On Sunday, April 7, in Brovary, a Presentation of the Project “Originating from Shtetl” Was Held

On Sunday, April 7, 2019, in the Jewish community center of Brovary (Kyiv region) a presentation of the project “Originating from Shtetl” was held, dedicated to the contribution of people from Ukrainian lands to the creation of the State of Israel.

The project is being conducted by the Regional Association of Small Jewish Communities on the basis of the exhibition “The State of Israel – Ukrainian roots”, prepared by the Zionist Federation of Ukraine in cooperation with the Kiev Institute of Judaica with the support of the World Confederation of United Zionists (WZO).

Complementing the draft materials on the Zionists and Israeli leaders, who are from the so-called. “Towns of the Association” – towns that are part of the Regional Association of Small Jewish Communities.

With the support of the Dutch Humanitarian Fund, presentations are planned in seven communities in Kyiv and Cherkasy regions.

The exhibition consists of twelve two-meter posters, each of which reveals the direction of development of the Jewish state, such as the army, medicine, urban planning, agriculture, energy, etc. through the prism of the biographies of those who, born on the territory of today’s Ukraine, came to Palestine and their selfless labor brought the creation of a Jewish state.

At the opening, the project manager, director of the Regional Museum of Jewish History “We are from Shtetl” Klavdiya Kolesnikova gave a tour of the exhibition, and the executive director of the SFU, Elena Zaslavskaya, told about the activities of the SFU, the history of the organization, its programs and plans.

A number of names of the founders of Israel appeared before the eyes of those present: Dr. Chaim Hisin, Yosef Barats, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, Yohanan “Zhenka” Ratner, Pinchas Rutenberg, A. Gordon, Meir and Zina Dizengoff, of course Golda Meir, and many others.

The participants of the event noted that the information presented at the exhibition was a real revelation for them because everyone heard about Golda Meir, and such names as, for example, Pinchas Rutenberg (created by Hevrat Hashmal – Israel’s electric company) or creator of Haganah and at the same time Haifa architect and Lecturer Yevgeny Ratner, the story of Zina and Meir Dizengoff and the history of the construction of Tel Aviv, not to mention the so-called Levantine exhibitions – all this for the first time.

All those present noted the high professionalism with which the texts and photographic materials of the exhibition were selected and placed, and also offered to make an another lecture in the town “Not only members of the Jewish community but also all residents of the town could attend it. This topic would be interesting to many other residents”, – said  the visitors.

All those present warmly thanked Claudia Kolesnikova for her informative and lively story, which she added with materials from her collection, in particular, about Lev Motskin, a native of Brovary, a Jewish public and political figure, journalist, author of the book “Jewish Pogroms in Russia”, orator, propagandist of the Hebrew language, defender of the interests of world Jewry. The name of Leo Motzkin is the town of Kiryat Motzkin in Israel.

The project continues its work – there are still many meetings, new acquaintances and ideas ahead.

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