[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 106 (Thursday, August 4, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 4, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     THE ORTHODOX UNION IN UKRAINE

  Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the Members of the Senate are familiar 
with the important work of the Orthodox Union, the parent body of most 
of the Orthodox Synagogues in the United States. The Union's National 
Conference of Synagogue Youth flourishes in every North American Jewish 
community and the Union's Institute for Public Affairs and kashruth-
certification service are respected national institutions.
  I rise today to report on the Union's newest program, a fascinating 
effort to revitalize the long-dormant Jewish community in Kharkov, 
Ukraine. During 74 years of Soviet rule the substantial Kharkov Jewish 
community was decimated by Soviet leaders who forbade any Jewish 
educational, cultural, or religious life, and by the numerous 
transgressions committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
  This has all changed with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the 
70,000 Jews of Kharkov--the fourth largest community in the former 
Soviet Union--have once again been allowed to identify with their 
tradition. The Kharkov program is headed by Prof. Sidney Kwestel of the 
Touro College Law School, currently the chairman of the board of the 
Orthodox Union--having served as its president from 1984 to 1990. The 
program is named in memory of Joseph K. Miller, the Orthodox Union's 
indefatigable treasurer who was murdered in the terrorist attack on Pan 
Am 103. I spoke to Professor Kwestel recently and was delighted to 
learn that several thousand Ukrainian Jews of all ages and backgrounds 
have already participated in the Orthodox Union's program which 
includes as summer camp for teenager, nightly classes for adults, a 
morning Yeshiva for university students, and special programs to teach 
about Jewish holidays.
  Sidney Kwestel shared with me a letter he wrote after a recent visit 
to Kharkov and I ask unanimous consent to place excerpts from this 
moving letter in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                    February 1994.
       Dear Friend: I recently returned from a deeply moving and 
     exciting three week visit to Israel and the former Soviet 
     Union. What I saw can only be described as the Miracle of 
     Kharkov.
       Last Pesach, Rav Simcha HaCohen Kook, the Chief Rabbi of 
     Rehovot, Israel, was in Kharkov. During the first seder, 
     Yoni--a star product of our Kharkov project--stole the 
     afikomon. For its return, Yoni asked Rav Kook to bring him to 
     Israel for his bar mitzvah. Rav Kook agreed. I, my wife Debby 
     and Mrs. Joseph K. Miller attended Yoni's bar mitzvah 
     celebrations in Yeshivat Sha'alvim, and on shabbat in 
     Rehovot. It was an electrifying experience. Yoni received 
     national attention the day of his arrival in Israel when he 
     appeared on Israeli television and was interviewed in Hebrew, 
     which he speaks as well as an Israeli. On shabbat, all of our 
     hearts swelled when Yoni said the brachot and read the 
     haftorah of Shirat D'vorah. Rav Kook noted that this was 
     first time in history that a bar mitzvah boy learned his 
     haftorah in Kharkov and said it Rehovot. Yoni, who was 
     circumcised in Israel--with Rav Kook as the sandek--has had a 
     profound influence on his brother and parents. His bar 
     mitzvah celebration inspired all of us and the many Kharkov 
     youth who attended. I had enormous satisfaction seeing these 
     Kharkov youth, Ariel, Cladik, Yura, Alex, Roma, Shlomo, Gena, 
     Katya, Katrina, Leah, Anya, Tanya, Ira--products of our 
     Kharkov program--who are currently attending Israeli 
     yeshivot. Indeed, Friday night when the youth came to Rav 
     Kook's home, Rav Kook challenged the Mayor of Rehovot, who 
     addressed the group, to tell him who were Israeli born and 
     who was born in Kharkov. The group was indistinguishable!
       From Israel, I travelled to Kharkov, where I had a second 
     exhilarating experience. Even after ten trips, I am still 
     amazed and inspired by what is happening in the former Soviet 
     Union. You can imagine how I felt when I walked into our 
     Joseph K. Miller Kharkov Torah center and was greeted by ten 
     teenagers--all of whom will be going to study in Israel or 
     will be making aliyah with their families during the next six 
     months. We are reawakening those who were spiritually 
     destroyed by the communists, and are bringing them to a Torah 
     way of life. We are successfully teaching them what it means 
     to be Jewish and are giving them an understanding of our 
     Torah heritage. They emerge proud to be Jewish and are 
     instilled with a strong attachment to Israel and the Jewish 
     people.
       This year we are again planning an intensive summer camp 
     and seminar for over 300 children, teenagers and university 
     students. There some will begin, and others will strengthen, 
     their ties to Judaism. Together they will experience a daily 
     Torah life. The importance of the summer experience cannot be 
     overstated. Jewish youth are thirsting to learn what it means 
     to be Jewish. As Igor (now Yigal in Haifa) put it when he 
     started in our first summer program:
       ``I like to be among Jews and this is why I'm here and I 
     like to remember the traditions which my parents and 
     grandparents have forgotten. Its important to continue the 
     things that began thousands of years ago but were stopped by 
     the revolution.''
       God has given our generation a once in a lifetime 
     opportunity to reclaim the souls of Soviet Jewry. We must 
     seize this historic moment. Soviet Jews have no understanding 
     of what it means to be Jewish; nor do they have the personnel 
     or the funds to help themselves. They must be considered our 
     spiritual children. We must guide and teach them. The most 
     effective place to reach our Soviet brethren and reattach 
     them to their Torah heritage is in the former Soviet Union. 
     We are their lifeline and hope for a Jewish tomorrow. This is 
     not a cliche--it is a plain fact. If we do not do it, they 
     will remain behind. We will lose a precious part of our 
     people.
           Cordially,

                                     Professor Sidney Kwestel,

                                          Chairman, Orthodox Union
     Soviet Jewry Commission.

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