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​This is a Torah belt from Galicia that was used on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The belt was created in the eighteenth or nineteenth century and is currently in the Lviv Museum of Ethnography and Crafts in Western Ukraine. The belt is made from white fabric and is embroidered with a verse from the Torah and pictures of flowers and deer. It is designed to secure the Torah scroll so that it does not open when taken out of the ark and brought to the table to be read. Torah belts are made of a wide, soft material that will not damage the Torah scroll. The verse from Leviticus (16:30), "For on this day atonement shall be made for you...you shall be clean before the Lord," discusses the holiday of Yom Kippur. Not all of the words of the verse are visible, and it is assumed that the rest of the verse is embroidered on the section of the belt that is laying face down in the photograph. White, a colour representing purity, is associated Yom Kippur, and it is common to adorn the synagogue with a white parochet (ark curtain) and to dress the Torah scrolls in white covers. In many communities it is customary to wear white on Yom Kippur.
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Yom Kippur - Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the Jewish year. The date of Yom Kippur is 10 Tishrei, and it marks the end of the ten-day period beginning with Rosh Hashanah which is called the High Holy Days and the Ten Days of Repentance. According to tradition, God evaluates each person's life and writes their name in either the Book of Life or the Book of Death during the Ten Days of Repentance; on Yom Kippur, the books are sealed. While reflection and prayer take place throughout the ten days, Yom Kippur is the most solemn day, and it is traditional to pray, fast, and refrain from bathing and wearing leather shoes. It is also traditional to give tzedakah (charity), during this time period. Another unusual custom is wearing a tallit for all of the prayers, when it is usually only worn during the day, and in some communities men wear a special white robe named a kittel. There are five services on Yom Kippur, beginning with the Kol Nidrei prayer and the Maariv service in the evening. Prayers are resumed the following day with Shacharit (morning service) and the Musaf (additional service) which includes a description of the special ceremonies that took place in the Temple on Yom Kippur. Later in the day is the Mincha service, during which the Book of Jonah is read, and the day comes to close with the Neilah service, considered to be the final opportunity to ask God to be written in the Book of Life, which ends with the congregation saying the Shema and the blowing of the shofar.

Torah Scroll - A Torah scroll ( sefer Torah) is a handwritten copy of the first five books of the Bible. A sofer (scribe) writes a sefer Torah using specially made black ink, a quill, and parchment. The text of the Torah is written in Hebrew letters without vowels and notes ( trope). The parchment is attached to two wooden poles ( etz hayim) on which it is rolled. Honouring and protecting the Torah scroll is very important, and many objects have been designed to protect and decorate it, such as the cover (mantle), belt, crown, pointer, and breastplate. Traditions differ as to the outer casing for the Torah. Sephardi Torah scrolls are usually stored in a round, wooden (or metal) casing, while Ashkenazi Torahs are covered in a fabric mantle. The Torah is stored in the Aron Kodesh (ark) which is usually placed on the wall facing the direction of Jerusalem. The Torah is read publically on Mondays, Thursdays, Shabbat, and holidays.

Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

Jewish Community of Lvov - Lvov, also known as Lviv and Lemberg, is situated today in Western Ukraine, but it was historically part of Eastern Galicia, the Kingdom of Poland, and the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire. The first Jews arrived in Lvov in 1256, where they played an important role in trade. The Jews of Lvov lived in two separate Jewish quarters - one within the city walls and another on the outskirts. The Jewish community of Lvov was among the main communities of Galicia represented in the Council of Four Lands - the central body of Jewish Authority in Poland. As with other Jewish communities in Poland, the Jews of Lvov suffered from the Cossack pogroms of 1648. The city was, later, strongly effected by Shabtai Zvi and the false messiah Jacob Frank in the eighteenth century. Lvov was an important rabbinical city, and many important rabbis served the Lvov community. Chasidism became popular in the city towards the end of the eighteenth century, and the community suffered clashes between the Chasidim and their opponents, the Misnagdim. In the nineteenth century the Enlightenment ( Haskala) and Reform movements arrived in Lvov, causing many disputes with the ultra-Orthodox population of the city. Lvov also became a centre for Zionism and for Jewish culture, hosting a famous Yiddish theatre. Assimilated intellectual Jews, who identified with German culture, also founded various social movements around this time. During World War I, many Jewish refugees arrived in Lvov, and by the outbreak of World War II, more than 100,000 Jews lived in Lvov, comprising a third of the city's population. At the beginning of the war, the Soviets annexed the city together with the rest of Eastern Galicia. When the German Army invaded the USSR, Lvov was one of the first cities to be conquered and more than 6,000 Jews were murdered in a massacre carried out by the Nazis and their collaborators. In November 1941 a ghetto was created in Lvov, and in the ensuing years close to 80,000 Jews were deported to Belsec, Sobibor, and Auschwitz. Tens of thousands of others died in the terrible conditions in the ghetto or in the Janowska work camp on the outskirts of Lvov. In July 1944, Lvov was freed by the Red Army, but only 3,400 Jews survived. In the following years, the Jews of Lvov lived under communist rule. In 1970, close to 30,000 Jews were living in the city, but the population shrank due to emigration. Today, the Jewish population is estimated at 2,000, and it has a few Jewish institutions.

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​This is a Torah belt from Galicia that was used on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The belt was created in the eighteenth or nineteenth century and is currently in the Lviv Museum of Ethnography and Crafts in Western Ukraine.

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​This is a photograph of Haya Lea Kats and her Hashomer Hatzair youth group. The black-and-white photograph was taken in 1935 in the city of Lvov, which was then Poland and is now Ukraine. Haya Lea was fifteen years old at the time of the photograph and can be seen in the second row, second from the right. Haya Lea lived in Rovno, Poland, but in this photograph she was on a camping trip in Lvov with her youth group. The members of the group are wearing a uniform of grey shirts and dark blue ties. Some of the young people are wearing hats or kerchiefs and one boy has a rucksack on his back. Wooden buildings can be seen in the background. In the interview that Haya Lea gave to interviewers from the Centropa organisation, she related that during their time in Lvov they stayed in an attic and slept on hay. Some of the people in the photograph eventually moved to Israel; the fates of the others are unknown.

Haya Lea Kats was arrested by the Russians in 1941 for being a member of Hashomer Hatzair, which they considered an anti-communist organisation. Haya Lea was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment and forced labour in Siberia followed by five years of exile. During her imprisonment, the Germans captured her hometown and her parents and sister were executed. While in exile, Haya Lea met her husband. After her sentence was completed, she moved to Leningrad with her husband and son. Although she had planned to move to Israel in her youth, she never managed to do so but was able to visit her brother who moved to Israel after the Holocaust.

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Hashomer Hatzair - Hashomer Hatzair, the first Zionist youth movement, was founded in Europe in 1913. The goal of the group was for members to immigrate to Israel and join the kibbutzim. The first Hashomer Hatzair group made aliyah in 1920, and the first Hashomer Hatzair kibbutz, Beit Alfa, was established in 1922. Hashomer Hatzair was also involved in the early days of the Haganah, the Israel Defense Forces, and other institutions of the new State of Israel. In Europe, members of Hashomer Hatzair became leaders in the ghetto uprisings and joined the partisans. Today there are Hashomer Hatzair groups in twenty-one countries, and they educate towards the values of socialism, social justice, humanistic Judaism, peace, equality, and democracy.

Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

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​This is a photograph of Haya Lea Kats and her Hashomer Hatzair youth group. The black-and-white photograph was taken in 1935 in the city of Lvov, which was then Poland and is now Ukraine. Haya Lea was fifteen years old at the time of the photograph and can be seen in the second row, second from the right.

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Ketubah (wedding contract) of Beila Fainshtein and Motia Gabis, who married in Bershad, Ukraine (then the Soviet Union) in 1942

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A map of Odessa, Ukraine with the boundaries of the eruv indicated from around 1894.

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​This is a photograph of a spice box from Kiev, Ukraine created in the 1800s. This ornate object is used in the Havdalah ceremony which separates the end of Shabbat from the beginning of the week. The box is silver and is in the shape of a tower. The main section of the box has six sides and is decorated with a pattern that resembles greenery. One side has a door that opens and has a latch, which is how the spices are put inside. The bottom of the tower is a pedestal which is also intricately decorated. The filigree decoration provides openings which allow the user to smell the spices that are put inside and used in the Havdalah ceremony.

The Havdalah ceremony is performed at the end of the Shabbat to marks the end of the holy day and the beginning of the new week. The ceremony is performed with the spice box, a braided candle, and a glass of wine. The spices, besamim, are traditionally smelled in order to provide comfort over the departure of Shabbat.

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Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

Havdalah - Havdalah (separation) is the ceremony that separates Shabbat from the rest of the days of the week. It takes place on Saturday night after three stars are visible in the sky. Three objects are used during the ceremony: a cup of wine, a box of sweet spices, and a multi-wick candle. The Havdala ceremony includes blessings which relate to distinction: Shabbat from the rest of the days, the Jewish people from the rest of the world, and day from night. Blessings are also said over the wine, the spices, and the candle; participants smell the spices and often raise their hands to the candle, curling their fingers in order to create a shadow. Havdalah marks the separation between Shabbat, a time when people refrain from creating, and the rest of the week, and the shadow marks the first act of creation in the new week. At the end of the ceremony songs are often sung, including a song about the prophet Elijah who will announce the coming of the Messiah, and people wish each other a good week. Spice boxes have long been a favourite for artists. The Israel Museum has a wide selection of spice boxes from many countries over the years.

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​This is a photograph of a spice box from Kiev, Ukraine created in the 1800s. This ornate object is used in the Havdalah ceremony which separates the end of Shabbat from the beginning of the week. The box is silver and is in the shape of a tower.

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​This is a round, silver, spice box from Ukraine in the 1800s for use during the Havdalah ceremony. The box is made of two round pieces that are connected by a smooth strip, which can be opened to insert spices. There are tiny holes in the top, which allow the spices to be smelled without opening the box. The top is decorated with a large flower, and other floral themes cover the rest of the box.

The Havdalah ceremony is performed at the end of Shabbat and marks the end of the holy day and the beginning of the new week. The ceremony is performed using a spice box, a braided candle, and a glass of wine. The spices ( besamim) are traditionally smelled to provide comfort over the departure of Shabbat.

Would You Like to Know More?

Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

Havdalah - Havdalah (separation) is the ceremony that separates Shabbat from the rest of the days of the week. It takes place on Saturday night after three stars are visible in the sky. Three objects are used during the ceremony: a cup of wine, a box of sweet spices, and a multi-wick candle. The Havdala ceremony includes blessings which relate to distinction: Shabbat from the rest of the days, the Jewish people from the rest of the world, and day from night. Blessings are also said over the wine, the spices, and the candle; participants smell the spices and often raise their hands to the candle, curling their fingers in order to create a shadow. Havdalah marks the separation between Shabbat, a time when people refrain from creating, and the rest of the week, and the shadow marks the first act of creation in the new week. At the end of the ceremony songs are often sung, including a song about the prophet Elijah who will announce the coming of the Messiah, and people wish each other a good week. Spice boxes have long been a favourite for artists. The Israel Museum has a wide selection of spice boxes from many countries over the years.

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​This is a round, silver, spice box from Ukraine in the 1800s for use during the Havdalah ceremony. The box is made of two round pieces that are connected by a smooth strip, which can be opened to insert spices. There are tiny holes in the top, which allow the spices to be smelled without opening the box.

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​This is an editorial in the March 18, 1921 edition of the B'nai Brith Messenger discussing the pogroms in Ukraine. The author, Rabbi Leon Harrison, describes the atrocities that were taking place in the Ukraine and asks the readers to write to their congressmen and demand that the United States protest the pogroms.

The article begins with a description of the atrocities, and the writer mentions the terrible slaughter and torture of Jews in specifically Beditchev, Bobri , and Obrutch. He reports that:

"This is not simply the wanton outburst of mob passion, but the wholesale crime of a nation - a deliberate attempt to exterminate an inoffensive race."

Telling his American Jewish audience that if they are silent, as Cain was when he asked "Am I my brother's keeper?," they will be complicit in the deaths, Harrison appeals to their sense of Jewish unity:

"They are being murdered because they are Jews, because they are what we are, because our blood runs in their veins, because our beliefs are their beliefs. And we suffer with them, we sorrow with them: and please God win a victory for them of justice and sheer humanity that will protect the blood of the innocent and keep alive a helpless people."

At the end of the article, he says that the mistreatment of the Jews is even worse since it comes in the aftermath of the "Great War" (World War I), which is a time of peace for everyone else. Moreover, Jews joined their countrymen in defending their countries during the war and do not deserve to be treated in this way:

"All the civilized nations have proclaimed "peace, peace" but there is no peace. No peace for the tortured Jew in Poland, no peace for our poor hunted brothers in the murderous Ukraine. What kind of peace is this in which the Jew at least suffers more than in war? Has he not played his part in battle? Has he not defended the flag of his country, stood in the trenches and fought in man-fashion by the side of his fellow-countrymen?"

Harrison continues by detailing the contribution of Jews to the armies around the world, including the American and Russian Armies, and concludes:

"How many hundreds of thousands fought for Russia? Who can tell how many Jewish lads died the death of Heroes in the Russian ranks.... And this is their rewards. ... we suffer twice, once because we are men and once because we are Jews."

Faced with this terrible situation, American Jews must, according to the writer, protest and appeal to their representatives in Congress and the Senate, since the whole purpose of the United States and the American people is to support the persecuted in the world.

This editorial was written in response to the pogroms that took place in Ukraine from 1917 to 1921, in which it is estimated that 70,000-250,000 Jewish civilians were tortured and murdered.

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Pogroms 1917-1921 - The word pogrom comes from a Russian word meaning to destroy or demolish violently. First used to describe anti-Jewish riots in the Russian Empire at the end of the nineteenth century, it has become a generic term to describe collective violence against the Jews. During the Russian Revolution and the ensuing Russian Civil War it is estimated that between 70,000-250,000 Jewish civilians were killed and many more were tortured and wounded; in Ukraine itself more than 100,000 Jews were murdered. The pogroms erupted in Northwest Volhynia and spread to many other regions in Ukraine and around the Russian Empire. Sites of extraordinary atrocities included Sarny, Ovruc, Tetiev, Vashlikiov, Dubovo, Kiev, and Proskurov. In addition to the classical anti-Semitism, the excuse for the pogroms was retaliation for the Bolshevik uprisings that were believed to be led by Jews.

Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

B'nai Brith Messenger - The B'nai Brith Messenger was a Jewish newspaper published in Los Angeles, California from 1897-1995. It was named after the largest Reform congregation in Los Angeles and was published twice a month until the 1920s when it became a weekly publication. The newspaper chronicled a period of tremendous growth in the Los Angeles Jewish community.

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The Massacres of the Jews in the Ukraine, 1921

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​This is an editorial in the March 18, 1921 edition of the B'nai Brith Messenger discussing the pogroms in Ukraine. The author, Rabbi Leon Harrison, describes the atrocities that were taking place in the Ukraine and asks the readers to write to their congressmen and demand that the United States protest the pogroms. The article begins with a description of the atrocities, and the writer mentions the terrible slaughter and torture of Jews in specifically Beditchev, Bobri , and Obrutch.

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​This is a photograph of Haya Lea Kats and her sister, Hava, dressed in costume for Purim. The sisters lived in Rovno, Poland (present-day Ukraine). The costumes, which were handmade by the sisters, consist of vests, skirts or trousers, head pieces, and belts. The sisters are both carrying jugs. In her oral history, Haya Lea relates that her family celebrated all of the Jewish festivals and attended services in the large, beautiful synagogue in the centre of the city, near to their home. She attended a Tarbut school and joined the Hashomer Hatzair youth group. In 1938, Haya Lea moved to a training kibbutz in Poland to prepare for moving to Israel. A year later, Rovno was occupied by the Soviet Union and she decided to return home. Soon after, she was arrested by the Soviets and exiled to Siberia for her involvement in Hashomer Hatzair, viewed as an anti-Soviet organisation. In 1939, the Germans captured Rovno and Haya Lea's parents and brother were murdered. Her life was spared due to her years in Soviet prison camps. In 1957, Haya Lea was declared rehabilitated by the Soviets and free to live anywhere within the Soviet Union; she moved to Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg).

When Haya Lea was young, she gave the photograph to her friend Sara Shenfeld, who later moved to Israel. On the back of the photograph Haya Lea wrote: "For eternal memory to my good friend Sara from Hava and Haya. 1932." In 1989, Haya Lea visited Sara in Israel and Sara returned the photograph. Haya Lea was delighted since no other photographs had survived the Holocaust, making this the only one she had from her childhood.

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​This is a photograph of Haya Lea Kats and her sister, Hava, dressed in costume for Purim. The sisters lived in Rovno, Poland (present-day Ukraine). The costumes, which were handmade by the sisters, consist of vests, skirts or trousers, head pieces, and belts. The sisters are both carrying jugs.

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​This is a photograph of a Jewish home in Krasilov, Ukraine, taken in the 1970s. The home, shown in disrepair, was owned by Arkadi Milgrom's family. The low, white house, located in the centre of town, has a triangular roof with wood that is peeling off the sides. The roof is somewhat sunken, and the house surrounded by a picket fence, looks abandoned. Arkadi Milgrom grew up in this house. His grandfather had turned it into an inn for local merchants and farmers in the early 1900s. The living quarters consisted of bedrooms and a kitchen; the other half of the house was designated for visitors with their wagons, horses, and belongings. Visitors were served meals prepared by Milgrom's grandmother. During Milgrom's childhood, before the Holocaust, the city had a population of 7,000, forty percent of whom were Jewish. Jewish life in Krasilov went through many changes due to the Russian Revolution and the introduction of communism. Small shops and inns were allowed to operate until the late 1920s when they were expropriated by the state. There had been two synagogues in Krasilov, one very large and the other small, and these were taken over by the Soviets in the 1930s. The large synagogue was destroyed, and the smaller synagogue was used for grain and vegetable storage.

Arkadi Milgrom's grandparents were very religious. His grandfather prayed daily, and they had a kosher home and celebrated Shabbat and holidays. His father, born in 1898, wasn't religious but observed traditions out of respect for his father. Arkadi was born in 1924 and given the name Avraam. He changed his name to Arkadi in 1972 at the height of state-sponsored anti-Semitism. He was sad about losing his name, especially since he was named after his grandfather, but he wanted to make life easier for his son and himself. Before the USSR entered World War II, Arkadi's community didn't believe that they would be attacked by Germany. They heard about the outbreak of the war on June 22, 1941 from an announcement on the radio. Arkadi and his sister tried to convince their family to leave, but their grandfather, remembering events from World War I, didn't think that the Germans would harm Jews. Their mother sent her children to Kiev, and while on the train, they learned about the atrocities that were being perpetrated against Jews. They kept moving east to live with an aunt in Baku. In 1944, Krasilov was liberated, and Arkadi learned that his parents and grandfather had been killsed. After his marriage, Arkadi moved to his wife's city, Kherson. In their old age, Arkadi and his wife returned to Jewish traditions including praying in synagogue, celebrating holidays, and studying Hebrew.

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Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

Jewish Community of Krasilov - There was a Jewish community in Krasilov from the eighteenth century. Krasilov was a typical town in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, famous for its leather mills and sugar factories. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Jewish population of the town was over 2,500 and comprised more than a third of the population of the town. Krasilov was a town of Torah learning, with a number of synagogues and yeshivot. Most of the inhabitants were Hasidim of the Boyan, Sadigora, and Zinkov Hasidic courts. The town had a strong Zionist movement, an amateur Jewish theatre group, a large Jewish library, and held special events in aid of Zionist causes and Hebrew and Zionism classes. The Jews of Krasilov suffered from pogroms during the Russian Civil War. At the beginning of the twentieth century a Yiddish school was established in Krasilov. During World War II, the Germans occupied Krasilov and the Jews were rounded up in a ghetto that was located in one street and was surrounded by barbed wire. In July 1942 all of the inhabitants of the ghetto were taken to the nearby Manevtsy forest where they were shot to death. There are no longer any Jews living in the town.

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​This is a photograph of a Jewish home in Krasilov, Ukraine, taken in the 1970s. The home, shown in disrepair, was owned by Arkadi Milgrom's family. The low, white house, located in the centre of town, has a triangular roof with wood that is peeling off the sides.

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A photograph of an event in Jerusalem in 1994 sponsored by Chabad celebrating the airlift of 1,001 children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to Israel

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​This is a photograph of the "Malbish Arumim and Tailors' Synagogue" in Odessa, Ukraine. The synagogue is located at 21 Osipova Street and is currently the synagogue of the Chabad community and the centre of Jewish life in Odessa. The photograph was taken in 2006 and is part of the collection of the Center for Jewish Art. The low, grey building sits between two taller buildings. The front of the building has three large arched windows and a tall arched door. Two Ukrainian flags are flying on poles attached to both sides of the building. To the right of the building is a large, peaked arch fitted with an iron gate decorated in the shape of a menorah, leading into an alley. A security camera can be seen in the top right-hand corner of the building.

The name of the synagogue, Malbish Arumim (meaning clothing the naked), comes from the charitable society of the same name which donated funds to provide clothing for the poor and to build the synagogue. For this reason, the synagogue was also called the Tailors' Synagogue. The original building functioned as a synagogue until 1927 when the Communist regime forbade Jewish prayer and closed it. It was reopened in 1992 after the fall of the Soviet Union and Shabbat and holiday services are now held in the synagogue. The synagogue has been named Shomrei Shabbat (observers of the Sabbath) by the Chabad community which now owns the synagogue.

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The Jewish Community of Odessa - Jews first arrived in Odessa, Ukraine, in 1789. The Jews of Odessa were involved in trade, industry, banking, and academic professions. The community consisted of Jews of different groups, but Odessa was a centre of the Enlightenment ( haskala). Zionist groups were becoming popular in Odessa and prominent Zionist leaders lived in the city: for example, Meir Dizengoff, Leon Pinsker, Ahad Ha'am, Menachem Ussishkin, Chaim Nachman Bialik, Vladimir Jabotinsky, and Joseph Klausner. Despite the flourishing of Jewish culture, the 1800s were also characterised by several violent and fatal pogroms that involved all segments of the Ukrainian society. The Russian revolution of 1917 brought an end to the Jewish activities in Odessa and much of the leadership moved to Constantinople and Kiev and other destinations. By the beginning of World War II, the Jewish population of Odessa reached 180,000 - nearly a third of the city's population. About half of the Jewish community was able to escape Odessa before the German and Romanian invasion in 1941. The remaining Jews were persecuted, deported, and murdered, including an incident in October 1941 when close to 20,000 Jews were rounded up near the harbour where they were shot and burned alive. When the Soviet Army regained control of Odessa in 1944, only a few thousand Jews were living in the city, many hiding in homes or catacombs. After the Holocaust, Jews returned to Odessa but were not allowed by the Soviet authorities to practice Judaism openly. During the year of the communist rule of the Ukraine, the Jewish community declined significantly. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the Ukraine most of the remaining Jews left the country, mostly moving to Israel. Currently there are about 45,000 Jews living in Odessa. The Joint Distribution Committee and Chabad have contributed to organizing communal life for the Jewish community. Religious life is centered in the Malbish Arumim Synagogue which is now called the Chabad synagogue. The city also has educational institutions for children of different ages, a Jewish library, a cultural society, and a welfare organisation.

Jewish Community of Ukraine - Jews first arrived in Ukraine in the ninth century seeking refuge from Byzantium, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Jews were allowed to practice Judaism openly and prospered during this period. In the 1500s, a large influx of Jews from Western Europe arrived in Ukraine, which became an important centre of Jewish life. However, in the ensuing periods, anti-Semitic sentiment grew in Ukraine, and the Cossack uprising of 1648 resulted in the murder of over 20,000 Jews and the departure of many others to more tolerant countries. At the end of the eighteenth century, Ukraine was made a part of the Russian Pale of Settlement. Although this was a difficult period for Ukrainian Jews, new ideas and organisations developed such as Hasidism, the Haskalah (the Jewish enlightenment), and Zionism. As a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Pale of Settlement was dissolved and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews moved to other parts of the Soviet Union. Under communism, Jewish and Zionist activity moved underground as the party did not allow such activity. During the Holocaust, it is believed that a million Jews were killed in Ukraine, including those killed in a large massacre at Babi Yar and others murdered by the Einsatzgruppen. The Germans were joined by Ukrainian collaborators, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, "Ukraine has, to the best of our knowledge, never conducted a single investigation of a local Nazi war criminal, let alone prosecuted a Holocaust perpetrator." After the war, Jews who returned to their former homes in Ukraine were met with hostility by the local population. In the 1980s and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, many Ukrainian Jews emigrated to Israel and other countries. Currently, Ukrainian Jewish life is being rebuilt, with various Jewish denominations active. Today, the Jewish community of Ukraine is the fourth largest Jewish community in Europe and the eleventh in the world, with an estimated population of up to 140,000 people.

Chabad - Chabad is an acronym which stands for Chochmah, Binah, and Daat (wisdom, comprehension, and knowledge) and is the organization of the Lubavitch sect of Hasidism. The word "Lubavitch" comes from the name of the town in Russia where the movement was based. In keeping with Hasidic tradition, Chabad-Lubavitch was led by a rabbinic dynasty that began with Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), who wrote the Tanya which is a foundational text for the movement. The last Lubavitcher Rebbe was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994). Rabbi Schneerson, known simply as the Rebbe, instituted an outreach movement that placed rabbinic representatives, shluchim, and their families in communities around the world, with the aim of helping Jews to learn about and perform mitzvot. There are currently around 5,000 shluchim in over 100 countries, with Chabad headquarters in the United States and Israel.

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Malbish Arumim and Tailors' Synagogue in Odessa

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​This is a photograph of the "Malbish Arumim and Tailors' Synagogue" in Odessa, Ukraine. The synagogue is located at 21 Osipova Street and is currently the synagogue of the Chabad community and the centre of Jewish life in Odessa. The photograph was taken in 2006 and is part of the collection of the Center for Jewish Art.

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​Discover the story of the Jewish community of the Ukraine, which developed new ideas and organisations such as Hasidim, the Haskalah and Zionism. Learn more about this significant and influential community through photographs, religious items, important figures and more

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​Discover the story of the Jewish community of the Ukraine, which developed new ideas and organisations such as Hasidim, the Haskalah and Zionism. Learn more about this significant and influential community through photographs, religious items, important figures and more

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Pre-made lesson plans, activities and games

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Engaging Activities with Primary Sources - NLI

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Engaging Activities with Primary Sources - NLI