A VIEW FROM THE EDGE The Jewish Agency s Roman Polonsky reports from Ukraine

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1 A VIEW FROM THE EDGE The Jewish Agency s Roman Polonsky reports from Ukraine Roman Polonsky joined The Jewish Agency for Israel after a long and storied career in Russian media and Israeli politics. In 2009 he served as a senior advisor to Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky and currently heads The Agency s Unit for Russianspeaking Jewry (RSJ). As director of the RSJ unit, Polonsky oversees The Agency s network of summer camps, Israel engagement programs and Aliyah from the FSU and Germany, and informal Jewish education programming in North America, Australia, Germany and the former Soviet Union. MAY 11th, 2013 This is the calm before the storm, say many people. What will we do in case of emergency? How will you save us? My answer: This is the entire reason of my visit. It is why we increased the number of our shlichim (emissaries) in the area, and why we are doing all the work necessary to prepare for the worst. You are not alone; not only is The Jewish Agency with you, but all of Israel and the entire Jewish world. It was not easy to reach Donetsk on the day of the referendum on the independence of Donetsk Republic. Yet somehow miraculously I managed to get a ticket and here I am on the way to Kiev, where on May 11th, The Jewish Agency, will host a traditional celebration (especially poignant this year) of Israel s Independence Day with the Jews of the city. In Kiev hope is mixed with despair, optimism with anxiety. Yulia, 22, a student, says that because of the revolution, she feels much more a citizen of a free Ukraine, a country she can now be proud of. Lena, 21, thinks that the attitude towards Jews has changed for the better as their active participation in the revolution has earned the respect of many Ukrainians. They both are eager to be loyal and dedicated citizens of a new, free, and democratic Ukraine, and at the same time to work for the prosperity of the Jewish community and its connection with Israel. They are not yet thinking of Aliyah. This attitude stands in stark contrast with the moods of the elderly and the middle aged, who speak of anti-semitism, a scourge they feel has never truly dissipated from Ukraine s atmosphere, especially among schoolchildren. Nina N. told me about her young daughter, locked in a restroom by her schoolmates. They wrote on the door: Don t enter! There is a kike here. Adults also feel anti-semitism in the workplace. Galya, who works at a sewing factory, told me that an age-old accusation was hurled at her: You kikes have come and taken all our best jobs! It doesn t take much imagination to hear this with yesterday s ears. It was certainly enough for Galya to decide on Aliyah. Aliyah numbers from Kiev have grown by 50% as compared to the same period last year, while the numbers from the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine have skyrocketed: 315% growth in Odessa, 266% in the Dnepropetrovsk regions, and 200% in the Kharkov region. The number of Jews interested in information on Aliyah has grown more substantially than Aliyah itself; the main reason being not anti-semitism, but rather a feeling of instability, fear for the future a general sense of unease, and a feeling, as one of my interviewees put it, that we are standing on the edge of the deepest abyss. People are afraid of a possibility of war with Russia, of anarchy, of an unruly crowd that can be turned against Jews on a dime: Here are the ones to blame!

2 Observes one citizen, Maybe Jews have gained some respect by their participation in the revolution, but this is temporary. Ukrainian citizens have never loved us. Some new politicians brought bursts of anti-semitism on the political level. Then, all of a sudden, this stopped. Every official started to protect Jews. But for how long? These vast differences in outlook between generations do not interfere with the celebration of the other independence Israel s. Israel Independence Day with The Jewish Agency is a longstanding tradition in the area, and 400 people were united by their love of Israel and their deep feelings of connection with it. Later, I traveled to Donetsk. It does not look like a city undergoing a revolution no crowds of protesters or armed patrols in the streets. On the contrary, the city is striking in its emptiness. We pass through the main streets the building of the local administration is surrounded by barricades of tires. A destroyed police headquarters is visible; there are broken windows in the building of a new governor. While there are no check-points in the streets, neither are there people. Fearing riots, many residents left the city on the eve of May 9th (Victory Day) and the referendum (May 11th). The main concern of the residents of Donetsk, both Jewish and non-jewish, is personal safety and the fear of coming war with Russia, which many of them see as inevitable. What will follow the referendum, the results of which few people doubt? Will Russia send in troops? Many gun shops have been recently looted; police are not interfering and are observing benevolent neutrality towards pro-russian formations. At the same time, according to some reports, crime has increased 300% in the city. The situation in Mariupol and Lugansk is even worse jewelry stores are being robbed, cars confiscated, and shooting in the streets has become all too common. There is deep uncertainty. More tomorrow. May 12, 2014 Today, we were supposed to go to Kramatorsk, but at the very last moment the news came that the town is restless shooting in the streets caused our security officer to ban the trip. His instinct proved correct: As it turned out, according to some unconfirmed reports, there were casualties among civilians. We chose another direction Enakievo, an industrial town with a population of about 100,000, the birthplace of the ousted president Yanukovych. We carried a letter from Rabbi Vyshetsky of Donetsk confirming that we have no political agenda, only concern for the situation of the Jewish community. Apparently, neither pro-russian, nor pro- Ukrainian groups want to appear to have an official quarrel with the Jewish community. We passed rather quietly through several check-posts, both of the Ukrainian police and of the pro-russian self-defense forces; nobody stopped us. A repainted inscription announcing that we had entered the town of Enakievo attracted our attention: the Ukrainian yellow and blue colors had been repainted with the Russian red-bluewhite tricolor. And yet - it is pretty quiet here there are no troops, and the town s administrative building is in the hands of the Ukrainian self-defense forces Young Jews in Kiev celebrate Israeli Independence Day with The Jewish Agency for Israel The Jewish community is small and constantly shrinking. There are only 160 members registered in the community today; there were about 700 at the turn of the millennium. Young people either move to a bigger city or go to Israel. In the local Jewish welfare center, the only Jewish site in town, we met its director and a group of Jewish residents, all well over 60 years old.

3 Roadblocks in Donetsk, Ukraine The mood here is different from in Donetsk, the statements are harsher, distrust torwards the central governments is stronger. Recent violent clashes in Odessa and Mariupol have significantly influenced people, and many of those who had not intended to participate in the referendum did so after the violence. The people are very nervous. The fact that the troops have not gotten here yet can only mean that we were left for last, they say. When we leave the town, we see graffiti: Odessa: we will never forget and never forgive! Mariupol is a workers town and a port. There are about 2,500 Jews, and about 4,000 throughout the Lugansk region. There is a collective sense of anticipation as citizens wait to learn of next steps after the referendum, which resulted (as had been expected) in the victory of the pro-independence (from Kiev) forces. The ballot papers in Ukrainian and Russian asked one question: Do you support the Act of State Self-rule of the Donetsk People s Republic/Lugansk People s Republic? According to official sources, 74% of the citizens participated in the vote, 89% voted for independence, 10% were against and 1% of the ballots were invalidated. On the entrance sign to Enakievo, the Ukrainian yellow and blue colors had been repainted with the Russian Red-blue-white tricolor of local businessmen. For the first time this year, many of them could not give a penny: the industrial plants have stopped working, there is no income at all, and there is a feeling that businesses are simply crumbling. We met the Rabbi in the synagogue which made headlines a few weeks ago as there had been leaflets distributed demanding that Jews register or be fined. Everybody agrees that this was a provocation, and that historically it is dangerous when Jews become the object of provocation. The Rabbi expressed his gratitude to The Jewish Agency for the support the community received from The Jewish Agency Security Fund. They bought security cameras and hired additional security guards. (The grant of The Jewish Agency also allowed them to install security cameras in the community center, in the Yeshiva, in school, and in the kindergarten.) In the evening, we meet Jewish youth and businessmen of Donetsk. Here, unlike in the older generation, there is no common point of view. The situation is complicated and nobody feels they know the truth. There is a sense of powerlessness, that we all are pawns in a game of oligarchs and politicians. The evening news announces that Donetsk has already asked the Russian Federation to consider However, nobody knows what this independence means or where its borders are, and the vote is seen as more of a protest than a democratic statement. Rabbi Vyshetsky of Donetsk is greatly concerned; for many years his community has been supported only by donations The Jewish Agency s Roman Polonsky meets with Donetsk Jewish community leaders

4 water in Odessa, and everyone rushes to stock up water. Israel has sent an Aliyah battalion to protect the Jews of Odessa! Thank God, there is salvation! Security cameras installed by The Jewish Agency s Emergency Assistance Fund incorporating the region into Russia, citing Sunday s referendum as reflecting the desires of its residents. Another message arrives by the end of the day: More anti- Semitic leaflets have been distributed, this time in the town of Mariupol. Increasingly, the anti-jewish theme is louder and more intimidating. Tomorrow we are in Odessa. May 13, 2014 ODESSA My conversations with the Jews of Odessa are not encouraging: a cemetery desecrated, a Holocaust memorial in Nikolayev (a small town not far from Odessa) also desecrated; Molotov cocktails thrown at the synagogue in Nikolayev; graffiti on the walls saying Jews and Moscovites, get out of Odessa. A group of young Odessites, met our shaliach who wears a kipa, shouting Sieg Heil! near our office. I am going to Odessa and my heart is beating heavily I was born in the small Jewish town of Belgorod-Dnestrovsc, 70 km from here. Never, even in my worst nightmares, did I imagine that in the enlightened 21st century I d be returning here under such terrible circumstances. Odessa has always been a safe, cosmopolitan and modern city. On the one hand, life in Odessa goes on as usual: there are cars in the streets, people are walking in the parks, and they still sit in the famous Fankoni cafe. On the other hand, just below the surface, the city is filled with fear; it is in the air, palpable. People live from rumor to rumor: A pumping station exploded in a nearby district - there will be shortage of But the reality, too, is hard to believe. Rabbi Baksht told me of a car that was driving in the city quite recently, calling through a loudspeaker for the Jews to leave the city. If he hadn t seen it with his own eyes, he would have never believed it either. People with Israeli flags appeared at a pro-russian demonstration. Israeli Insurgent Army was written over the background of a Magen David. This is the new reality in Odessa. Society is now divided, split into opposing groups. Neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend, son against father. The front line here runs in families. And Jew Jews in trouble either way. We are trying not to talk politics, nothing good in it, but it is impossible: no matter what we start with the conversation inevitably switches to politics, future olim told me, when I met them at The Jewish Agency headquarters. Why are you going to Israel? First of all we want stability and peace. But Israel is not exactly a place that can boast of peace. Yes, but you ve got a government, a country, and a brother doesn t fight one s brother! On the evening of May 9th, when riots were expected in the city, Rabbi Baksht took his entire community (about 1,000 people) for a retreat out of the city. Odessa, like Donetsk, remained quiet, but there is a lot of anxiety. The Reform community consists of about 280 members in Odessa. Our door has always been open, literally, and we are glad to see anybody come in; now we ve put on the security cameras and are trying to keep the new heavy door (supplied by The Jewish Agency) closed, at least in the literal sense, Rabbi Julia Griss says. I ask her how the current situation influences her everyday activities. We ve had to cut several programs because people are afraid to leave their homes; we canceled the Lag B-Omer celebrations.

5 No wonder that in these circumstances Jewish children are not very keen to leave for Taglit/Birthright in Israel. On the one hand, the parents don t want to let children go far away, on the other hand, the children are not eager to declare that they are Jewish. Indeed, no one has yet captured the Odessa regional administration building, nor proclaimed an independent republic, and there is no shooting like in Slavyansk or Kramatorsk, but the shock that struck Odessa on May 2nd, when over 40 people were burnt alive as the result of riots and unrest, still feels fresh. Unlike all of the rest of my interviewees, Rabbi Vigler, Deputy Chief Chabad Rabbi of Odessa, is optimistic. With G-d s help everything will be okay. A new governor has been sent from Kiev and a new head of police they will restore rule and order. And this is already happening for the first time in my life I feel relieved when I see a policeman fining a driver for a traffic violation. (Chabadniks never lose their sense of humor!) My three-day trip in Ukraine has come to an end. Kiev, Donetsk, Odessa three different cities, three different points of view, and at the same time, similar realities. What awaits them? Their future depends only on one thing the ability of the people, of their leaders, to listen to each other. To what extent will they be ready to accept another point of view? Unfortunately, this is still far away. In Donetsk at a Jewish Agency event, there is a sense of powerlessness Aleksandr, Anna and little David Bronnikov are applying for Aliyah to Israel through The Jewish Agency for Israel s First Homeland in Israel And the most important question, from our Jewish brothers and sisters: Will you save us in case there is a need? First of all, we hope, there won t be such a need we want people to come to Israel of their own free will, not fleeing from pogroms (I cannot resist recalling the terrible Odessa pogrom of 1905 when over 400 Jews were killed in Odessa. The memory of this pogrom still lives in the hearts of the Odessa Jews and casts its dark shadow on what is happening today.) But in case there is such a need Yes! We will be there! We, the whole Jewish family, are thinking about you, are praying for you, and will do everything we can to protect you. Just below the surface, the city is filled with fear; it is in the air, palpable.