On August 26, 2019, the presentation of the project “Shtetl” was held at the premises of the Smila Community Center
On August 26, 2019, the fourth presentation of the project “Shtetl”, dedicated to the contribution of immigrants from Ukrainian lands to the creation of the State of Israel, took place in the premises of the Smila Community Center.
The project began its work in March of this year in Korsun-Shevchenkovsky, and then continued in Brovary and Zvenigorodka. The project is carried out by the Regional Association of Jewish Organizations of Small Cities of Ukraine (RAEOMGU) with the support of the Dutch Humanitarian Fund.
The project takes place 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 (EKOS). A distinctive feature of the project is that this traveling exhibition is supplemented with materials about Zionists and Israeli figures who come from small towns in the Kiev and Cherkasy regions, which are now part of the RAEOMU.
The presentation was attended by members of the Smila Jewish community, headed by chairman Nina Lozovatskaya. Claudia Kolesnikova, director of the regional museum of Jewish history “We come from shtetl”, spoke about the activities of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine, about the upcoming elections of delegates from the Jewish community of Ukraine to the 38th Zionist Congress, and also conducted a tour of the exhibition.
Also during the presentation, general material on the contribution of Jews coming from Ukraine in the creation of the State of Israel was supplemented with detailed information on three natives of Smela, prepared by Claudia Kolesnikova.
First of all, she spoke about the first female architect of Tel Aviv Wife Averbuch (1909-1977), who gained fame mainly due to the design of Dizengoff Square – one of the architectural gems of Tel Aviv. This the square in the center of Tel Aviv is known to many, but few know what it is called in honor of the daughter of the Zhytomyr rabbi Zina (Tsina) Dizengoff – the wife of the first mayor the city of Meir Dizengoff, and the daughter of the Smelyansk pharmacist designed this square Zhenya Averbukh.
Then, an interesting material was presented to the attention of those present about one of the three Jews who helped preserve Ukraine in different historical periods, namely, about Avrom (Abram) Revutsky (1889–1946) – a Ukrainian-Jewish political and statesman, journalist, and minister for Jewish affairs in the Council of People’s Ministers of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1918-1919. Over his 57 years, managed to live in ten cities of five countries.
The visitors shared their impressions.
Petr Popovsky: “A lecture on the Zionist movement and the history of the emergence of the State of Israel made a very good impression on us, in which natives of Ukraine and even from our town Smila took an active part. The story was very informative, with a demonstration of posters of individual photos on which our countrymen were depicted. A very interesting topic for us was the influence of Israel on Ukraine. We, living in Ukraine, should acquire a lot from Israel. In particular, at the moment Ukraine is in a state of war, and Israel has a lot to learn from this point of view, since throughout its existence since its foundation in 1948 it has been in state of constant alert, surrounded by extremely unfriendlyby states.”
Valentina Novochub: “It is very interesting for us to find out the history of the Jews – residents of Ukraine, who made world history, and especially how they raised Israel, what part they took in the formation of this country. Of course, we are proud that there are immigrants from Smila. We will probably seek to continue this story further, and many thanks to Claudia Kolesnikova for this great work and for an unusual interesting story that we listened to in one breath. ” Chairman of the Smelyansk Jewish community Nina Lozovatskaya:
“Of course, we were really looking forward to this exhibition, we listened to a very interesting and necessary lecture for us. She expanded our knowledge about Israel, about the participation of people from our region and Ukraine in the life and formation of Israel. This is a very big work, a lot of enthusiasm. Thank you very much to Claudia Kolesnikova and to the sponsors who are working to ensure that Jewish life continues. ”