The regular report and elective Conference of Vaad (Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities) Ukraine has taken place on the 7th-8th of July.
Vaad Ukraine is the largest and oldest union of Jewish communities in Ukraine. As an independent structure Vaad Ukraine began its existence in early 1992, and before that the Ukrainian communities were an important part of Vaad USSR. The beginning of the creation of Vaad Ukraine can be dated as early as 1988, when the first independent Jewish community in Soviet Ukraine was registered in Chernovtsy. Today, 265 organizations from 94 Ukrainian cities make up Vaad Ukraine.
In 2002, Vaad Ukraine was one of the initiators for the creation of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC). Vaad Chairman Josef Zisels was elected EAJC General Council chairman. The Vaad office of the Ukrainian capital hosts the Kyiv EAJC office, where the Program Bureau of the Congress resides.
Alexander Mashkevich greeted the participants of the Conference with the following words:
"Vaad Ukraine is one of the founders and, without exagerration, has been one of the most colorful and important integral parts of the EAJC for many years now. The active and many-faceted activity of Vaad Ukraine headed by its chairman and chairman of the EAJC General Council, Josef Zisels, is a beacon and a stimulus for development for many Jewish organizations of the Eurasian region, and is a source of pride for the EAJC.
Initiatives of Vaad Ukraine were the foundations for many strategic programs of EAJC activity. The unique program for developing tolerance should be mentioned first and foremost in the context. The experience of its realization is in demand today in many countries.
I wish the Conference successful work, and hope that all of the decisions made here will give new momentum to the activity of your organization for the good of the Jews of Ukraine and the entire Eurasian region."
Two days of the work of the Conference were saturated by substantial reports and lively discussions. In particular, among those who presented reports on difference aspects of Jewish community life in Ukraine and Vaad activity in this sphere were Vaad Chairman Josef Zisels and the leaders of Vaad programs: Director of the Ukrainian Center of Jewish Education Yana Yanover, Director of the Jewish Studies Center at the National University "Kyiv-Mohyla Academy" (NAUKMA), EAJC General Council Member Leonid Finberg, Executive Director of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine Anna Lenchovskaya, leader of the program for monitoring anti-Semitism and xenophobia, EAJC General Council member Vyacheslav Likhachev, leader of the Jewish Studies program affiliated with the NAUKMA History department Igor Turov, EAJC Program Director Alexander Galkin, leader of the Zionist Federation of Ukraine Igor Kuperberg, and many others.