control and customs. Konstantin, who works with Frank Swartz, met us with a sign, and we drove to Hotel Arbita. We reached our hotel some time after midnight. Konstantin works in political science, so we had an interesting conversation on our way. He has been to the U.S. twice, and speaks quite good English.
Friday, September 23, 2005 – Baranovichi & Minsk, Belarus
Travel to Baranovichi, two hours from Minsk. The population of Baranovichi is 200,000, and Jews number around 300. Before WWII, Jews made up 70% of the population. Not many Jews are emigrating now. Those who wanted to leave have left and the situation in Israel is still tense. This was true in Ukraine as well. There are three main groups within the Jewish community – the progressive group, the orthodox and a cultural group. The progressive community is larger than the orthodox group. For Pesach, 150 people attended a Seder, which was limited by the number of invitations sent out. They depend upon donations. They meet in an office building. Philip sometimes attends the progressive Kabbalat Shabbat. There are about 12 – 17 older men in the orthodox congregation. Only one Jewish communal building survived WWII, and this was the Yeshiva. It has not been given back to the Jewish community, though.
We stopped at the apartment of Philip Doroshov. Philip is the son of the late Grigory Doroshov, who died suddenly two years ago of a heart attack. The nurse we hired to serve the Jewish community, Maria or Masha Tomashevskaya, was also at Philip’s apartment. Philip was born in Slonim, which was 92% Jewish before WWII. He mentioned the construction of a new Holocaust monument in Garadea, which was 80% Jewish before WWII. His mother was buried in a Jewish cemetery, as was his father. However, the cemetery has been closed for burials because it is full. Now there is an apartment building right next to it. Burials are only allowed in a common cemetery. Philip’s grandmother is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Geisin, in Vinnitsa oblast. His uncle was a leader of the Jewish community in Geisin. Philip has an orthodox Torah in Russian and Hebrew, which he received when he attended a seminar in Moscow. He also has his father’s collection of books in Hebrew, but he doesn’t read Hebrew.
Philip’s daughter is in Israel studying biotechnology at a division of the Haifa Technion. They couldn’t afford to pay for a good education for her in Belarus. She has been in Israel for seven years, served in the army, and is in her third year at the university. Philip has a sister in Israel, too, who lives on a kibbutz. He visits there, and his daughter comes to Belarus once a year.
Philip is a diabetic and asked if we could send him a glucometer and strips. Now he has to go to a clinic and wait long hours for blood sugar testing. Masha said that they could use five glucometers. Masha also needs blood pressure cuffs and meters. Diabetics have their own syringes, so that is not necessary. Philip said that the human insulin in America is much better than what he gets in Belarus, and he would be grateful to have some on the next trip.
Philip showed us a book called the Baranovich Haggadah. Rabbi Shalom Meir Wallach was pictured on the cover. It was published in Israel by Targum Press, and distributed in the U.S. by Feldheim Publishers. It contains commentary for Pesach by rabbis who lived in Baranovichi.
Philip also mentioned a project with American university students to clean up the Jewish cemeteries in Belarus. So far, nine have been restored. SUNY at Binghamton and Dartmouth College are both involved. The project is led by Rabbi Edward Boris at Dartmouth. Ten to 20 students come in the summer to work.
a. Home Visit in Baranovichi with Maria Zakharovna, born in 1922, 83 years old. Maria was complaining that she didn’t feel well today, and wanted Masha to take her blood pressure right away. It was 204/120, in spite of the blood pressure medication Maria is on. She had been lying on the couch before we came. She put in her hearing aid, but it was whistling very loudly, so perhaps she should be refitted for the part which goes into her ear. It should fit better and be quiet. Maria said that she became partially deaf after an illness. She is a physician, but is now retired. She takes Amladin for her blood pressure, and Masha told her to start taking two tablets a day from now on.
Maria was born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, and she also lived in the Pskov region and in Siberia during the war, where she studied. Her older sister and her mother went back to Dnipropetrovsk after the war and came down with Typhoid fever. Maria continued her studies. Her mother told her to come to Dnipropetrovsk to be with her ailing sister, so Maria transferred her studies there. Her sister died, and after Maria graduated, she was sent to work in Baranovichi. Her mother and father went back to Pskov. After her mother died, Maria brought her father to Baranovichi to live with her.
Maria was married, but her husband died over 20 years ago from a heart attack. She has two sons. One lives and works in Orsha, Belarus, and has a son and a daughter who teaches. The other son lives in Baranovichi and is an entrepreneur.
Maria has caller I.D. beside her phone. Her pension used to be $100/month, but now it is $125/month. As a 2nd degree invalid, she receives a 50% discount on rent and utilities. In the winter her utilities are $25/month. The only help she receives is from Masha, who comes twice a week and shops for her. Her apartment is quite large because four people used to live there.
b. Home Visit in Baranovichi with Yakov Melnick. Yakov was born in 1929, and is 75 years old. He has a bad back and showed us a board under his mattress to make it firm. He seemed in very good shape and he likes to take long walks in the morning. His major complaint seems to be arthritis, so we asked Masha to give him some Tylenol for Arthritis, which we had brought for her to dispense. Masha gives him a shot in the foot for his arthritis. Yakov purchases the supplies and Masha administers them.
Yakov used to be in charge of a garage which repaired large trucks, and he worked there for 39 years. He is retired now and earns a pension of $115/month. His utilities run $28/month in the winter, the most expensive time of year due to the cost of heat. In the summer it is only $18 to $20/month. His son lives in Pinsk and he has a granddaughter there. She graduated from the linguistics department at the university and has visited the United States. She works as an interpreter. His son is the director of a transportation firm in Pinsk. Two years ago, Yakov’s wife was killed in an accident – she was run over by a car. He met her in Bobruisk where she taught German. Yakov had rented a room from a friend of hers and she visited.
Yakov was born in Slutsk and was evacuated during the war to Saratov, Russia, with his mother and sister, both of whom died there. His older brother also died there. Yakov, his father and another brother survived the war.
He used to join the Jewish community at gatherings, but not now because it is too far away. Apparently, it’s no longer in the center. He has friends. He doesn’t read books, but he does read the papers. His granddaughter calls often and visits him. She called yesterday and asked him how to make potato pancakes. Yakov enquired whether she was cooking for one or two. She answered two, so now he knows she has a boyfriend. He has a photograph of her and she is quite lovely. Masha said she is also a very good person. Yakov cooks for himself, and usually cooks enough for three days at a time.
c. Home Visit in Baranovichi with Alexander Lvovich Chaikin, who is 83 years old. This was the most difficult visit we made because Alexander is dying of prostate cancer. He also has arthritis, and many other problems which he didn’t go into. He is bedridden, and has tubes and a catheter inserted. His face is sunken and he is utterly miserable. Only two of us went to see him. However, Alexander warmed up to our visit and really didn’t want us to leave. He kept talking as we were trying to leave the bedroom. Masha put on latex gloves and was doing something with his tube. She also administers a pain killer. Alexander used to walk with a cane, but no longer gets out of bed. We had visited with him two years ago, and still remembered him as a charming man. He told us that he went to a local hospital, but didn’t get the surgery he needed. He was out of the hospital for a week and began urinating blood, so he called for an ambulance to take him back there. This time he stayed for three months, and then came home as he is now. Although Masha said that he didn’t know what his illness was, he told us that he had prostate cancer, which is quite right.
While we were there, a patronnage worker came from Chesed. Masha also gave her an injection in her rear – of what we don’t know. The patronnage person comes every day for two hours. Masha also comes every day. The last time the doctor tried to change his tube, he failed, so Alexander went back to the hospital. It took them one and a half hours to re-insert the tube into his stomach. Alexander said that he didn’t have any appetite. He joked about being surrounded by so many women. Without them he would be dead. He said that he felt like a test-rabbit. He can’t sleep or eat.
Alexander’s children are in Jerusalem – a boy and a girl. He has four grandchildren. His daughter used to work in a music school, but is retired now and works in the Minsk Chesed in charge of the patronnage workers. Her name is Ludmilla Beresovskaya. Every week she comes to visit, and later today she should be here. Alexander’s first wife was from South America, and they were married for 50 years. His second wife became senile and she also passed away.
d. After the home visits, we toured the old Jewish cemetery in Baranovichi – that is, a former cemetery which is now a fenced in area with no markers. There is a memorial obelisk in the center and off to one side is a large memorial where the bones of Jews from several mass graves were reburied. There is no Jewish burial ground in use now in Baranovichi. The building of a former Yeshiva is still standing, but we were unable to locate it. It is used for another purpose, and not available to the Jewish community.
e. Home Visit in Minsk with Marina Kitaichik, a friend of Ilya Rubenstein in New York. Marina has breast cancer, and her friend wanted to leave some money for her and also to get her medical records so he could see whether she was being treated as well as was possible. We left $200 with Marina from Ilya and another $200 from Action for Post-Soviet Jewry.
Marina lives with her mother, Yulia Mikhailovna, who also has a medical condition which looks like elephantiasis. Her arms and one hand were enormous. However, she was not looking for any help. Marina is her main concern. Marina also has a son, Valentin, who is 16 and in high school. We didn’t meet him.
Marina is taking two medications for her cancer and she gave us the information sheets which come with the medicine, as well as her most recent medical records. They had an August date on them. She is a 1st degree invalid (the most serious level), and receives a pension of $100/month. She had just received the first disability pension last month. Marina is unable to work. Her mother also receives a pension of $100/month. However, the medicine which Marina is on costs $200/month. It seems like an impossible situation. She received the first batch of this medicine when she was in the hospital, but now she is on her own to purchase more. She is supposed to stay on it for five years. One is called Aromazine and is produced in Italy by Pharmacia Upjohn, and the other is Bonefos and comes from Finland. The Bonefos may be a bone-strengthening medication, but she isn’t sure. Marina was embarrassed about taking the $400 from us, but we insisted. We also left some toiletries for her and her mother.
Saturday, September 24, 2005 – Bobruisk (3 hour trip) & Mogilev (2 hour trip)
a. There are about 4,000 Jews in Bobruisk out of a total population of 220,000. Before WWII, 80% were Jewish in this city. Fewer people are emigrating now. They feel that most who wanted to have gone, although one man, Viktor Blagutin, asked for help with a friend’s papers to go to Israel. The friend, Igal Koifman, has been turned down for a visa, but has a son in Israel. It wasn’t clear what the problem was. Almost everyone in the room had family living in Israel. In fact, Faina herself was going to Israel in November to visit with her sister. Almost all the young people have gone to Israel. There are no young children in this congregation.
We met Faina Polei outside of her apartment and she led us to the rented rooms which serve the orthodox, but non-chabad congregation. Faina is the leader of this group in Bobruisk. Solomon Gorosh leads the services. Last time we were here, they had a much nicer place to meet in a government building, but they had to move. They now have four rooms on the first floor of an apartment building. None of the rooms are very large. During the service, the women sit in the connecting room next door. They meet at 10:00 A.M. on Shabbat, and on Friday evening around 5:00 P.M. this time of year. Solomon is a tall thin man, who is diabetic. He knows several languages including Hebrew and Yiddish. Many people come from all over the city. Today there were 20 people present - eight were women. Most seem to be pensioners, except for a nurse, Irina Dolnikov, who helps them out, and her 14-year-old daughter, Marina Dolnikov. Congregants have children and grandchildren living in other cities. One has a daughter in Baltimore, another a grandson in New York at the university, and another a grandson at the Pinsk Boarding School. Several have grandsons and granddaughters in Israel. Many faces were recognizable from previous visits. The oldest woman in the congregation, Olga Yashinevna, is 81 years old. They have enough kippot and tallitot, and they have enough Russian-Hebrew siddurim.
Ida Davidovna Likhtman told us about a Pesach in which three or four American students from the U.S. came to help them celebrate. There were about 10 or 12 lonely pensioners at this one-time Warm House. Students have been doing this for 10 years. This sounds like the YUSSR (Yeshiva and University Students for Soviet Russia) program, when Yeshiva and university students from New York come to Belarus to lead seders.
Unlike Ukraine, pensions are not uniform and range from a low of $65/month to $125/month. People pay two thirds of their pensions for rent and utilities, and one third for food. This congregation rents the space they are in for $50/month, which is paid for by the Union of Religious Organizations in Belarus run by Yuri Dorn in Minsk. They also had to pay $50 to register their congregation and obtain a contract for heat. For Pesach, they rent another space because they have between 80 and 100 people for seder.
Two brothers from St. Louis – Edward and Leonid Pernick - sent them $100 for Pesach for the last two years. They were in Bobruisk two years ago. Edward is in the jewelry business and Leonid repairs cars. Someone said that they had very kind parents. Their father was Yefim Pernick. The Bobruisk community sent a letter to an American-Russian newspaper called, “Druzhba,” (which means friendship) to thank them.
There is also a progressive congregation which runs a Sunday School for 55 youngsters. We did not visit them on this trip.
There are apparently three categories of pensioners. Two of these categories receive packages of food from Chesed on Rosh Hashanah, but they didn’t seem to have received them yet. Four people from this group get food from Chesed five times a week. Four years ago they had enough money to celebrate every holiday. Right now they have no extra money. They are dependent upon others to donate funds.
They like the packages sent by Action for Post-Soviet Jewry, which have been mostly clothing and vitamins. They can use as much as we can send. They would also like to have medicine, but realize it does not get through customs. They need everything. The packages with clothing should say that the clothing is not new. Otherwise, they are charged a customs fee. Perhaps medicine could be sent to a hospital, which would release it to them. They cannot receive it directly.
a. We traveled to Mogilev where we met Larissa Korolenko, the leader of the progressive group, who led us to the school where several students and teachers were waiting for us. This group receives funds from the Myriam’s Dream Foundation. The adults were Oxana and Valery Morozevich, Nadia Kokushkina and Larissa. The children performed with poetry reading and dancing. This was a small group, which usually meets on Sundays, but came today just for us.
Mogilev has a total population of 400,000, of which 2,000 are Jews. In 1900, 50% of the city was Jewish. At that time, the total population was less than 50,000, with approximately 25,000 Jews. This city lies along the Dniepr River, and the first Jewish settlement was in the 1600’s with a synagogue and an orthodox school. The old area which used to be a Jewish neighborhood was pointed out to us, but the synagogue and school no longer exist. We later saw a model of this neighborhood in a Museum of Ethnology. Valery Morozevich is an historian and took us through the Jewish part of the exhibit, which featured a life-size reproduction of a money lender in his home and an old Torah.
Larissa began to help at the Sunday School four years ago, when the coordinator, Nina Alexandrovna, emigrated. She had been teaching Jewish history and was asked to take over the head position. Bella Nayyer, who comes from Mogilev, but lives in New York now, is the contact person for Larissa. Bella sends packages and finds travelers to bring funds.
They need food and vitamins, but the labels for vitamins should be in Russian so people can read what they contain. Otherwise, they don’t trust them or think they are out of date. Clothing should be in large sizes. Money is better because they can purchase things here. They receive $500 once or twice a year through travelers. If funds were sent to Minsk, they could pick it up there.
When Larissa took over from Nina, there were 12 pensioners who needed help, but eight have died. They are helping around five to seven pensioners now. They can help more, and Larissa said she would check with Chesed to see who needs the help.
Larissa has a 17-year-old daughter. She is no longer married. We had dinner at Larissa’s apartment before heading back to Minsk, about a three-hour drive.
b. Home Visit in Mogilev with Maria Stepanovna, born in 1922, and 83 years old. Maria was born in Minsk. She has a son in Mogilev who visits and cooks for her. A patronnage worker from Chesed comes two times a week to shop and clean. Maria used to teach kindergarten. She used to read a lot and has glasses. She was sometimes confused and repeated herself a lot.
Maria’s family lived in Lagoish, which is 40 km from Minsk. Everyone except Maria was killed by the Nazis – her mother, father and eight-year-old brother. She and her sister ran away, but her sister was later killed as well. She is the only surviving member of her family. She thinks the sister was killed because she looked more Jewish than Maria, who has blue eyes. Maria was 20 years old and joined the partisans in the forest. She has an older sister who lives in America, but she didn’t know where. This sister had gone to Leningrad and married there. Her sister called once, but Maria is hard of hearing and could not hear her. She wants the sister to call her son, and then her son can tell her what is going on. Her son is 59 years old. His wife died and he lives alone.
Maria has trouble with pain in her stomach. She eats a lot of kasha. She can’t take any pills because it hurts her stomach. She has aches all over from arthritis and she may have an ulcer. Larissa brings her packages when things are sent from overseas. They met because Maria used to visit the Sunday School when her husband was alive. He died seven years ago. Her apartment is on a high floor and she doesn’t go out.
c. Home Visit in Mogilev with Rosa Irba, born in 1927 in Bobruisk. She moved to Mogilev to be near her 35-year-old grandson, who usually visits on the weekend. She also has a photo of a great-grandson. Rosa’s passport lists her name as Rysia. Her maiden name is Wolfson. Her husband was not Jewish. Her older daughter lives in Mogilev, and a younger daughter lives in Minsk. Rosa was sitting outside on a bench when we arrived. She has a sister in Rishon Letzion in Israel and a cousin in Denver. Rosa worked in a meat factory for 40 years. During the war, she was evacuated to Alma Ata in Kazakstan. The city is now called Frunze. Her husband was killed in an auto accident at age 59. Her brother died last year in Bobruisk from a heart attack.
Larissa doesn’t usually visit Rosa. Another parent from the Sunday School does. She received a package for the holiday. Rosa has kidney pain and heart trouble. However, she lives on the 4th floor of her building and walks up and down the stairs readily. She receives food from Chesed three times a month, and it usually includes chicken, fruit, flour and oil. Her pension is $100/month. Because she is a 2nd degree invalid, she pays only half of every bill. The Jewish community pays the rest. She also pays only 10% of the cost of medicine.
The daughter in Minsk lost her husband from a heart attack.
d. We walked around the center of Mogilev to see a large former synagogue which is now a sport hall. It even has a plaque on the wall with a figure of Jesus because it belonged to the Catholic Church before it became a sport hall. It was taken from the Jewish community in 1929. We also walked to the apartment building where chabad rents rooms for its synagogue. There is a large menorah outside in a courtyard, typical of the chabad outdoor Chanukah menorahs. The synagogue was closed.
Sunday, September 25, 2005 – Pinsk (four hour trip)
a. There are 700 – 1,000 Jews in Pinsk out of a total population of 180,000. Before WWII, the total population was around 60,000 and the city was 80% Jewish.
We started our Pinsk visit at the one functioning synagogue, a single story building which is still in the process of being refurbished. This building is 100 years old, and they discovered another older wooden synagogue underneath it which was over another 100 years old, so this site has been the location of a synagogue for over 200 years. They kept one lintel of the old synagogue, but everything is very new with tiled floors and crystal chandeliers. The ark is a newly designed one and the curtain as well. The sanctuary is a single large room, and they often have 60 to 100 people worshiping here, which must be rather crowded.
We met Rabbi Moshe Fima here, a young energetic man from Manchester, England. He had spent five years working with Rabbi Yaakov Bleich in Kiev, Ukraine, and has been in Pinsk for five years. Both rabbis are Karliner Stoliner. In fact, one section of Pinsk was originally called Karlin, and this is where their particular rabbinic sect came from.
We also met Iosif Lieberman, the president of the Jewish community here. Iosif is a native of Pinsk and works for a construction company. His father was a blacksmith and his grandfather was supposedly a very strong man, who could carry two large sacks of potatoes at once. Iosif took us on a tour around Jewish sites in Pinsk, including the girls’ boarding school, two new mikvahs under construction, three Jewish cemeteries, and two Holocaust sites. Iosif showed us a school building where Chaim Weizman had studied, and there is a plaque on the outside. Golda Meir also spent some time here. She lived in Kiev in the same building where Rabbi Fima had lived.
b. The Girls’ and Boys’ Boarding Schools are the pride and joy of this Jewish community. Each has around 50 students. We visited the girls’ school, which is brand new. There is a large plaque in the foyer thanking George Rohr’s donation in memory of his mother, Perla Rohr. All the girls seem to be learning English. These schools take children from all over Belarus. Some are orphans and 80% are from families in distress. Some go home at vacation