Great Synagogue is rededicated in Kyiv (03/26/00)

Great Synagogue is rededicated in Kyiv

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The Jewish community renaissance in Kyiv continued on March 22 when the newly reconstructed Great Synagogue re-opened amid much fanfare and aplomb after a three-year building effort.

As several hundred Kyivans lined the streets before the yellow brick building, which during the Soviet era was home to the Kyiv State Puppet Theater, representatives of the Ukrainian government and President Leonid Kuchma, leaders of the Jewish community and Israeli diplomats hailed the return of a central pillar of the Jewish community in Kyiv. They also acknowledged the spirit of cooperation and acceptance that has developed between Ukrainians and Jews.

"The history of peaceful relations between Ukrainians and Jews has been documented through the ages, but since Ukrainian independence they have truly blossomed," said Yurii Bohutskyi, President Kuchma's cultural advisor.

Vice Prime Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Mykola Zhulynskyi said the role of the Jewish people in Ukraine and Europe "in terms of learning, science and culture, holds first place." He added that what Ukrainians and Jews are practicing is "the art of life, the art of living together."

Also on hand was Vadim Rabinovich, the controversial Israeli businessman who was the chief sponsor of the synagogue reconstruction effort. Mr. Rabinovich was offered the distinction of officially opening the main doors with a ceremonial gold key, but chose to pass the honor to the Mr. Bohutskyi, President Kuchma's representative.

The rededication ceremony also included a standard ribbon-cutting ceremony, as well as the traditional affixing of the mezuza, an engraved metal container attached to the main doors that holds parchment inscribed with biblical passages.

Inside the ornate synagogue hundreds of guests first listened to opening remarks by Nathaniel Oreper, the chairman of the Jewish Community of Kyiv, before participating in a short service that was followed by the crowning of the Torahs and their placement in the Aron Kodesh (the Ark of the Law).

One of the crowns was a gift from Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus in the U.S. Congress, whose grandparents emigrated from Ukraine. It was delivered by Rabbi Yaakov Pollak of the Shomrai Emunah Synagogue of Brooklyn, N.Y., and presented to the director of the renovation project, Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Reuven Azman, several days before the rededication ceremony.

Although no U.S. officials were on hand for the synagogue opening, many sent letters of congratulations, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman (R-Conn.), Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.), Rep. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), the members of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus in the U.S. Congress and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Originally the rededication ceremony was to have taken place the previous week, on March 14, but in the wake of the Krasnodon coal mine disaster, in which 81 people lost their lives, Jewish community leaders decided to postpone the ceremony and offer a memorial service to the miners instead. Members of several Jewish organizations raised some 100,000 hrv, which was delivered to the miners' families.

The Great Synagogue, also known as the Central Synagogue, the Brodsky Synagogue and the Choral Synagogue, was returned to the Jewish community of Kyiv in 1992 after a March 4 decree by President Leonid Kravchuk. The Jewish religious organization Chabad conducted the first religious service in the returned synagogue during Hanukkah 1992.

The reconstruction of the synagogue began in 1997 as a result of efforts of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress headed by Mr. Rabinovich. No one in the synagogue's press offices was ready to state the amount of Mr. Rabinovich's personal financial contribution, except to say that it was substantial.

A plaque that honors Mr. Rabinovich's efforts now hangs in the synagogue alongside another one dedicated to Lazar Brodsky, the synagogue's first benefactor.

Brodsky, a late 19th century sugar baron, considered one of Kyiv's wealthiest men, funded the building of the original synagogue in 1898. He chose a site at the center of one of the two Jewish neighborhoods of Kyiv, located in the Lybid section in the city center (the other being in the Podil section). At the time the location was the site of a small Jewish sanctuary built in 1884.

Brodsky commissioned architect Georgi Shleifer, who already had designed the Kyiv National Opera House, the Museum of Ukrainian Arts and the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, to plan the structure for the new Jewish house of worship. Mr. Shleifer decided on a Gothic style for the building's interior, with delicate ornamentation and two rows of supporting pylons, while the exterior was built in the Roman style. However, in his overall design, Mr. Shleifer maintained the specific requirements and character of the Jewish Order.

Until it was shut down by the Soviets in 1926 as the Communist Party began to consolidate its hold on society, the Great Synagogue was the place of worship for many of Kyiv's Jewish elite. Among those who attended services there were Shalom Aleichem, the Jewish Ukrainian writer, and Golda Meir, who would become the prime minister of Israel in the 1960s.

After Kyiv was retaken by the Soviets during World War II, the synagogue housed a variety theater. In 1954 it was turned into a puppet theater. The return of the building to the Jewish community in 1992 marked what in Kyiv is generally considered the beginning of a Jewish cultural and religious renaissance. Today, the Jewish community in Kyiv numbers some 100,000.

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