The American Zal Kaplun Foundation initiated the construction of memorial monuments at the sites of the mass extermination of Jews during the Holocaust. The opening of the first monument from this series took place on October 25, 2018, near the village of Soshne, Izyaslav district, Khmelnytskyi region. In the valley, where in 1942-1943 more than two thousand Jews were shot en masse, a large meeting was held, which was attended by representatives of the Jewish communities of Khmelnytskyi, Kyiv, Rivne, Izyaslav, Shepetovka, Slavuta, representatives of the Tsal Kaplun Foundation from America, local authorities, schoolchildren, and the public.
Speakers: Iosif Menaker, a representative of the Tsal Kaplun Foundation, who has approx. About 50 relatives were shot, including great-grandmother and great-grandfather; Chairman of the Izyaslav District State Administration, Boris Yatskov; Chairman of the Izyaslav District Council, Sergey Shlegel; mayor of Izyaslava Valentina Korniychuk. Halyna Skrypnyk spoke on behalf of the Jewish communities of the region.
Stephen Western, a representative of the political department of the US Embassy in Ukraine, came to Izyaslav to honor the memory of the victims of the Second World War. Memorial prayers at the mass grave were read by rabbis Teitelbaum Yosef of Khmelnytskyi, Shneiderson Volyn of Rovno, and Milman Semen, a volunteer of Khmelnytskyi BF "Hesed Besht".
2.
On November 1, a walking tour of the Khmelnytskyi Jewish city was held for children participating in the "Keitana" holiday program. The public relations manager Halyna Skrypnyk and the cultural and mass work manager Lyudmila Fomina conducted the tour.
The historical center of our city keeps many secrets. Many houses built by famous manufacturers, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and intellectuals of Jewish origin have been preserved on the central streets. These were very worthy people who drove progress. Each preserved house has its own unique story. The Jewish community made a significant contribution to the development of the city.
Of course, the children were interested in learning what Proskurov's life was like at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
3.
On November 8, Halyna Skrypnyk, public relations manager of the Hesed Besht CBF, conducted the same excursion for students of the Khmelnytskyi Institute of Social Technologies. The event was held within the framework of the "Tolerance" program, as well as with the aim of familiarizing the youth of the city with its old buildings, built in the 19th and 20th centuries by Jewish merchants and businessmen.
Proskurov (as Khmelnytskyi was then called) was a Jewish town. According to the 1913 census, 40,000 people lived here, more than 20,000 of them (51.5 percent) were Jews. In the central part, on Proskurovskaya, Vladimirskaya, Pylypchuk, Shevchenko, and Hrushevskogo streets, many houses built by Jews have been preserved, which are still the hallmark of Khmelnytskyi. All of them are in good condition, because they were built for centuries. And, having changed owners and functional designation, they serve to this day. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish community flourished on its own and helped the city develop.
The excursion aroused keen interest among the students. And after a walk around the city, a discussion about tolerance was held over a cup of tea at the Social Assistance Center of the "Hesed Besht" Foundation.
They say that Monday is a hard day, but for twelve clients of the "Hesed Besht" HBF, the day of November 12 was pleasant and, one might say, delicious. All because the "Good Guest" came to them. The program with this name has been operating in "Heseda" for relatively recently, however, our wards have already managed to love the visits of volunteers with delicious, hot, and delicious meals prepared especially for them by volunteers and employees of "Heseda" at the Foundation's Social Assistance Center.
This time, the menu included delicious krucheniki made of chicken fillet with mushrooms and vegetables, mashed potatoes, cabbage salad, fruit juice, and bagels with cherry-walnut filling flavored with honey. Our voters Tatiana Hryndy and Kira Nanba, fund managers Angela Taraschan and Halyna Skrypnyk prepared this deliciousness with their heart.
The idea is wonderful. Such dinners to one degree or another solve the problem of a poor person, but this is not important. It always warms the soul when you are remembered, taken care of and given pleasant surprises.
Knowledge in youth is wisdom in old age. "Texts and journeys - a journey into the unknown" - under this name, a meeting of the managers of the "Hesed Besht" HBF, Galina Hilberg and Yana Baranova, was held with the student youth of Khmelnytskyi within the framework of the World Day of Jewish Knowledge.
The intellectual part of the program was presented by a lecture and a story about historical travels and Jewish travelers with the use of psychological maps "Wisdom of Jerusalem" and multimedia.
6.
On Wednesday, November 14, the welcoming home of the "Hesed Besht" Center for Social Assistance of the CBF was filled with always welcome guests. The folk art festival of the city's national communities was held here. The hall with a capacity of 100 people was packed to capacity, people were sitting on side chairs, and this is another evidence of a genuine interest in the cultures of different nations and a benevolent attitude towards people of other nationalities.
Khmelnytskyi is a very tolerant region, Russians, Poles, Jews, Germans, Moldovans, Georgians, Armenians and representatives of many other nationalities live here in peace and harmony. And not only live. They work, increase the wealth of our country, they carefully cherish their culture and pass it on bit by bit to their children and grandchildren. They make our life richer, more interesting, more diverse.
Without too much modesty, we will say: the concert was a great success. The audience warmly and heartily greeted the speakers. The bright performances of Armenian Armen Arakelyan, representatives of the Jewish community Kira Nanby and Anatoliy Muzyka, Polish children's group "Proskurivski bells", Moldovan Ivan Pleshko, and Ukrainian Mykhailo Lyushna did not leave anyone indifferent. These nuggets would, without exaggeration, decorate any scene. And how heartfelt and warm Georgian songs sounded, performed in the best traditions of male choral singing! The team led by Romeo Tolordava gave the hall a real treat. And what wonderful numbers were presented by the Ukrainian and Polish teams! Voices - you will listen, skill - you will fall in love. After all, by and large, live sound is still heard only at the performances of artistic amateurs (let G-d make a mistake). And how attentively the hall listened to the representative of the Russian community, Sergei Troyanovsky! He performs in a now rare genre of literary composition. His word penetrates the very soul.
7.
On November 16, the whole world celebrated the Day of Tolerance. Throughout the week, in celebration of this day, various events were held at the "Hesed Besht" CBF: excursions to the historic Jewish towns of Medzhibozh, Satanov, talks about tolerance. In particular, Halyna Skrypnyk, the public relations manager of the "Hesed Besht" CBF, held a talk about tolerance with the members of the "Dobrota" City Foundation for the Disabled, and also organized for them a tour of tragic places for the Jewish people. The first point is a monument to the victims of the Jewish pogrom of 1919 on St. Tolstoy The participants of the excursion learned a lot about this event. Alas, Jewish history is littered with bloody pogroms. And the massacre of February 15-16, 1919 is only one fragment. But how terrible! After all, during these two days, more than 1,600 civilians of Proskurov died without any fault. The excursionists also visited the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in the Leznev Ravine. 8,200 Jews were killed there. A total of 16,000 Jews were exterminated in Proskurovo during World War II, and they rest in three mass graves.
6.
Youth from Lviv visited the "Thiya" community center and social assistance center as part of the open door day. The amazing journey began with a visit to the historical town of Medzhibozh, then the guests went on the "Jewish Proskurov" excursion, admired the historical center of Khmelnytskyi, which preserved many old buildings that belonged to representatives of the Jewish community. The people of Lviv also celebrated Shabbat in our city. And then there was communicative training and transformational games. Good company and a warm friendly atmosphere contributed to the fact that the guests felt at home, and we felt the unity of the Jewish community, despite the distance between the cities.
7.
The day of November 22 turned out to be cold, but in a special way it was warm, cozy and festive in the concert hall of the Center for Social Assistance of the Khsed Besht. The hall for 100 people was overcrowded. And the demanding viewer was not deceived in his expectations. The folk amateur group "Podilsky Music" of the Faculty of Preschool Education of the Khmelnytskyi Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy surprised and gave unforgettable impressions. Good voices, a carefully thought-out composition of the concert, a proven repertoire - all this made the program interesting, rich, and varied.
With tears in his eyes, the hall listened to songs about his mother in three languages - Ukrainian, Polish and Yiddish. Ukrainian patriotic songs, Gypsy and Belarusian melodies, songs in Hebrew were also played. The spectacle of the show was added by the fact that the students performed in colorful national costumes with bright attributes. The dance compositions during the performance of some songs also looked very beautiful.
The audience greeted each performer very warmly. And don't let the clichéd expression "the concert was a great success" confuse you. After all, it really succeeded. It remains to add that the event took place within the framework of the "Love of Life" and "Tolerance" programs.
8.
November 28 in kconcert–halllof the Center for Social Assistance thanks to the Khmelnytskyi Charitable Foundation "Hesed Besht", the All-Ukrainian Volunteer Network Volunteer Community and Vsemirnatand the Jewish aid organization WJR from Great Britain, the traditional "Ball of gray-haired ladies and gentlemen" was held for people of the "golden age".
The fight against the loneliness of the elderly is one of our main tasks fthen It was under this motto that he passed bal.
Autumn is a special time that gives people peace of mind, adjusts the soul to harmony and union with nature.
"Autumn Ball" was held together with our good friends and main participants - gray-haired ladies and gentlemen. The magical sounds of the Chamber Orchestra welcomed the guests and opened our event, followed by a gentle, light, very touching figure waltz, which whirled our participants into a whirlwind of young and fresh emotions and feelings. An atmosphere of solemnity and majesty hung in the air. Everyone felt it: guests, spectators, performers-musicians, dancers, and even, it seemed, the walls... In addition to the waltz and tango, the gray-haired ladies and gentlemen prepared a surprise - a fun and incendiary cha-cha-cha! On that pleasant evening, they delighted the audience tdance theater "Antares", kduring the sports ballroom dance "Dream", there were atmospheric songs to suit our mood performed by Mara Aleksy, Kira Nanba, Anatoliy Muzyka.
9.
The International Day of the Disabled is celebrated in Ternopil at different levels. On November 30, the day before, people of different ages gathered in "Hesede" for a meeting with the young psychologist Sasha Nyzdran. The conversation was devoted to the topic: Psychological training of self-realization - "From words to action" and was illustrated by the video "The Way to Self", after its discussion everyone enjoyed watching the movie "Creating a Miracle".
On Monday, December 3, our disabled children and children from large and low-income families took part in the city-wide action "Believe in yourself. Beautiful in your hands", held at the Theater of Actors and Dolls. The event was opened by a huge exhibition of works by people with disabilities. Its creators were the public organizations "Angel's Wings", " Dstargirls», "Star Key", "Baby", bringing together families with children with Down syndrome, with autistic children, with children with cerebral palsy. The participants were awaited by classes with experienced teachers, master classes, igry with growth dolls and the puppet show "Light Elephant".
10.
In the Kamenets-Podilskyi representative office of the CBF "Hesed Besht" a round table session was held "Disability is not a sentence! It's just that such people need the attention and care of society." Manager M. Shopnyk spoke about the fund's work with people with disabilities, read letters of gratitude from disabled persons of the 1st group, T. Ya. Mokrousova and N. N. Frolov, who is not a client of the fund, but receives hot meals 5 times a week. The invited city council member, family doctor Nikolay Shukhanov, director of the family and youth center Yulia Poberezhnaya, head of veterans Nadezhda Podskotskaya, representatives of the city center of free legal aid Alina Tsysyk and Anna Komarnytskaya shared their thoughts on working with people with disabilities. And then they lit Hanukkah candles together.
11.
From the morning of December 3, on the International Day of the Disabled, all the managers of the Khmelnytskyi BF "Hesed Besht" visited the homes of the fund's clients, people with disabilities. In September, we held the campaign "Sweet mercy", as a result of which a lot of homemade natural jam was collected. Delicious jam and Hanukkah donuts were presented to the ward as a gift. These visits are not only a sign of respect, during conversations with the wards, their needs and requirements were studied.
On the occasion of the International Day of Disabled Persons and within the framework of the "Tolerance" program, the well-known collective "Creative Hundred - Movement to Victory" came to Khmelnytskyi "Hesed" with a concert. The founder and leader of the team is Oksana Radushynskaya, a Ukrainian writer, poetess, journalist, TV and radio presenter, volunteer (although she moves around in a wheelchair) and just a beautiful and smart girl. But these are far from all her titles. Oksana received a medal from the President of Ukraine for humanitarian activities in the ATO zone, she is a laureate of the award "Woman of the Third Millennium", Knight of the Order of Princess Olga, 3rd class, holder of the title "Ukrainian Madonna". Since 2014 "Creative Hundred" regularly organizes volunteer and cultural trips to the ATO zone, to military units.
The collective's concert program is rich and very interesting. This is poetry, soul-stirring songs, and instrumental music. And this time the concert "Creative"thousands" bsl added passionate tango from the members of the dance team of the "Hesed Besht" foundation. Of course, the names of Oksana Radushynskaya, violinist Maya Onyshchuk, singers Kira Nanba, Anatoly Muzyka, Oleksandr Petruk, Yana Harmanyuk, Elena Myshlyakovskaya-Urbanovich, Igor Hrynkevich will remain in the audience's memory for a long time.
12.
Khmelnytskyi is one of the main cities where the project "The Truth about Women's Health" is implemented as part of the work of the World Jewish Women's Organization.
On December 4, a talk on this topic was held in the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum. It was prepared and conducted by the project coordinators of our foundation, Iryna Gerasimeniuk and Natalya Gerasimenko, and the museum employee Olga Nikitina spoke. Museum workers have prepared an interesting exposition from their collection of paintings on the theme "Motherhood". The purpose of the event is to prevent and fight against breast cancer, as well as to unite the efforts of the medical community, public organizations, and the mass media to expand the opportunities for our women to receive advisory assistance regarding the preservation of their health.
And those who came to the event also received practical help. Doctor-oncologist-mammologist of the Khmelnytskyi oncology dispensary, our volunteer G. I. Drobner conducted an examination of their mammary glands.
13.
Charity, kindness... Since ancient times, charity has become an integral tradition of our people. It was considered completely natural and natural to help the underprivileged, the unfortunate, to share a piece of bread, to give shelter to the homeless, to intercede for the offended. And in the modern world, there are people next to us who sometimes seem like real Atlanteans, on whose shoulders our world rests. These are volunteers.
December 5 - World Volunteer Day, on this day, a festive concert was held at the Center for Social Assistance of the Russian Federation of Children's Fund "Hesed Besht", in which students of the Khmelnytskyi Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy, the team of the All-Ukrainian Charitable Organization took part "Caring for the elderly in Ukraine", as well as our volunteer, beloved by all singer Kira Nanba. All volunteers getwhether valuable gifts and endless gratitude from our foundation and those whom they constantly help.
14.
Hanukkah, Hanukkah, hag yafe kol kah! These words from the song convey the unique character of the holiday, because indeed Hanukkah is a very beautiful holiday. And also - we love children and adults, people are always waiting for miracles.
And we had them! Several events were held every day in the Khmelnytskyi BF "Hesed Besht" social assistance center and the "Thiya" community center. In particular, we started a new stage of the Computer Center's activity, and we received the name of Mara Schwartz, who has actively supported the Kesher project for many years. We invited our clients, told about the miracles of Hanukkah, taught how to celebrate the ego in full accordance with traditions, and served Hanukkah dishes. The manager of our fund, Yana Baranova, held a Hanukkah holiday for the wards of the "Family Comfort" center and organized a master class on drawing 3-D handles There was a big celebratory concert at the Social Assistance Center, which included songs in Hebrew and Yiddish. And the "Good Guest" program came to its wards with a delicious dinner and Hanukkah donuts with jam.
We talked about the holiday in three local TV programs and a radio program. In addition, the manager of the fund, Halyna Skrypnyk, held a number of Hanukkah events for the non-Jewish population as part of the "Tolerance" program, spoke about Hanukkah traditions at a seminar of social workers. Disabled children and wards of the Dobrota Foundation, students of the Khmelnytskyi Institute of Social Technologies and the Khmelnytskyi Humanitarian and Pedagogical Academy, the public of the city were our guests. It is possible to say with full right that all managers of the fund fulfilled the commandment to glorify the miracle as much as possible every day of Hanukkah.
