Chief rabbi praises Ukraine's government for positive position on minorities

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - The Jewish community is faring better in Ukraine than in any of the other new independent countries of that region. And that, according to Ukraine's chief rabbi, Yaakov Bleich, is in large measure due to the positive position on minorities taken at the outset of Ukraine's independence by its government.

Rabbi Bleich spoke about the state of the Jewish community in Ukraine during a roundtable discussion on the subject at the Embassy of Ukraine here on January 15.

During his presentation, the American-born rabbi, who has worked in Ukraine for eight years, said the welfare of Jews in Ukraine is tied to the general welfare of the country, cautioned that anti-Semitism should not be mistaken for nationalism, and criticized the U.S. government for mostly focusing on the negative in its relations with Ukraine and engaging in frequent "Ukraine-bashing."

Opening the roundtable, Ukraine's Ambassador, Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, said Ukraine is proud to have "once and for all done away with state anti-Semitism, which was actively supported by the Russian and Soviet empires."

He acknowledged that the Jewish community faces "some problems" resulting from the economic downturn, as well as "manifestations of aggressive nationalism and anti-Semitism" by some radical groups in Ukraine. He said that in fighting these ills the government is impeded by the "uncertainty of the legislative base" and the "low level of legal culture in Ukrainian society."

As positive developments, Ambassador Shcherbak cited recent progress in returning former Jewish property, the return of the Brodsky Synagogue in Kyiv and the resolution of the Jewish cemetery issue in Lviv. Fifteen active and 44 closed Jewish cemeteries have been surveyed, he said, the sites of Nazi massacres of Jews are being identified, and many Jewish cemeteries and memorials - including a new memorial at Babyn Yar - are being built or restored by local governments.

The Embassy of Ukraine, he said, stands ready to help improve mutual understanding between the Jewish American and Ukrainian American communities and help "root out negative stereotypes, which still exist in our society."

"I believe that history should be left for historians, and politicians and statesmen should build the present and future, based on tolerance, democracy, mutual understanding and respect," he said.

In his presentation, Rabbi Bleich talked about Jewish community life in Ukraine, government relations, anti-Semitism, the political situation in Ukraine, Ukraine's international relations and the Jewish community's work with other minorities in Ukraine.

Community development

Organizationally, Jews in Ukraine, who number about 600,000, are "definitely far ahead" of Jews in any other post-Soviet successor states, he said. There are over 300 Jewish organizations and four national umbrella organizations active in Ukraine. And these organizations have been able to set up educational and social services for the Jewish communities, he said.

"I think that this is in no small part thanks to the atmosphere that was created by the Ukrainian government since its independence - since 1991, when the Ukrainian government made it known that (it) will seek a European type of democracy, where national minorities will all be free and welcome to build their own communities within the framework of Ukraine," he explained.

As a result, he noted, there are 16 Jewish day schools in Ukraine, 12 of which are in part government-supported as Jewish national schools.

More than 30 percent of Jewish children in Ukraine receive some sort of Jewish education - 10,000 out of a population of 30,000 with 5,000 of them in all-day schools. That percentage, he pointed out, is better than in the United States. There is also a National Board of Jewish Education, a Pedagogical Center and a teacher-training laboratory for developing a Jewish curriculum.

In most cases, he said, the educational program functions with assistance from abroad, which is also the source of assistance for the large Jewish social welfare programs in Ukraine. These include societies and day centers for needy and elderly Jews that are being financed with millions of dollars from the Claims Conference, various Jewish organizations and the U.S. Department of Agriculture - in all, he estimated, some $40 million to $50 million annually. Some of that assistance, especially USDA food aid, he pointed out, is distributed to non-Jewish needy groups as well.

"When you talk about the difficulties and the low standard of living," Rabbi Bleich said, "Jews aren't suffering more than any other segment of the population, although the Jews are reacting, I would say, more than other minorities to the situation and helping the Jewish community cope with the hardships of a transitional economy."

Government relations

When a popular Jewish television program was marking its fifth anniversary recently, every one of the presidential hopefuls sent a personal representative to the reception and a letter of congratulations - all, except for the current Socialist chairman of Parliament, Oleksander Moroz. Rabbi Bleich said he saw this as a sign of "a certain sense of democracy" on the part of the candidates, who recognized the Jewish community as voters

Similarly, during the celebration of "Community Day" at the time of Hanukkah, Kyiv Mayor Hryhorii Omelchenko addressed the gathering, pointing out the many positive things he has done for the Jewish community, which Rabbi Bleich confirmed he had.

And, in yet another instance, when a local Jewish political activist told his fellow Jews at a community gathering that they will never be safe in Ukraine and called on them to emigrate to Israel, a government representative asked for permission to respond. He concluded his remarks by saying that the Ukrainian government would like to make Ukraine "a better place to live - better than Canada for Ukrainians, and better than Israel for Jews."

"That may be a far-reaching goal, and there's a long way to go," Rabbi Bleich added, "but I think that the Ukrainian government is doing a lot to try and make the Jews feel at home in Ukraine."

"It really was an eye-opener for us to see how far we've come in really becoming a normal society, where politicians see people as voters (and) voters get to see politicians as politicians," he said.

Anti-Semitism

"There is no 'official anti-Semitism,' which means government anti-Semitism, thank God, has been abolished," Rabbi Bleich said. There are, however, what he termed "grass-root movements" in western Ukraine that espouse anti-Semitism and a number of newspapers that publish anti-Semitic articles.

"Personally, in my opinion, 'nationalism' is not a dirty word. I think that nationalism is a very healthy feeling of pride in someone's national origin," he said.

"And I think that the best thing Ukraine had in 1991, when it declared its independence, was this tremendous feeling of national pride, which, if it would have been harnessed at that time and in the proper direction and movement, I think that would have been the driving force to build Ukraine into a thriving democratic society, with a market economy and everything else."

It is the nationalism in John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, he explained, in which "the individual (is) willing to sacrifice - not being forced to sacrifice - for the good of the country."

"Unfortunately, and it's obvious to everyone, that is lacking today in Ukraine," Rabbi Bleich said, criticizing Rukh for dropping the ball in 1991. "I think that in 1991, if they had moved in the proper direction, they could have done that."

"So I'm not worried about nationalism, per se, but I am worried when anti-Semitism is clothed in nationalism." Calls by some for "Ukraine for Ukrainians" to the exclusion of Jewish and other minority Ukrainian citizens "is anti-Semitism; it's not nationalism," he said.

"It is something that has to be watched, and is being watched," he said. "Unfortunately, the government - I wouldn't say it was because of a weak legislative base; I would say it was due to a weak legislative spine - has not taken the proper action to react to this anti-Semitism in a way that we would expect from a Western country."

The government has yet to prosecute anyone for inciting anti-Semitism, saying that this might result in more instances of anti-Semitism. "They have a good excuse, but not a good reason," Rabbi Bleich said, adding that he would like to see the government at least try it once.

On the other hand, Rabbi Bleich pointed out that Ukraine is sometimes criticized by the United States for not implementing its law against the incitement of inter-ethnic hatred - a law that could not pass the constitutionality test in the United States.

While Ukraine is justly praised for having the best human rights records of the new independent countries of the region, he said, one part of the government remains notorious: the justice system. "It's even a joke to call it a justice system," he said. "The judges and everybody else is still in place that were there in 1990-1991, and I would say that the way that they judge hasn't changed much."

Responding to a question about possible anti-Jewish discrimination in higher education, in the military and in political life, Rabbi Bleich said that he sees no major problems in any of these areas.

"Basically, if you know the right people and you pay the right price today, you get in anywhere - no matter who you are," he said about higher education. In the case of the military, "I haven't heard of any cases of major anti-Semitism in the military," he said. "Then again, I'm sure not too many Jews serve in the military," he added.

Turning to politics, he cited several prominent Jewish politicans, including six deputies in the Verkhovna Rada, and singled out the very popular mayor of Odesa, as well as the governor of Vinnytsia. He expects that more Jews will be getting into politics in the future, and, unlike their predecessors, they will not hesitate to pursue the agenda of the Jewish community.

The upcoming elections

Rabbi Bleich said the mood in Ukraine is such that the Communists are expected to win the upcoming elections to the Verkhovna Rada. The Communists have the support of "our neighbors nearby." They "definitely are, were and will be supported" by an element within Russia, which gives them the best financial base and political know-how of any party in Ukraine, Rabbi Bleich added.

The Communists are also the beneficiaries of those, primarily Ukraine's elderly, who have "fond memories" about the past, when things were stable, Rabbi Bleich said. He compared such people to those who lost faith during the Exodus from Egypt and yearned for "the good times" in slavery.

Unfortunately, the elderly will vote in numbers, while the young people "will be too busy out there making money," he said. He praised efforts by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and other groups that are working on getting people to vote in the election - especially the young people.

"There are very few people who will be willing to sacrifice their food and their lives for freedom in Ukraine," he said, pointing out that no one demonstrated in Kyiv and not many went to the barricades in Moscow during the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev. Rather, most people simply waited, as one man put it, for "life to return to normal."

Even more important, Rabbi Bleich said, especially if the Communists win the parliamentary elections, will be the presidential elections that follow in 1999, because it will be up to the president to counter the leftist legislative branch. He criticized President Kuchma and former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko for the self-destructive presidential campaign they launched even before the parliamentary elections.

International relations

Rabbi Bleich criticized Washington's policy towards Ukraine, which he characterized as: "When Russia's bad, Ukraine is good; when Russia's good, Ukraine is not needed."

He was also critical of the constant "Ukraine bashing" and focus on the negative in U.S.-Ukraine relations. "Ukraine has been getting knocked by the United States since day one," he said. Initially it was nuclear missiles, he pointed out, then it was crime and corruption.

"It's unfortunate, because Ukraine, is a stable democracy - as stable as democracies can be in that part of the world. It is probably one of the most stable democracies, and (in) the things that are important to the United States, such as human rights, and, shall we say, rights of national minorities, Ukraine definitely has been outstanding in that part of the world."

Rabbi Bleich added that he thinks Ukraine "deserves credit and recognition from the United States just from that point, rather than as a political ally "in a balancing act with Russia."

The U.S. government also "should not be seen as patronizing" in its relations with Ukraine. While Ukraine is the third largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid (after Israel and Egypt), totaling $220 million last year, that amount, economically, is not that significant and should be seen for what it is: moral support of Ukraine.

As for relations between Ukraine and Israel, the brief "honeymoon" ended after the first two to three years, Rabbi Bleich said, "and then reality set in." But that reality is not necessarily bad, he said; it is merely a shift in emphasis from government-to-government relations to private-sector trade, investment and tourism, which are flourishing.

The largest Ukrainian diaspora now lives in Israel, he said. "And even though they see themselves as Russian Jews, and not Ukrainian Jews, the fact is that their ties are to Ukraine, and when they want to do business, they'll go to Ukraine to do business before they go to Russia."

Rabbi Bleich said the Jewish community in Ukraine sees its own welfare tied to the welfare of Ukraine in general. "If the Ukrainian society is able to develop into a normal democratic, civil society, with a normal market economy and will be able to flourish," he said, "the Jewish community will be able to flourish as a Jewish community."

"Our goal should be to live with the times," Rabbi Bleich said. And while he would not, as Ambassador Shcherbak suggested, leave the past exclusively in the hands of historians, Rabbi Bleich said that the present generation "should take positive lessons from history and build upon them for a positive future for Ukrainian-Jewish relations here and Ukrainian-Jewish relations in Ukraine."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 25, 1998, No. 4, Vol. LXVI

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