Jewish Forum Holds International Convention in Kyiv

The Jewish community of Ukraine summarized its activities of the past four years for the assembled delegates. Since April 1999, every effort has been made at uniting Jewish organizations, creating regional centers, strengthening Ukrainian-Jewish cultural relations and working for interreligious harmony. The delegates decided to collect more than 2 million dollars for the continuation of humanitarian programs. It was emphasized that the Jewish community of Ukraine received official status only ten years ago, with the declaration of Ukrainian independence. Nevertheless, Jews have lived in Ukraine throughout the ages, and 200 years ago the biggest center of Jewish culture in the world was in Ukraine. Even though in recent years over 300 thousand Jews have emigrated to different countries, they still would like to retain their Ukrainian citizenship. The forum, therefore, intends to request this from the Ukrainian government. Among various achievements since the last convention, it was noted that businessmen and politicians have created a model system of private charitable activity, the first of its kind in Ukraine. Important programs like Euro-Net, the Jewish Internet, were recently developed and Solomon University was created The convention recognized the pioneering role of Ukrainian Jews in interreligious dialogue by electing, Vadym Rabinovych, known for his efforts in the field, to the Worldwide Council of the Conference on Religion and Peace. Mr. Rabinovych called all the Jews of Ukraine to work for the good of the country in which they are living, not to be left on the sidelines. He stated: “We unambiguously support what the president of Ukraine does in this country.” The forum, a joint convention of the All-Ukraine Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community, gathered delegates from nearly 300 organizations and guests from the USA, Israel, Germany and other countries. Information taken from the Ukrainian-language site, www.radiosvoboda.org.