World recognizes metropolitan’s ideas

Kyiv saw the other day a series of events that illustrated a more profound dialogue and mutual understanding between the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples.

One of the events was a three-day congress of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sohnut) which ended on Tuesday and was attended by Jewish Diaspora leaders from North America, Europe, and Aust­ralia. As a rule, 120 leading re­pre­sentatives of worldwide Jewish com­munities and Zionist organizations hold this forum in Jerusalem. The only exception from this rule in a more than 90-year-long history of Sohnut was a congress in Argen­tina aimed at supporting the Jewish Dia­spora in that country. And now the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors, which cares about Jewish issues all over the world, has held its first con­gress in Ukraine. “This is a symbol of the importance of the Jews of Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries for the worldwide Jewry and the importance of the development of relations with Ukraine,” said Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky (a.k.a. Anatoly Shcharansky, a well-known Soviet “prisoner of conscience”).

Meanwhile, James Tisch, co-chairman of the US-based $16-billion Loews Corporation, noted in his speech at a gala reception in the Intercontinental hotel that the Kyiv congress would provide an impetus to cooperation between the Jewish and Ukrainian communities in Ukraine. Incidentally, many other fo­reign guests are, as Mr. Tisch is, on the Forbes top ranking list. Among them are Johanna Arbib (Italy) – Patron Capital ($10 billion), Julia Koszycki (Canada) – IKO Industries ($8 billion), and Sami Bollag (Switzerland) – Bollag-Guggenheim Group ($6 billion).

Addressing the gala soiree, Olek­sandr Levin, president of the World Forum of Russian-Speaking Jews and head of Kyiv’s Jewish community, presented for the first time a mock-up of the Memorial Complex to be built in Babyn Yar at the place of a mass-scale execution of Soviet citizens, mostly Jews, in 1941. The complex will com­prise a community center, a brilliant symbol of renaissance in the very place where it was attempted to wipe Jews off the face of the earth.

Mr. Levin said he was inviting heads of European states and, first of all, the president of Ukraine, to become members of the board of directors of the Babyn Yar memorial complex which will immorta­lize the tragedy of not only the Jewish people, but also of the entire world.

In his words, the complex will be built at the expense of the Jewish community in Ukraine. He added that the project was expected to be approved in the near future by the Kyiv autho­rities and the construction would begin this year. Mr. Levin did not reveal the exact cost of the project but said it was dozens of millions of dollars. US specialists will work out the software for interactive demonstrations at the complex’s mu­seum, while Ukrainian companies will do the construction work.

Another, no less important, event was presentation of the Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky Medal in Kyiv. The first recipient of medal, instituted in honor of the metropolitan who was the primate of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death in 1944, is James Temerty, a well-known Canadian businessman, founder and chairman of the Supervisory Board of Ukrainian Encounter.

Introducing the first recipient of the Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky Medal in Kyiv’s House of Receptions, the Chief Rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine, Yaakov Dov Bleich, said: “A dream has come true, and the world has recognized the ideas of the metropolitan as a leader who looked in the eyes of real life and saved Jews in spite of danger. More than 160 Jewish lives were saved in Ukraine during World War Two thanks to his daring actions.” According to the rabbi, both Jews and Ukrainians proposed the idea of instituting this medal. He pointed out, among other things, that Mr. Temerty (his father and mother were a Greek and a Uk­rai­nian, respectively) was the first to suggest that something be done for the world to re­cognize Sheptytsky’s role in saving the Jews. As a result, the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine established a medal to mark con­tributions to the cause of Ukrai­­nian-Jewish mutual understanding and co­ope­ration.

“Incidentally, the Canadian parliament has unanimously passed a resolution that marks the role of Shepty­tsky,” Rabbi Bleich added. It would be a good idea if the Ukrainian parliament also passed a similar resolution, the rabbi said. He also announced that the medal would be soon awarded annually to one or two laureates.

Mr. Temerty was born in the Donbas and moved to Canada 60 years ago. He is receiving this award for his devotion to the idea and the actions aimed at reaching mutual understanding and establishing closer ties between the Ukrai­nians and the Jews. The organization he founded in 2008 with the assistance, incidentally, of ex-president Viktor Yushchenko and his wife Kateryna, a Supervisory Board member, who were pre­sent at the ceremony, is now functioning in Ukraine, Israel, and among the Ukrainian and Jewish diasporas in order to promote closer and stronger relations between the peoples. Mr. Temerty supports young people’s, civic, cultural, and other initiatives, conferences, and re­levant university programs in Ukraine, Israel, and the diasporas. He recently founded three chairs at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, which focus on the subjects of Ukrainian-Jewish mutual understanding.

Also present at this ceremony was Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Krav­chuk who regards the institution of the medal as a humanitarian gesture – to ease our own pain and to apologize. In his words, both peoples have understood that there is no other way than to be together and to be able to remember the past. Kravchuk also noted that the forum showed the way to reconciliation and proved that, if the past were subordinated to the future, all the problems could be solved.

“If we keep looking at positive things, we are sure to build this future,” the rabbi of Kyiv and Ukraine noted in his speech.

The Supreme Archbishop of the Uk­rainian Greek Catholic Church, Svia­to­slav, considers this award a step towards the future because, in his words, the personality of Sheptytsky embodies unity and the future. “Whoever fails to reconcile with the past will live hard today and find it difficult to build a future,” Sviatoslav added.
Meanwhile, Natan Sharansky, who confessed that he had never heard in the Soviet era that Sheptytsky saved and called for saving Jews, said: “Whoever saved one soul will save the entire world. Sheptytsky saved the idea of friendship and mutual understanding between the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples.”

“And if the faith of a people is based on the idea of national freedom and pride, this faith guarantees, not hinders, friendship,” the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sohnut) head added.

Mr. Temerty pointed out in his speech that Ukraine hosts the world’s largest Jewish community and almost 15 percent of US and Canadian Jews have Ukrainian roots. In his words, the history of Israel would be incomplete without that of Ukraine and vice versa – the history of Ukraine would be incomplete without that of Israel.
At the same time, Mr. Temerty thinks that it will take a long time for the Ukrainian and Jewish peoples to come closer. And if Ukraine wants to come closer to the EU, it should show its behavior and cherish the memory of the Holocaust. Incidentally, the approximate death toll of the Jewish population in Ukraine is almost one million.

Mr. Temerty believes that Uk­raine should join the organization that deals with finding the mass graves of Jews in Eastern Europe as well as introduce a Holocaust course in schools and colleges. Besides, in his opinion, it is important to begin the construction of a Jewish people’s history museum. In the words of Kyiv’s rabbi, almost 50, if not 60, percent of exhibits at a similar museum in Mos­cow are connected with Ukraine. The same situation is in Poland. Therefore, Mr. Bleich thinks that if we bring back materials from those places to Ukraine, we will be able to establish a full-fledged museum of the Jewish people’s history.

Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, Vice Pre­mier for Humanitarian Issues, said in his speech that Ukraine and Israel were now engaged in a candid dialogue about the pages that we must remember in order not to repeat what was in the past.