An extended meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine was held under the chairmanship of the President of the Confederation Borys Lozhkin on September 12.
The following issues were on the agenda:
- presentation of the new members of the Supervisory Board
- presentation and discussion of the updated strategy, mission and structure of the Confederation
- presentation of the projects “The Righteous people of my city”, “The Information portal”, “Publication of the book on the culture of the Ukrainian Jews” and “Publication of the “Folktales” by Isaac Leib Peretz”
Liudmila Rusalina, Aleksandr Malin, Michael Blazer, Gennady Gazin, Nikolay Petrenko and Yevgeny Lemberg have joined the Supervisory Board of the JCU. All of them are successful entrepreneurs.
The updated strategy of the JCU presupposes five main tasks of the Confederation: development of the Jewish community of Ukraine, fight against anti-Semitism, preservation of memory on the Holocaust, strengthening independence of Ukraine and support of the State of Israel. More details on the strategy can be found in the section “About Us”.
The approved mission of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine is to unite the Jews of Ukraine, help the Jewish communities of the country, support Israel, preserve the Jewish history, culture, memory of the Holocaust, and strengthen understanding of the Jewish community's involvement in the development of Ukraine. We stand for combating anti-Semitism, we motivate the international support of Ukraine's independence.
The project “The Righteous people of my city”, aimed at perpetuating the memory of the Righteous among the nations in Ukraine, was supported by all those present, having added a number of constructive proposals to its main content.
The righteous among the nations is a world honorary title awarded to the people who, often at risk for their own lives, saved Jews during the Second World War. According to the Yad Vashem data, there are more than 2,600 of them. However, according to the data of the Institute of History of Ukraine by the NASU, the actual number of them exceeds 25 thousand. The work to establish the facts of saving and awarding the title of the Righteous among Nations is still ongoing.
The project “The Righteous people of my city” foresees cooperation with the local councils in most of the large cities of Ukraine. The JCU suggests that a new street or square be named (or renamed, if already exists) with the name of the Righteous Among the Nations of the World – a native of this city, and a memorable sign be placed there. In addition to naming the streets, it is also planned to prepare a photo album with stories about saving the Jews, to record a series of interviews with the participants in the events or their relatives, and to create a documentary.
To perpetuate the memory of the heroes additionally, the project is designed to contribute to the education of the youth, to teach tolerance and strengthen ties between the world Jewish community and the Ukrainian people. The JCU is planning to further offer its experience in the implementation of this project for consideration by the Jewish organizations in other countries.
The Supervisory Board members have proposed to distribute the cities of Ukraine between them, for them to be able to control the progress of the project in one of them. The Supervisory Board has also proposed to establish a special pension from the JCU for the surviving Righteous.
The Jewish information portal project will continue the theme of the Jewish upbringing, education and culture. The portal plans to cover life of the Ukrainian Jews, as well as provide the users with a lot of useful services, such as studies of Hebrew, online consultations, offers on travels to the Jewish Ukraine and to Israel. The portal will have a section on the topic of combating anti-Semitism.
Of particular interest was the project to publish a five-volume “Material Culture of the Jews of Ukraine”. The colorful illustrative material will be accompanied by the detailed historical information about the monuments, personalities, whose names are associated with certain works and constructions, about the Jewish history of their location.
A collection of the Jewish folklore “Folktales” in presentation of the classic of the Jewish literature Isaac Leib Peretz, translated by the Ukrainian dissident of the early twentieth century Mykola Zerov and illustrated by one of the most famous contemporary artists of Ukraine Oleksandr Roitburd, has already been prepared for publication and will be published at the end of 2018.
Members of the Supervisory Board of the JCU have also proposed other interesting and important projects. Among them:
- restoration and refinement of the Jewish cemeteries in different cities of Ukraine
- support of the Kyiv Jewish community in the Podilskyi city district of Kyiv — one of the largest in Ukraine
- perpetuation of memory of the Ukrainian Jews who died during the Holodomor of 1932-33
- organization of an exhibition of the Jewish objects
After the meeting of the Supervisory Board, a solemn dinner was held to celebrate the Rosh Hashanah, where the new Ambassador of the State of Israel in Ukraine Mr. Joel Lion and the adviser of the Embassy of the State of Israel in Ukraine on the issues of “Nativ”, Mr. Feliks Gurevich, were introduced to the participants of the Confederation.
The full photo report can be found in the corresponding section.
Shanah Tovah! A sweet year and a good record in the Book of Life!