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

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It is very difficult to raise money among school families for computers or any other
school needs, stated Mr. Shoichet, because the school population is overwhelmingly
poor. He estimated the unemployment rate among parents at 30 to 40 percent,
observing that many local factories had closed. Even well-educated engineers
previously employed in some of these plants have been unable to find jobs. Mr.
Shoichet said that the school provides both breakfast and dinner to its pupils, and some
youngsters remain in the school until 6:00 p.m. rather than go home to empty
apartments while their parents scramble for whatever work they can find. 51
The curriculum of School #170 includes three to four class periods in Jewish
subjects each week, Mr. Shoichet stated. Tough government standards mandate
inclusion of art, music, and other subjects in the school curriculum, he said, and limit the
number of classes in religion that can be taught in public schools. The school
supplements formal instruction in Jewish subjects with the development of small
museums on Jewish history in
Ukraine, the Holocaust, the role
of Jewish women in Jewish
history, and several other topics.
Grigory Shoichet, fourth from left,
stands with some of his pupils in
front of a school museum display.
Declining enrollment has freed
classroom space for conversion into
small museums.
Photo: the writer.
School #170 has a small physical training room and rents a larger sports hall in a
nearby medical school. Mr. Shoichet, a former Ukrainian national boxing champion, is
in his mid-70s. He provides intensive physical training to interested pupils individually.
Mr. Shoichet said that School #170 relies on funds raised by Kharkiv Chief Rabbi
Moshe Moskovitz. It receives nothing from Lev Leviev, the Chabad philanthropist who
supports many newer Jewish day schools in the post-Soviet states. Mr. Shoichet
observed that the Jewish Agency for Israel is suffering from its own budget crisis and is
unable to provide funds for additional day school programs as it used to do. The
government of Israel, he added, should offer more help to Jewish day schools, if only to
better prepare pupils for aliyah and productive lives in the Jewish state. However, he
said, he is fortunate to be working in Kharkiv with Chief Rabbi Moshe Moskovitz, who is
a настоящий раббин, a “real” or “genuine” rabbi, someone who “touches peoples’
hearts”.
51 Dinner, which is served in the early afternoon, is the main meal of the day for many Ukrainians and
Russians. It usually includes soup, a meat course with side dishes, and dessert. Almost all post-Soviet
Jewish day schools with which the writer is familiar provide a hearty mid-day dinner for their pupils.