Nicole Tolkacheva, 52, has endured nearly two and a half years of war while her hometown of Odessa is bombarded by Russian missiles.
“Every morning the city checks who and what survived the night,” she said of the famous Black Sea port city in Ukraine. “In this life, you don’t know what is safer: running to the shelter and risking your life on the way, or staying at home and risking being buried under the rubble.”
But one recent weekend, Tolkacheva got a respite from the war. She and 200 other Ukrainian Jews gathered in the relative safety of Uzhhorod, a city in western Ukraine far from the fighting, for a Limmud-FSU weekend festival of Jewish education and culture.
“Limmud is an island of normal human life, where you don’t have to be afraid, you don’t have to worry about your child all the time, you don’t have to make life-saving decisions,” said Tolkacheva. “You’re just alive and living, which means little in peacetime, but even more in wartime.”
The event from May 24 to 26 in Uzhhorod, a city of 115,000 inhabitants near the border triangle of Slovakia, Hungary and Ukraine, was the first Limmud-FSU event on Ukrainian soil since the start of the war with Russia in February 2022. Limmud FSU is a non-profit, non-denominational cultural and educational organization that aims to promote solidarity and Jewish identity among Jews from the former Soviet Union. It organizes events all over the world – including in North America, Europe, the Caucasus, Israel and Australia.
“We hope that the Limmud FSU meetings will truly be a ray of light in these dark times,” said Chaim Chesler, founder of Limmud FSU, during the opening event.
“It is very special to us and a testament to the strength and spirit of our Ukrainian Jewish community,” added co-founder Sandra Cahn.
The region of Ukraine where the festival took place, Transcarpathia, changed hands many times over the centuries. Until World War I it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until World War II it was considered Czechoslovakian, and today it is part of Ukraine.
“Transcarpathia is a peaceful and tolerant region,” said Uzhhorod Mayor Bohdan Andriiv. “We thank our defenders and protectors for the opportunity to gather here.”
Deputy Governor of Transcarpathia Ivancho Vasil was also present and addressed the participants.
The history of the Holocaust in Transcarpathia – when the Nazis deported nearly all of the region’s 100,000 Jews to Auschwitz, where all but a few thousand perished – was one of dozens of sessions at the Limmud FSU meeting. Other sessions ranged from a conversation about the nuances of Israel’s Law of Return to the use of artificial intelligence in education and the Jewish roots of Argentine tango to how to build a career in information technology.
Participants also visited the Jewish quarter of Uzhhorod and the former synagogue, built in 1904 and used as a concert hall during the Soviet era. Limmud FSU held a ceremony in honor of the Jews of Uzhhorod who were murdered by the Nazis 80 years ago.
“This is the first conference to be held during the war in Ukraine, but Jewish life goes on,” said Michael Brodsky, Israel’s ambassador to Kyiv. “This conference is an example of that and of the Jewish community remaining in Ukraine.”
Among the 200 participants of the Limmud FSU festival from May 24 to 26, 2024 in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, there were several children. (Boris Bukhman)
Founded in 2005, Limmud FSU is led by a number of notable Jewish figures, including Matthew Bronfman and Malcolm Hoenlein. Since Limmud FSU’s first conference 19 years ago, over 80 events have been held, reaching over 80,000 Jews with roots in the former Soviet Union who now live around the world.
“The return of Limmud FSU to Ukraine is a powerful sign of resilience and hope for the Jewish community,” Bronfman said. “In these difficult times, creating a space for learning, connection and cultural continuity is critical. Limmud FSU serves as a beacon of unity and strength for Ukrainian Jews facing the hardships of war.”
The last Limmud event in Ukraine took place in October 2021 – four months before the war – in the western city of Lviv, near Ukraine’s border with Poland. During the war, Limmud FSU organized gatherings for Ukrainian Jews outside the country – in Berlin and the Polish cities of Warsaw and Lublin.
“The work of our partners at Limmud FSU in Ukraine is vital to the Jewish community in this war-torn country,” said Gideon Taylor, President of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, one of Limmud FSU’s key supporters. “Giving people the opportunity to come together safely and get a much-needed respite from the ongoing war is a necessary break with the reality of the region. By coming together, people can see that they are not alone. They can see that they are strong and resilient, and they can carry that sense of empowerment forward.”
Other sponsors of Limmud FSU include the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Jewish National Fund-KKL, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Wilf Family Foundation, the Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, Diane Wohl, Bill Hess and others.
Having established that Uzhhorod is a safe place in Ukraine, Limmud FSU Executive Director Natasha Chechik, Project Manager Galina Rybnikova and the team of volunteers, many of whom live temporarily or permanently abroad, coordinated the implementation of the project.
For 40-year-old Kateryna Popova from Odessa, it was already the second Limmud event. At the beginning of the fighting, she spent several months in Romania, but then returned home despite the war.
“At that time, it was so necessary to come to Limmud and escape from everyday life,” said Popova. “Once you’ve been to Limmud, you don’t want to miss the next time.”
Dignitaries standing for the Ukrainian national anthem at the Limmud FSU festival in Uzhhorod, Ukraine, May 24-26, 2024, included (left to right) Deputy Governor of Zakarpattia Region Ivancho Vasil, Mayor of Uzhhorod Bohdan Andriiv, Founder of Limmud FSU Chaim Chesler, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky and his wife Regina, Nativ Director of the Ministry of Culture and Education Alex Mershon, Nativ Regional Director in Ukraine and Moldova Mark Dovev, and Limmud Ukraine Project Manager Galina Rybnikova. (Boris Bukhman)
At the event in Ukraine, the WZO showed an exhibition on the history of anti-Semitism.
“Now more than ever, understanding where anti-Semitism comes from and how it has expressed itself over the centuries – right up to the Nazi genocide – helps us find the tools to combat anti-Semitism today,” said Dr Raheli Baratz, Head of the WZO’s Countering Anti-Semitism and Building Resilience Division. “Given the dramatic rise in anti-Semitism worldwide since October 7, it is imperative that we educate communities and provide them with the knowledge and resilience to face and overcome these challenges.”
Ukrainian-born Alex Mershon, director of the Department of Culture and Education at Nativ, a division of Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office that focuses on Jews from the former Soviet Union, pointed out that he immigrated to Israel 34 years ago but still addressed the public in Ukrainian: “Nativ has been working with Limmud FSU for more than a decade, but this is a special occasion. I congratulate everyone on this amazing achievement.”
Olga Spesivykh, 46, from Odessa, said that although she had gotten used to the constant sirens, power outages and explosions that have characterized life in her city of millions since the war began, it was very exhausting.
“Sometimes you get to a point where you can’t find the resources to keep going,” she said. “For me, Limmud is the magic wand that gives me strength,” Spesivykh said, recalling her first Limmud meeting in 2010 in the Ukrainian city of Truskavets with her then six-year-old daughter. “Since then, I’ve only missed two or three meetings. I’m looking forward to being immersed in that atmosphere of kindness, knowledge and goodness again.”
Olga Bard, a 37-year-old Kyiv resident, said the weekend gathering was her 14th or 15th Limmud celebration.
“For me, Limmud is a personal event, an event for the Jewish community,” Bard said. “Even in very difficult and sad times, we find the strength to gather, organize and plan – and we don’t give up.”
