Betsy Gidwitz Reports | Notes On Jewish Community Life In Ukraine

Notes On Jewish Community Life In Ukraine May 2001 (continued)
3. Whereas the central event for the Jewish community in Dnipropetrovsk in 2000 was the opening of the newly renovated Golden Rose Choral Synagogue, 6 the current year has seen the activation of a Jewish Community Center directly behind and to the left of the synagogue. The principal funder of the JCC was Joseph Gurwin of New York, in memory of his late wife, Rosalind, whose family roots were in the city. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) also made a significant contribution to the building. The four-story structure includes a large multi-purpose room and community library, a computer center, and a café on the ground floor. The second floor accommodates the offices of Rabbi Kaminezki and several community organizations. The third and fourth floors include classrooms and activity centers for various JCC programs. An elevator serves all floors. The Rosalind Gurwin Jewish Community Center is a welcome addition to Dnipropetrovsk Jewish community life. It is adjacent to and stretches in back of the Golden Rose Synagogue (the three-story building on the right). Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki hopes to obtain additional land to the left of the wall for a monument to those who perished in the Holocaust, recognition of righteous gentiles, and additional community buildings.
A community library and multipurpose room in the JCC are shown at right. A weekly JCC schedule for May showed a multitude of activities, including: a Sunday school; music and dance classes for different age groups; klezmer groups; amateur theater groups; computer classes for various age groups; Open Jewish University; Hebrew classes; photography classes for different age groups; chess club; a literary club; Hillel activities; exercise and aerobics classes; self-defense classes; preschool activities; arts and crafts for different age groups; Jewish arts and crafts; ceramics classes; men’s club; women’s club; family club; discussion clubs for youth and adults on various topics; video club; hobby club; and Kabbalat Shabbat for different groups. Additionally, the Beit Baruch medical clinic for seniors that was attached to the former synagogue main-tains a small office in the JCC. A computer room with 17 worksta-tions is located next to the library. The room is divided into two sections so that different groups can use it simultan-eously. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde, the independent support organization that reaches out to elderly Jews in Ukraine, has an office and storage facility in the semi-finished basement of the center. (See below.) Tkuma, the Dnipropetrovsk based Holocaust scientific-educational center, will develop space in a three-story section of the synagogue building to the right of the synagogue facility. Its premises will include a library, exhibition halls, auditorium, classrooms, and a research section. Tkumah staff already give lectures several times each month at the JCC and also lead a Holocaust discussion club for youth at the JCC. (See below.) 4. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde is an independent assistance program created by Dr. Judith Patkin, the Executive Director of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry in Waltham, MA. The program assists elderly Jews in approximately 20 large towns and 40 smaller towns in eastern, central, and southern Ukraine. 7 Its Dnipropetrovsk operations are directed by Yan Sidelkovsky, a respected individual who holds additional positions in the local Jewish community as well. The writer met with him and his wife, Tanya Sidelkovskaya, who also works for the organization, in their offices in the semi-finished basement of the JCC. Yan Sidelkovsky said that most seniors in area small towns receive monthly pensions of about $10, an amount that is inadequate for even the basic necessities of life. In some instances, Jewish elderly receive additional assistance from JDC-sponsored heseds (welfare centers). However, the heseds do not reach all small towns. Further, they provide very little food and they are unable to meet the specific needs of individual clients. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde attempts to personalize the service offered to each individual, providing whatever is important to the specific client. For example, Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde will help the client obtain new eyeglasses or new winter shoes, if these are the priorities of the client. The program also provides food and basic medicines, such as aspirin and multivitamins. It helps elderly in applying to heseds for medical assistance, including medical implements (such as walkers). It also provides legal assistance when necessary, such as when swindlers try to force seniors out of their apartments. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde is beginning a new project that will ask elderly to recall old Yiddish songs; these will be recorded so that they are not lost. 8 The writer spoke with Inna Kruchinitskaya, the local coordinator from Smila, a town in Cherkasy oblast, who was in Dnipropetrovsk on a monthly visit to report on Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-a-Zayde operations and expenses in her area and to attend a conference. Smila is about 350 kilometers west of Dnipropetrovsk. According to Ms. Kruchinitskaya, the population of Smila is about 87,000, including 600 Jews. 9 She reported that she assists 30 people between the ages of 63 and 94. She had received $100 from Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde, which she had converted to 545 grivna (Ukrainian currency) for the purchase of goods for a distribution related to Pesach. With these funds, she continued, she had been able to distribute chicken, matzot, fresh fruit, and jam to each of her clients. On other occasions, she said, she had purchased eyeglasses, clothing, shoes, and additional food. For those clients who live in rural areas and have access to land, she buys gardening tools and seed so that they can grow their own food. The program also provides canning jars and other supplies necessary for food preservation. Precise records are maintained of income, expenditures, and distributions. Additionally, Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde has files on all clients, and sends photos of clients and their letters of thanks to program donors. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde holds periodic conferences at which local coordinators and other personnel are brought to a central site for a briefing on policies, lectures on specific issues, and distribution of medicines and other items. One such conference occurred in Dnipropetrovsk during the writer’s visit. Sixteen physicians and one local coordinator were present, all of them attentive. The speaker was a Russian-speaking cardiologist from New York, who informed participants about common cardiology conditions affecting elderly people and about the effects of various medicines avail-able through Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde. 10 Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki, Chief Rabbi of Dnipropet-rovsk, welcomed Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde phy-sicians to a conference in Dnipropetrovsk. Provision of services to Jewish elderly in the city of Dnipropetrovsk itself is managed by the JDC-sponsored hesed or through the Beit Baruch office in the JCC. Dr. Evgenia Cherkasskaya is the attending physician at Beit Baruch. 11 5. The Beit Baruch Emergency Fund (Фонд Экстренной помощи) is supported by the Philanthropic Fund of the Dnipropetrovsk Jewish Com-munity (Благотворительный фонд Днепропетровского еврейского общины). Its director is Elena Grigorievna Bogolubova, mother of Gennady Bogolubov. Chairman of the Board of the Philanthropic Fund. Mrs. Bogolubova administers the Emergency Fund in a professional manner from a desk in the community office.
7. The program also operates in Moldova and Belarus, but this report deals only with the operations that are directed from its Dnipropetrovsk office. 8. Mr. Sidelkovsky is professionally trained in music. 9. If these figures are applied to Smila itself, probably both are somewhat high. However, it is possible that Ms. Kruchinitskaya was referring to Smila and to several even smaller towns in its surroundings. 10. Adopt-A-Bubbe/Adopt-A-Zayde ships various medications into the post-Soviet states on a periodic basis. Most are non-prescription drugs, but some are prescription pharmaceuticals for specific conditions, such as high blood pressure or other conditions that are not difficult to diagnose. The organization works with local physicians who examine patients and recommend treatment. 11. Beit Baruch is a multi-service program for seniors that previously operated from the premises of the old synagogue. It is named after the father of an original donor. Dr. Cherkasskaya, retired from a position at a major clinic, is supported by a small pension and a larger subsidy from a son who is a successful local businessman. Her work at Beit Baruch is done on a volunteer basis. Michael Maisky, M.D., the visiting New York cardiologist, was severely critical of the Beit Baruch and hesed practice of employing recently retired or older practicing physicians. These individuals, said Dr. Maisky, completed medical school 30 to 40 years ago and are unfamiliar with contemporary diagnostic techniques and medications. They are unaware that modern medical practices exist. Continuing medical education in the post-Soviet states, he said, is very weak. It is better to employ younger physicians with ongoing connections to medical institutions, he advised. They will be grateful for the extra income.