During these trying times, as decrees against the chareidi
public in Eretz Yisroel multiply from day to day, a
refreshing wind is blowing from the Ukraine, carrying the
important message that life is not dictated by any one
coalition or another. Yiddishkeit can be practiced in
the most complete way possible, even without the paternalism
of government ministries.
Two million dollars were invested to revive the beis
knesses and the largest Jewish center in the Ukraine --
$2 million of spiritual investment -- money that has already
begun to yield the fruits Torah-true Jewry yearns to see. In
order to witness this sight firsthand, several askonim
and chareidi public figures took the time and effort to
embark on a tough journey of thousands of miles, to trudge
their way through snow and mud and bearing the intense cold
of the Ukraine, where they beheld a very heartwarming
sight.
*
The story of the great spiritual awakening among the Jews of
the Ukraine began 13 years ago when Rav Yaakov Bleich set out
for Kiev at the behest of his rebbe, the Admor of
Karlin-Stolin. In the best Communist tradition, he spent much
of his first years in the pre-glasnost Ukraine inside
interrogation rooms. The Ukrainian authorities did not relish
the idea of a 25-year-old avreich coming to the city
and starting to organize a group of children.
The difficult adjustment period went on and on, but Rav
Bleich entertained no thoughts of giving up. Little by
little, through mesirus nefesh and hasmodoh, he
laid the groundwork, until a few months ago, besiyata
deShmaya, he opened the first official talmud
Torah in the Ukraine entirely al taharas hakodesh.
The children enrolled there come from a variety of different
backgrounds, including children of Israeli embassy workers
who are well aware they are sending their children to a
talmud Torah where they will receive a pure Jewish
education.
Rav Bleich was given four buildings in which to house his
Torah institutions, named after the Admor of Karlin, Rav
Yaakov Chaim Perlow: kindergartens, two schools and a
yeshiva. There are 400 children enrolled at the two schools,
for boys and girls. All of them speak fluent Hebrew. It comes
as little surprise to see the dramatic changes the parents
undergo as they follow in their children's footsteps.
*
Kiev, Ukraine. Monday, 29 Adar I, 5763. A group of visitors
arrives to see the Ukraine's educational institutions. Among
the guests are public figures, including Rabbi Meir Porush,
who until now served as a deputy minister in the Israeli
government. Rav Shlomo Noach Mandel and Rav Shlomo Yaakobson,
chareidi journalists, directors of aid foundations from
Israel and Canada and Rav Chaim Klieger representing Mosdos
Karlin, are being escorted by Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov
Bleich. The members of the group arrive at a large, warm room
at Talmud Torah Orach Chaim, barely able to conceal their
excitement.
They stand behind the plain wooden door listening to what is
taking place inside. From within they hear the traditional,
age-old melody of tinokos shel beis rabbon repeating
the letters of the Alef Beis. Several minutes pass
before one of the visitors ventures to open the door.
The sight they behold is astounding: small children, many of
them blond, sit in a neat "u," their little voices singing
out, "Komatz, alef, au; komatz, beis, bau" to the tune
of Auf dem pripechik, brennt a fierele, und in shtub is
heis . . . Over them stands their young rebbe,
beaming with delight. Their pronunciation is perfect.
The visitors are thrilled because this scene might well have
taken place in the heart of Bnei Brak or in a cheder
in Jerusalem.
The Israeli melamdim, Rav Mordechai Cohen, Rav Yaakov
Zilberman and Rav Yisroel Zeideh, are also excited at the
scene. Director of the schools Michoel Charto explains to the
wonder-struck visitors that the local authorities are well
aware of what takes place here and hold the Orach Chaim
institutions in high esteem.
The children at the talmud Torah, most of whom have
payos curling down their cheeks, were thrilled at the
chance to show off their knowledge. A few members of the
delegation were given the honor of quizzing the young
children. They directed numerous questions at the children
and the answers they heard showed that even in the faraway
Ukraine, children can achieve impressive results that would
not put any respectable cheder in Israel to shame.
The children were enjoying every moment they had the
opportunity to demonstrate mastery in their studies, basking
in the attention they received. They were happy to give a
little nachas to their "father" and rebbe Rav
Bleich, who had invested his all in them. They knew the
halochos of bircas hapeiros almost backwards and
forwards, as well as bircos hamashkin.
The visitors were almost too overwhelmed with pleasure to
absorb the sight unfolding before their eyes: Torah finding
its way home and blooming anew in a place where the Communist
authorities had uprooted every trace of Yiddishkeit
over 70 years earlier. This same spectacle greeted the
delegation at each of the schools they visited, such as the
elementary and high school for boys.
At the girls' school the visitors were treated to the sight
of students sitting and listening to their teachers intently;
many of the ladies teaching the classes had graduated from
the school themselves and had gone on to complete their
studies at Bnos Tzion in Jerusalem's Givat Zeev neighborhood,
an institution nurtured by Karlin chassidim.
The delegation arrived at the elementary and high school for
boys just as the recess bell was about to ring. Some 200
talmidim sat in their classrooms with exemplary order,
the prevailing quiet attesting to cultured refinement. About
50 percent of the boys who reach bar mitzvah go on to
limudei kodesh in various study frameworks. Later
members of the delegation found several of them busy learning
at Yeshivas Orach Chaim, located about a 20-minute drive
away.
At Orach Chaim's yeshiva gedoloh in Kiev, 50
talmidim and 10 avreichim sit engaged in their
learning, some in shiurim and some in
chavrusas. All of them are at least 18. The rosh
yeshiva, HaRav Eliyohu Shpieler says that at the end of
the zman, the talmidim will take a
comprehensive test on the maseches they are learning.
Based on past performances, the results will not be
disappointing.
The ramim, Rav Menachem Pixler and Rav Mordechai
Richenstein, introduce the visitors to one of the leading
students at the yeshiva. He is 27 years old and has a degree
in business administration from one of the leading academic
institutions, but he chose to give up his career in order to
sit in the tents of Torah, turning his back on big
opportunities in the business world. Three bochurim
from the yeshiva married graduates from the girls' school and
seminary in the past year. All three of them are now
continuing their studies as avreichim.
*
Despite the success that is apparent every step of the way,
it is impossible to overlook the difficult socioeconomic
background of many of the talmidim. In the course of
his efforts to revive Ukrainian Jewry, Rav Bleich encountered
a very harsh reality. Quite a few of the children who came to
study at the school and later at the talmud Torah, do
not have parents. Other parents have very limited means,
living from day to day and finding it difficult to raise
their children.
Rav Bleich, who raises funds through several international
aid foundations, decided to open an orphanage. He insists on
referring to the buildings that currently house 80 boys and
girls as "the dormitory." The rooms are clean and well-kept,
evidence of loving hands behind the scenes.
One of the more notable of the sobering stories of the young
orphans who live here is that of a boy who lost his mother
and father within a short time. Rav Bleich arrived at the
child's home in a suburb of Kiev. "I asked him to take his
belongings and come live by me," recounts Rav Bleich, "but he
replied, in a low, embarrassed voice, that he would come as
he was, empty- handed, because he had nothing to take
along."
During the delegation's visit at the talmud Torah, Rav
Bleich runs into the boy, now a teen who appears happy and
vivacious. Today he lives in the orphanage Rav Bleich set up
beside the school, but he does not have the look of an
orphan. "This is one of my children," Rav Bleich says,
pinching him on the cheek.
Following the delegation's visit at the girls' school was a
visit to the girls' "dormitory," which is also an orphanage.
The rooms are sparkling clean. Each room has a shower and
toilet -- a warm and loving home for these young girls. The
accommodations are comparable to a decent hotel. On one bed
sits an orphaned girl of about 8 years old. She does not know
where her brother is and cannot recall his name, but she
remembers she has one.
Everyone there wipes away a tear. How could one not be moved?
Like all of the other girls here, this is the place she calls
home. Twice a year they are taken away to camp to get a
breath of fresh air.
Kiruv activity in the Ukraine extends beyond education
to other matters as well. Six months ago Rav Bleich arranged
a bris for one of the older members of the
kehilloh, and on Friday afternoon a few days before
the delegation's arrival in Kiev the 72-year-old
chosson married--kedas Moshe veYisroel--the
woman he has called his wife for many years already.
On Shabbos night following the wedding, the chosson
went up to Rav Bleich and uttered a few words that
encapsulate the Ukrainian experience and the efforts to
infuse Yiddishkeit into the country once again: "I
thank you, dear rabbi. Thanks to you, from this day onward I
will be able to pray as a complete Jew."
One of the most striking things is the fact that not only do
the Ukrainian authorities not interfere with Rav Bleich's
work, but they even appreciate his endeavors. The good
relations he has cultivated with President Leonid Kochma have
borne fruit.
As a sign of recognition for his activities and to nurture
their ties, during a chanukas habayis ceremony for the
beis knesses and the Jewish center, the President had
Deputy Prime Minister Dimitri Tavnechik present him with a
golden key to the city. And he himself was selected as one of
the 16 religious heads serving on the national religious
council the government set up. Cultivating dialogue. Looking
out for their interests. These days he is working
indefatigably to persuade government authorities to return
Jewish property to the kehillos. If Rav Bleich
succeeds, this will add another notch to his long list of
accomplishments.
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The Ukrainian Matzoh Factory
The local matzoh factory at the Jewish center in Kiev was
built in total secrecy in 1969. In 1991, philanthropist
Albert Reichman dedicated a large sum to refurbish the
facility, which is under the exacting supervision of Rav
Bleich. Today, workers are busy at the factory 24 hours a
day, and three mashgichim work eight-hour shifts to
keep operations running around the clock.
Last year, the factory produced 250 tons of matzo, which was
sent to Jewish communities throughout the former Soviet
Union. This year, they plan to bake 400 tons. The matzos are
purchased by numerous Jewish organizations, including the
Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan under the leadership of
philanthropist Alexander Moscovitz. Based on a decision the
Eurasian Rabbinical Conference reached at its last
conference, this year matzos were also purchased for the
Jewish community in Argentina, the Joint and other Jewish
communities in Western Europe.
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Historical Inauguration
The many participants who arrived at the chanukas
habayis ceremony for the beis knesses and the
Jewish center in Kiev were greeted by the powerful voice of
Ukrainian Chief Rabbi Yaakov Bleich, reading Mizmor Shir
Chanukas Habayis in fluent Ukrainian. Sitting in the
stately beis knesses were top Ukrainian officials,
headed by Deputy Prime Minister Dimitri Tavnechik. Beside
them, sat ambassadors from several countries, including
Israel and France. It was a big day for Ukrainian Jewry. All
of the shelichim working to foster Yiddishkeit
in the Ukraine were also on hand in the packed
shul. At one end was a throng of journalists
broadcasting live from the historical ceremony.
The dignitaries stepped up, one after the other, to
congratulate the Jewish community on their joyous occasion.
The leading figures, including the modest Jewish
philanthropist Eduard Shifrin, received a special gift: a
gilded model of the beis knesses. But the children's
choir from the Orach Chaim school and talmud Torah
stole the show. "The Holy One dispersed us around the world,
everyone persecutes us and harasses us, yet we stand firm in
our faith," sang the children to roaring applause.
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A Beis Knesses Comes Out of Hiding
The Ukraine's first large beis knesses was built over
one hundred years ago. During the frightful years of the
Second World War, the beis knesses was burned down.
During its reconstruction, the Jewish community tricked the
Ukrainian authorities. It was still the age of Communism. The
building plans they submitted showed a regular building with
entrance doors facing the street. In reality, however, the
entrance was around the side. Behind the wooden doors that
have now been restored stands the splendid aron
hakodesh built in 5707 (1947). The entire heichal
along with the aron kodesh were fabulously restored by
architect Rabbi Aharon Estreicher. Over a period of just nine
months, he managed to refurbish the old aron kodesh
and coat part of it with gold. A majestic dome graces the top
of the building.
The large edifice also houses office rooms for the
kehillah, the Chief Rabbinate, the Bureau of the Chief
Rabbi, mikvo'os, guest rooms, a soup kitchen and more.
The windows have stained glass throughout and the drawings
that decorated the ceiling of the beis knesses during
the Communist era have been restored. The beis knesses
now stands in its full glory, radiating light in every
direction.
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