On January 16th, 2014 Jews in Ukraine and around the world will observe Tu Bishvat …traditionally known as the new year of the trees. According to the tradition of the Hasidim, on Tu Bishvat the Almighty decides the fate of trees and their fruits in the upcoming year’s harvest. As on all Jewish holidays and the weekly shabbat, Jews enjoy a celebratory meal called the seder. Some seders require following strict rituals. Others are more flexible, such as the Tu Bishvat seder. Some Jewish families like to eat meat on Tu Bishvat, others prefer a vegetarian lasagna or a noodle casserole called kugel. However there are some common elements in a Tu Bishvat Seder. These are drinking four different types of wine and eating four different types of fruit. In Ukraine Tu Bishvat is also a time to celebrate one the most famous Jewish sages – Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Shvadron, let the memory of him be blessed – also known as Maharsham of Berezhany. He was appointed Rabbi of the Berezhany district in 1882 and continued to serve in that position until his death in 1911. Physically he was short and skinny, but in everything else he was a giant […]

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Brody is a city in western Ukraine, located in the the Lviv Oblast, or province, 90 kilometres northeast of Lviv. It is now the administrative center of the Brody Raion, or district, with a population of about 24 thousand. At one time, Brody was one of the greatest centers of commerce in Eastern Europe, outside of Lemberg … today, L’viv. Brody was in fact once considered the continental version of the prosperous Mediterranean port of Triest. Brody was also once known as the Galician Jerusalem. By the 19th century Brody had the highest concentration of Jews among Eastern European cities. Today Jews all over the world can trace their roots to Brody. Many, upon emigration to new lands, adopted last names derived from Brody … Brodsky, Brodowski, Brodovsky, Brodisch (meaning “from Brody”). Brody’s recorded history dates back to the era of Volodomyr Monomakh in the 11th century. In the centuries following, Brody remained under Polish and Austrian control. By the 17th century, Brody had become an important center of Jewish trade, known for its horse fairs and artisans … cordmakers, weavers, and metalsmiths. In 1648 Brody was captured briefly by Ukrainian Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytsky. Notably its Jewish population was […]

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Drohobych is a city located at the confluence of the Tysmenytsia River and Seret, a tributary of the former, in the Lviv Oblast, in western Ukraine. The current estimated population is nearly 78 thousand. Jews had lived in or near Drohobycz  as early as the fifteenth century. However an officially recognized community was not established there until the end of the seventeenth century. From then on, the Jewish community grew rapidly. By 1765 it had reached nearly two thousand. In this period, Jews were involved prominently in the extraction, distribution, and sale of salt that was mined in the Drohobycz region. By 1869, the city’s more than 8,000 Jews made up 47 percent of city’s population, and constituted the largest single ethnic–religious group in this tri-ethnic town. The Jews were mostly lower-middle and working class, religiously Orthodox, and Yiddish-speaking. What made Drohobycz unusual was the existence there, from the mid-nineteenth century, of an important oil industry, in which Jews played a major role. The extraction of black gold in the region created a boom-town atmosphere. This made Drohobycz a more prosperous and cosmopolitan city than most Galician centers, at least until World War I. Drohobych’s Jewish community was also unique […]

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Kamianets was an ancient and important centre of Jewish life. Now called Kamianets-Podilskyi, today it is a city in western Ukraine, north-east of Chernivtsi. The first part of the city’s dual name originates from камiнь, meaning “stone.” The second part relates to Podillia, of which it is considered to be the historic capital. Podillia is a historic region in Eastern Europe, located in the southern and western areas of modern day Ukraine, and northeastern Moldova. According to achaelogical evidence, it was inhabited as far back as the Neolithic period. The earliest mention of Kamianets appeared in an 11th century chronicle, as a town of the Kievan Rus’ state. In the 13th century the Mongols destroyed Kamianets. A century later it was annexed by Polish King Casimir III, and remained mostly under Polish rule until the soviet era. The rest of Podillia was carved up over the centuries by surrounding empires — Hapsburg, Ottoman, Russian. Kamianets was a bustling trade centre, in which at times Jews made up 50% of the population. Kamianets is considered the cradle of Chassidic Judaism, and was a centre for the development of Jewish culture and politics. Jewish inhabitants were first noted in 1447. In 1598, […]

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Many distinguished figures have been laid to rest in Lviv’s Jewish cemetery.  Among them are Izaak and Róża Nachmanowicz, the founders of the Golden Rose Synagogue in Lviv. The first mention of the old Jewish cemetery in municipal records dates back to May 27, 1414. The cemetery was established on lands that were bestowed upon the city by a royal privilege from King Władysław Jagiello. For the next several centuries, the cemetery was shared by several Jewish communities … those of the outer districts, founded in the medieval Ruthenian principality, and by Lviv’s Jewish community, which originated during the construction of the new city center by Polish King Kazimierz III. On August 22, 1855, the cemetery was officially closed. According to archival data, many Jews found their final resting place there that year after a cholera epidemic. Once closed, the cemetery began to fall into decline. However, for a brief time in the 20th century, the Jewish cemetery regained its the status of a landmark. In the 1920s the Lviv Rabbi Dr. Levi Freund together with architect Józef Awin established a Curatorship for the protection of Jewish Memorials within the Jewish community. In 1928 and 1931 the Curatorship organized renovation […]

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Hannukah starts on the Hebrew calendar date of 25 Kislev, and lasts for eight days. This  year on the Gregorian calendar it starts on November 27 and ends on-December 5. Hannukah is a joyous holiday, celebrated every year by Jews around the world with the lighting of candles on the Menora. TraditionalHannukah treats include hot potato latkes called also platski or draniki in Ukrainian, and donuts with jam – called pampuchi in Ukrainian. And there are games such as Draidel, andHannukah Gelt which isHannukah money or gifts, for children. In soviet times Judaism could not be practiced freely in Ukraine so the Menora was impossible to buy. It wasn’t even possible to see a Menora in the museums as it was considered a forbidden religious item. So in those times Jews made Chanukkah lights out of a half potato with sunflower oil and wicks made out of cotton. Hannukah, known as The ‘Festival of Dedication’ and also ‘The Festival of Lights’ commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrians in 165 B.C.E. The Maccabees wanted Jews to renounce their G-d and turn to idolatry. Hannukah also honours the memory of the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  The […]

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As the Jewish High Holy Days draw to a close, the focus of the Jewish community shifts from the solemnity of Yom Kippur to the jubilant celebration of the festival of Sukkoth. In the Jewish diaspora Sukkoth is an eight-day festival beginning on the fifth day after Yom Kippur. Sukkath is also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, which refer to special huts, called sukkah, that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land. During Sukkath, observant Jews build similar huts and live in them during this eight-day festival. We do this in modern times to get closer to the Almighty, and remember how G-d protected the Jews in the desert thousands of years ago. The huts, or sukkah, must be built a certain way. There are four walls, usually of wood. The roof is made of a special material called “schach.” Today bamboo is commonly used, but in days before there was no bamboo in Ukraine, tree branches with leaves were used. The roof must allow us to see the stars in the sky, to remind us of our connection to heaven and the Almighty. Of course, if […]

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In the heart of Lviv is a little-known centre dedicated to the revival and restoration of Ukraine’s Jewish heritage. The Faina Petryakova Scientific Center for Judaica and Jewish Art was created in March 2005. The Center is located in the former apartment of Faina Petryakova in Lviv at 14/ 4 Mendeleyeva street. Ms. Petryakova was a well-known researcher of Ukrainian glass, porcelain, ceramics and Judaica. She was single and devoted her life to preserving and promoting Jewish culture in the Former Soviet Union and post-soviet Ukraine. Faina died in 2002, having bequeathed the apartment to Lviv’s Jewish community. The Faina Petryakova Center acts as a memorial institute, a private museum and a research center. The main aim of the Center is to preserve the past and promote the future of the Jewish culture. The museum stuff is continuing the work of Ms. Petryakova. Currently they are in the middle of developing an exhibition to tell the story Ms. Petryakova’s life and work, and to show her private collections of Ukrainian Judaica, glass, porcelain and ceramics. In addition to Ms. Petryakova’s collections, the museum’s library houses over 5000 books about art, religion, history, and Jewish culture. The most treasured resources are collections on […]

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