EAJC Update -  September 2003

 

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress




Yad Vashem Anniversary / EAJC Participation
Jerusalem, Israel, September 15-17, 2003

Jewry of the Ukraine / Jerusalem Agreement on Principles
The EAJC’s Guarantees / Agreement Ratification in Kiev
Israel-Ukraine, September 17-22, 2003

09-26-03
EURO-ASIAN JEWISH CONGRESS LEADERS (EAJC) NEW YEAR'S CONGRATULATION



Yad Vashem Anniversary / EAJC Participation
Jerusalem, Israel, September 15-17, 2003

On September 15-17, 2003 in Jerusalem there passed solemn events devoted to the Yad Vashem Anniversary, to the institute and the memorial complex devoted to the memory of the Holocaust.

A delegation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) led by EAJC President Alexander Machkevitch took part in all the actions (see Append. 1).

Three events were special in the celebrations program:

- Reception in the memorial complex for heads of the delegations with unveiling the memorable wall on which names of the main donors of Yad Vashem are carved. The reception was attended by the Nobel Prize winner Shimon Peres, Mayor of Jerusalem Uri Lupoliansky, President of the Foundation for the Memory of Shoa Simone Veil and other outstanding public figures, representatives of business circles;

- Solemn presentation of the Yad Vashem anniversary year under the auspices of President of Israel Moshe Katsav at the presence of Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon, speaker of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) Reuven Rivlin, Minister of Education of Israel Limor Livnat, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, Prof. Szevach Weiss and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev. The presentation was accompanied by multimedia performance «Remembering the Past, Shaping the Future» with participation of a philharmonic chorus and the Jerusalem symphonic orchestra under the direction of brilliant violinist Shlomo Mintz;

- Reception at the residence of the President of Israel and signing of the Declaration of Remembrance (see Append. 2).

During the visit, members of the EAJC delegation had a number of business meetings with partner organizations in Jerusalem. EAJC Secretary General, President of the Vaad of Russia Michael Chlenov and EAJC General Council Chairman, Chairman of the Vaad of the Ukraine Josef Zissels specified the joint program with Head of JAFI/Sokhnut Department for East European and CIS Affairs Amos Lahat and slated a number of actions with President of National Fund of Israel «Keren Kayemet Le-Israel» Iehiel Leket.

EAJC Executive Director Fedor Ossinin met the administrative directorate of the Chief Rabbi of Israel Jona Metzger in connection with the forthcoming participation of an Israeli delegation in the World and Traditional National Religions Congress, which will open in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on September 23, 2003.

A. Machkevitch during his visit had a number of business contacts and was interviewed by the Israeli mass media.

Append. 1
SPEECH of the PRESIDENT of the EURO-ASIAN JEWISH CONGRESS (EAJC)
ALEXANDER A. MACHKEVICH at the “YAD VASHEM” 50th ANNIVERSARY

Dear President and dear Prime Minister of the State of Israel, dear survivors in the flame of Holocaust and veterans of the Second World War, the noble Righteous of the World and friends of Yad Vashem, ladies and gentlemen!

Here we are, united by pain and hope, pain without despair and hope without naivety.

The misanthropic ideology of Nazism had brought to the Catastrophe of the European Jewry in which 6 million our fellow tribesmen perished. They were sentenced to death only for their belonging to the Jewry, and they hoped that they could survive. Desire to live, certainly, is no monopoly of the Jewish people, but, perhaps, only we, the Jews, can believe in realization of our hopes, despite of our immense pain.

The Jewish State is an embodied Jewish hope and hope is our Jewish hymn. In its sounds I am hearing hope and will to live of those 6 millions. And their pain mixes up with the pain of today's victims of terror. We are standing here, where our pain found its architectural shape, which is speaking out “Never again”, and we hope, that our children will want the same, and the children of their children, and their friends, and the children of their friends. For this purpose much should be done, and you know what is necessary. The main thing is not to transform the pain of memory only into a museum article. 

I want to assure you, that the Jews of Eurasia consider Yad Vashem our own property and entirely support the spirit of changes with which the management of the museum and the institute are standing up to the challenges of the present.

Append. 2
DECLARATION OF REMEMBRANCE

We are gathered here today, at the residence of the President of the State of Israel in Jerusalem, on the fiftieth anniversary of Yad Vashem, looking hope to the future.

Jewish independence rose in the shadow of the destruction of European Jewry. The survivors, remnants of the inferno, burdened with grief and bereavement, became the daring immigrants to Palestine, prisoners in the camps in Cyprus, first in the ingathering of the exiles, and fighters in the War of Independence. But a generation passed before we and the nations of the world began to internalize and to comprehend the darkness and the fall of humanity in the terrible years of the Holocaust – the development of Jew-hatred, the distorted ideas of the murderers, the apathy of the enlightened world, and the helplessness of the victims.

We know the awesome voice that bursts forth from there, from the abyss, from the millions that were never laid to rest and from the words of the witnesses that have seared our souls. The sin and the crime give no rest and will continue to disturb humanity for all time to come.

The survivors are gradually taking their leave of us in the way of all flesh. We, the next generations, progeny of an ancient people that was forged in this land and prays a dear and ongoing price for its right to live and the hope for peace, and the people of the nations of the world, commit ourselves to remember and not to forget until the end of days. The scroll of agony to which we are heirs will accompany us, in faith in mankind created in the Divine image, and in the future.

We see education, research, and imparting the memory as essential parts of strengthening the chain linking the generations, and in firmly grounding the commitment to the existence of the Jewish people.

WE commit ourselves to continuing to infuse the memory of the Holocaust with content and meaning. Will do all within our power to extract hope from the pain, and faith from remembrance:

Hope for a world that will live by the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”

Hope for a world that fulfill the command “Thou shalt not stand by thy blood of thy neighbor”

Hope for a world that will inscribe on its banner a struggle against racism and anti-Semitism in all its forms.

Hope that the perpetual memorial flame will stand as an eternal beacon and as a warning sign – never again.

Faith in the human spirit and in the eternal values of human civilization

Just as we endeavor to fulfill “and I will give them … a Yad Vashem [a monument and a name],” so, too, will we endeavor to fulfill “and I will bring peace unto the land.”


Jewry of the Ukraine / Jerusalem Agreement on Principles
The EAJC’s Guarantees / Agreement Ratification in Kiev
Israel-Ukraine, September 17-22, 2003

On September 17-22, 2003 in the capital of Israel, the City of Jerusalem, in presence of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) President, the Kazakhstan Jewish Congress President Alexander Machkevitch and the EAJC Secretary General, President of the Federation of Jewish Organizations and Communities – Vaad of Russia Michael Chlenov the Agreement on Principles of Jewish Organizations and Communities Activity in the Ukraine was signed.

The Agreement was signed by: Chairman of the EAJC General Council Joseph Zissels (as Chairman of the Vaad of the Ukraine and Zionist Federation of the Ukraine) and The Ukrainian Jewish Congress and the United Jewish Community of the Ukraine President Vadim Rabinovich.

The EAJC’s President and Secretary General committed themselves to act as guarantors of the given Agreement.

On September 22, 2003, a session of the Council of Heads of the All-Ukrainian Jewish Organizations was held in Kiev under V. Rabinovich's presidency. J. Zissels, as well as a number of other heads of Ukrainian Jewish organizations, is not included into the given Council. However, the Chairman of the Vaad of the Ukraine and Zionist Federation of the Ukraine accepted the invitation to participate in the session.

According to the preliminary arrangement, together with J. Zissels the session of the Council was visited by representatives of the following organizations and mass-media, which share approaches of the Vaad of the Ukraine to various problems of the Jewish life:

- Boris Esterkin – Religious Judaic Community (Zaporozhye city);

- Mark Kutsejko – Religious Judaic Community (Odessa city);

- Alexey Lapidus – Representatives of «Avoda Olamit» in the Ukraine;

- Michael Goldin – «Beitar of the Ukraine (Mariupol city);

- Artyom Kobzan - «Shmer ha-Tsair» of the Ukraine (Kharkov city);

- Maxim Baryshnikov – Zionist Federation of the Ukraine (Kiev city);

- Yury Slutsky – Charitable Jewish Fund of the Ukraine «Mercy – Magen Avot» (Kiev city);

- Isaak Novoselitsky - Religious Judaic Community (Vinnitsa city);

- Michael Yuris – «Hesed» (Ivano-Frankovsk city);

- Yury Shifrin – the City’s Jewish Community (Krivoi Rog city);

- Vladimir Pokidaylo – Institute of Judaica (Kiev city);

- Timur Litovchenko – Newspaper «Hadashot» (Kiev city);

- Michael Gold – Newspaper "Most" (Kiev city).

V. Rabinovich and J. Zissels, who spoke at the session of the Council, informed about signing the Agreement and briefly commented on it. Then the Council members adopted the decision to ratify the Agreement.

For the text of the Agreement see Appendix.

Append.
September 17, 2003

A G R E E M E N T

We, the undersigned, President of the "All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress" and of the “United Jewish Community of the Ukraine" Vadim Rabinovich on the one hand, and Chairman of the Vaad of the Ukraine and Zionist Federation of the Ukraine Joseph Zissels on the other hand (further - "Parties"), have agreed upon the below-mentioned principles of activity of the Jewish organizations and communities of the Ukraine to which activity the Parties have direct or indirect relation:

1. Not to allow participation of the Jewish organizations and communities of the Ukraine in the political life of the Ukraine, in particular, in election campaigns.

For the Jewish organizations and communities of the Ukraine support of any political parties and forces working in the Ukraine is inadmissible;

2. Not to allow the practice of transferring internal problems of the Jewish life to non-Jewish audiences. Not to allow polemic about the Jewish life and Jewish problems in non-Jewish circles;

3. Not to arrange public condemnation of heads of the Jewish organizations, and also public discussions of merits and demerits of the Jewish organizations and communities of the Ukraine and their leadership;

4. To organize a meeting of the "Parties" at a session of the "Council of Heads of the All-Ukrainians Jewish organizations" on September 22, 2003 with the purpose of announcing the joint statement by the "Parties" about importance of peace in the Jewish life;

5. Not to allow in the mass media, directly or indirectly related to the "Parties", negative appraisals as to any Jewish organizations and communities of the Ukraine as well as to their leadership;

6. To publish in the Jewish media, directly or indirectly related to the "Parties", the text of the present Agreement immediately following the joint speaking of the “Parties” at the above-mentioned Session on September 22, 2003 (in case the “Parties” desire it).

Signatures of the "Parties": 

Vadim Rabinovich (signature)

Joseph Zissels (signature)

It is signed in the presence of Heads of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) who assumed the duty to act as guarantors of the present "Agreement":

Alexander Machkevitch
EAJC President (signature)

Michael Chlenov
EAJC Secretary General (signature)

09-26-03
EURO-ASIAN JEWISH CONGRESS LEADERS (EAJC) NEW YEAR'S CONGRATULATION

Dear colleagues and friends!

On behalf of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) uniting the Jews of 2 mainland and 3 continents, we cordially congratulate you on the approach of the new year 5764 by the Jewish calendar, and also upon other holidays of the people of Israel by which the this fall is consecrated.

The passing year has revived hopes and satisfied many expectations of the Jewish people. The world community, which earlier quite often criticized the State of Israel for its resolute struggle against terror, gradually, and at times at the cost of its own tragically experience, has realized the scale of this global threat. The true understanding of Good and Evil, granted to the mankind by the Supreme, is coming back into the minds and hearts of the people.

We are convinced, that all the Jewish people, including our Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, played a serious part in the oncoming changes. Together with President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev we managed to continue the Judeo-Islamic Dialog and to promote it to a new level. Political and spiritual leaders of the Central Europe, the Far East, Northern America and Southern Africa – representatives of all parts of the world have become our new partners in the Dialog.

We also have continued construction of the communal life across from islands of Oceania up to the western borders of the former USSR – on a huge territory where the sun never sets. We again have confirmed our solidarity with the national, religious and cultural center of the world Jewry — with the State of Israel.

However not only successes move the Jewish people and it’s numerous friends worldwide. In the outgoing year, the streets of Israeli cities and towns more than once were stained by blood of peaceful inhabitants who fell victim to terrorist acts, and in a number of the Jewish Diaspora countries anti-Semites have not to quiet down.

And still in the days of the New Year's holiday — Rosh-ha-Shana — we trust, that the oncoming year 5764 will bring peace and happiness to the Jewish people and to all the mankind. We are convinced in that all by will and love of the Supreme, who gave us a measure of time and filled us with the aspiration to perfection: everyone should concentrate on the execution of the precept Tikkun Olam — perfection of the world.

Let the 5764-th year since the Creation bring us nearer to that, and let the New Year's holiday be cheerful and sweet for everybody.

Shana Tova umetukah!

Yours sincerely,

Alexander Machkevitch,
EAJC President,
President of the Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan

Michael Chlenov,
EAJC Secretary General,
President of the Vaad of Russia

Josef Zissels,
Chairman of the EAJC General Council
Chairman of the Vaad of the Ukraine


- Roman Spektor, Head of the EAJC Public Relations and Media Department