KIEV PURIM 2002

THE MAIN THING IS THE JEWISH SOUL

I NEED EVERYONE. EVERYONE IS DEAR TO ME.

SERVING CLIENTS

Last Sunday of February, on the 12th of Adara, the day before Purim's eve, the "Ukraine" Palace which is traditionally rented by the common efforts of the different Jewish organizations opened wide cordially the doors and the curtains before the masquerade's and Purimshpil's fancy.

Interview with Mark Kotlyarevskiy, a Chairman of the Jewish Confederation Trustee Board of Ukraine and the President of the Brooklyn-Torgbud Company.

In my book "Stories of Jewish Heroism" I published the list of "One hundred outstanding Jews - from Moses to the authors of "Superman" complied in the USA; and "One hundred outstanding Jews - immigrants from Ukraine. Having read the article by Vitaliy Nakhmanovich "The Lost Tora" ("Jewish Observer"; # 12(15) - # 13(16)) I made up a conclusion that, from his point of view, there are only 3 genuine Jews in these lists: Moses, Boal Shem-Tov - founder of Hasidism and Menahem-Mendl Shneyerson - Lubavich rebe. Even Sholom-Aleikhem, according to Nakhmanovich's judgements, can't be considered a proper Jew.

If you organize a discussion in your newspaper about Mikhail Dor's article «The next stop - Africa», you'll find many responses all over the CIS countries. In my opinion that I have repeatedly expressed, kheseds in the CIS countries were first created as charitable organizations, but now they were turned into the instrument of the "Joint" officials. They all have the same style of work, the use of the same phrases and the same "back" that protects them.

When Kishinev ghetto prisoners were dissatisfied that the khesed distributed money in the wrong way, they applied to the "Claims Conference". It was Asher Ostrin who talked to the leaders and everything resumed its normal course.

Haven't you noticed that members of the Russian "Joint" office feel quite safe and unsinkable - they aren't fired, but shuffled like cards during the game - if you made a slip - here is another republic for you.