Ukraine’s Jews confront schism as two umbrella groups compete

KIEV, Ukraine, April 18 (JTA) — In moves reflecting the turmoil in Ukraine’s organized Jewish community, two rival umbrella organizations have formed here in recent weeks. Last week, some of Ukraine’s leading Jewish groups summoned about 300 activists to Kiev to announce the founding of the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine. The move took place one week after another Jewish umbrella group, the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, held its initial meeting here in the capital of this former Soviet republic. While Ukrainian Jews appear to be divided over which of the two groups to support, the international Jewish community has already thrown its weight behind the confederation. The communal schism comes as rival Jewish magnates are attempting to position themselves to deliver the Jewish vote in the country’s presidential elections, scheduled for Oct. 31. The conflict embroiling this 600,000-member Jewish community revolves around the controversial persona of Vadim Rabinovich, one of the wealthiest and most influential businessmen in this nation of 53 million. Rabinovich, a Ukrainian native who had given up his citizenship for an Israeli passport, took no part in Jewish life until 1997, when he surprised many long-time activists by founding the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress. The group, which sought to unite Ukrainian Jews, raised its money from the emerging Jewish business community. But two years later, Rabinovich, whose empire includes holdings in finance, trade and the mass media, found himself under fire from critics who charged that the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress was not responding to the needs of the many impoverished Jews in this aging community. The tycoon’s goal, these critics say, was to win international and domestic recognition for himself as the pre-eminent Jewish leader of Ukraine in a bid to gain more influence with the pro-reform president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma. Rabinovich, in turn, charges that other Jewish leaders failed to cooperate in meeting the community’s needs. Only last year, Rabinovich said his group distributed several hundred thousand dollars to various Jewish communal projects. But critics charge that the actual sum was far less than that usually cited by Rabinovich and that most of the funds were coming from other magnates, not from Rabinovich himself, as he claims. Along with their questions about the way Rabinovich has operated the All- Ukrainian Jewish Congress, Jewish leaders cite other reasons for their decision to form a new group. For years, Rabinovich has been dogged by rumors about alleged connections to shady businesses, including some involved in arms and nuclear materials trade with countries such as Iran and North Korea. Rabinovich says he has never been involved in illegal business dealings, but the allegations led the United States to revoke his visa a few years ago, and he reportedly has been denied visas to Britain and Austria in the past few years for the same reason. As a result of his increasingly tarnished reputation, Rabinovich was eventually driven out of Kuchma’s inner circle. Against this background, several influential Jewish groups, including the Ukrainian Va’ad, left the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress in February and announced their plan to form a rival group. But before they could hold their convention last week to form the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, Rabinovich stole their thunder by dissolving the congress and bringing some 1,600 Jews to Kiev who unanimously elected him leader of the newly formed United Jewish Community of Ukraine. Though Rabinovich’s meeting attracted five times more delegates, the subsequent gathering of the confederation upstaged its rival conference in international representation and the recognition it received from Ukrainian leaders and foreign Jewish organizations. Chief rabbis from most European nations attended the event last week, and the leaders of the European Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress have already recognized the confederation as representing all Ukrainian Jews. President Kuchma sent a welcoming letter to the confederation, and his predecessor, Leonid Kravchuk, the first leader of post-Communist Ukraine, addressed its gathering with a highly emotional speech peppered with remarks sympathetic to Jews. Wary of losing financial support from either group, dozens of organizations representing Ukraine’s Jewish community sent representatives to both of the founding conventions. One of Rabinovich’s rivals, politician Grigori Surkis, a wealthy businessman who controls Ukraine’s most popular soccer club, reportedly turned down an offer to head the confederation. At least one Jewish leader applauded Surkis’ decision. The confederation “is not a union around one individual. It’s a union built on the idea of joint activities for the good of the entire Jewish community,” said Ya’akov Bleich, the chief rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine. Surkis and Rabinovich are vying to be Kuchma’s chief Jewish backer in the October elections. Rabinovich’s group, the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, said it would stress the establishment of Western-style Jewish community centers across Ukraine aimed at helping individual communities. For its part, Jewish Confederation of Ukraine has established priorities that include social, educational and youth activities, the preservation of Jewish heritage sites, and pushing for the large-scale restitution of former Jewish communal property that could eventually allow the community to become self-sufficient. Money from Jewish organizations in the West currently help the Jewish community operate. Earlier this year, Ukrainian leaders promised to declare a moratorium on the privatization of all such disputed property. Meanwhile, the creation of the two competing umbrella groups has generated widely divergent reactions among Jewish leaders here. Ordinary Jews may eventually benefit from the schism, said Moisey Sheinkman, the leader of the Ukrainian branch of B’nai B’rith, who was elected one of the vice presidents of Rabinovich’s new organization but also attended the confederation’s founding convention. “Two influential groups will court local organizations and eventually” the grass-roots community will benefit, he said. Another Jewish activist who attended both meetings disagreed. “It’s a tragedy,” Rudolf Mirsky said of the split. Noting the similarities between the platforms of the two groups, Mirsky added, “People are lost. They don’t understand what’s going on.”