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

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The preschool is operating “at the very limits” of available space, said Yudit Baram, the
highly respected principal. A plan to open a branch on the east bank of the Dnipr River
in space controlled by another Chabad institution collapsed when Chabad refused to
pay bribes in return for city operating permits. At least 25 families in that part of the city
had already expressed interest in such a branch location, said Mrs. Baram, and she is
certain that other families would have come forward as soon as Chabad had declared
that it would open.
Beit Tsindlikht pupils are divided among six groups according to age. Two of these
groups, with a total of 50 children, constitute a heder with an enhanced Hebrewlanguage
program taught by Israeli teachers.
About 90 percent of the heder children are from
Chabad families, most of whom are from Israel;
their parents work in various Chabad programs
in the city.
Children in one of the heder groups gather
for circle time at Beit Tsindlicht. Preschoolers
in the back are carrying chairs
forward to join the group.
Photo: the writer.
Ninety-five percent of all pupils at Beit Tsindlikht are halachically Jewish; the remaining
five percent are from intermarried families who have a strong relationship with the
Chabad community. Most families pay approximately $44 monthly in tuition
fees, said Mrs. Baram, but about ten youngsters are enrolled at $20 monthly,
and another six or seven families pay nothing at all. The program is full-day
and includes both breakfast and lunch.
The overwhelming majority of Beit Tsindlicht pupils, perhaps 95 percent, continue
their education at school #144 (see below), many of them in the machon
or yeshiva sections of the school, Mrs. Baram stated.
The remaining five percent enter other schools,
usually because their families have some connection
with such schools as teachers or administrators, said
Mrs. Baram. However, notwithstanding these connections,
such youngsters often transfer to school
#144 after a year or two in the non-Jewish school.
Yudit Baram, right, is the Israeli principal of Beit Tsindlicht.
Photo: the writer (in 2010),