(Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Krivoi Rog, Donetsk, and Kyiv) Report of a ...

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Jewish community. Another 120 individuals in small towns receive Shabbat food
parcels in exchange for attending monthly classes in Jewish studies.
Mr. Romanov stated that some of the smaller Jewish population centers currently
served through his office probably will disappear within one or two decades. They are
populated mainly by middle-aged and older people now, he explained; young people
leave for study or employment opportunities elsewhere and do not return. In nearby
Pavlograd, he noted, the remaining Jews were incapable of dealing with an incident of
antisemitic vandalism in the local Jewish cemetery; Mr. Romanov’s office was
instrumental in working with police to apprehend two perpetrators and in arranging for
Dnipropetrovsk Hillel members to repair the damage and clean the cemetery generally.
In response to a question, Mr. Romanov said that he is not optimistic about the
Ukrainian economy. Inflation, he explained, probably is at least 15 percent annually,
and unemployment probably is much higher than the officially acknowledged 15 to 20
percent. A government drive to close tax loopholes, particularly a tax on payrolls, will
be very problematic for business owners and for managers of non-profit organizations,
such as the Dnipropetrovsk Chabad philanthropic association. Even now, he continued,
many people live in the shadow economy – and this phenomenon will only grow.
22. Oleg Rostovtsev is a media specialist whose primary client is the Chabad Jewish
community structure in Dnipropetrovsk. He is responsible for the community website
(http://djc.com.ua) a community newspaper (Shabbat Shalom), and a weekly television
show, Alef. Each episode of Alef is shown twice weekly
on a regional network and draws several hundred thousand
viewers to its program of interviews with local Jews and
visiting Jewish guests, information about Jewish holidays
and Jewish current events, and news from Israel. Because
of its large audience, it attracts significant advertising. Mr.
Rostovtsev also produces various compact disks for the
community, arranges and manages press conferences,
and serves as a guide/contact person for visiting reporters
and other media specialists.
Oleg Rostovtsev is a media specialist employed by the
Dnipropetrovsk Chabad community.
Photo: Chabad of Dnipropetrovsk.
Mr. Rostovtsev observed that the commentary section of the community website is
attracting a minimum of 500 antisemitic responses every month on a variety of
themes, including resentment of wealthy Jewish oligarchs, anger at Jewish property
developers who construct large buildings that “change the character of the city”, dislike
of monuments commemorating the Holocaust or other episodes related to Jewish life,
and ridicule of local yeshiva students. Some of the comments, he said, are written in
almost “illiterate” language and others are fairly sophisticated. In response to a
question, Mr. Rostovtsev acknowledged the possibility that just a few people were