A NOA profile on Jews creating a more inclusive Europe.
When the Ukraine crisis began, Jewish organizations and communities across Europe immediately sprung into action to respond to the humanitarian crisis. The AEPJ is a network of European institutions that serves as a platform to develop cultural initiatives and educational programs to European Jewish sites. Among them were organizations working in fields such as heritage preservation and tourism. But it was all made possible due to their existing cultural networks, built over years of dedication.
Below you can read some statements from AEPJ members regarding this responsibility of cultural institutions to become humanitarian institutions.
As a Jewish cultural organization in Europe but not bordering Ukraine, how do you see your role, both now and in the next months, with the humanitarian crisis? What role or responsibility do cultural organizations have?
I believe that in this respect, the fact that we are a European network participating in the Council of Europe’s Cultural Routes programme invites us to reinforce our commitment to promote fundamental European values of human rights, cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue. Not only that, we understand our network beyond the traditional conceptualisation of institutions coming together to work together. We aspire to be a true community. A community of reflection, of mutual support, and also of action.
Heritage in today’s world has become transdisciplinary; its preoccupation with traditional principles of conservation and archeology has been replaced by a profound preoccupation with the processes of education, tourism management, and the enrichment of cultural life, ensuring that heritage contributes to the social and cultural dynamics of the community. That’s why, and I think this is fantastic, we look with admiration at our partners who have transformed their usual field of work, to dedicate themselves in depth to offering all kinds of help with humanitarian aid and support to refugees. Their understanding of the role of culture and heritage puts people and communities first.
Jewish heritage and culture can be a force for social transformation, and at times like this, I think it amply demonstrates that. Our own tradition invites us to take part. As Buber said, Judaism is not truth as an ideal, nor as an image, but as “action”.
François Moyse,
AEPJ, President
As an organization, you work in the sphere of culture / heritage preservation, but now with the crisis are engaged in humanitarian aid. Why did you feel it was important to switch focus — from the perspective of those who work specifically in Jewish heritage in Europe?
Was there any experience from your previous Jewish cultural work / heritage work which helped prepare you for this new task? Are there any parallels?
When the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, we knew that in short order there would be a massive movement of refugees to western Ukraine, and, for many of these refugees, movement from there to European countries bordering Ukraine and beyond. We immediately recognized the need to shift our focus entirely to humanitarian relief. Yes, Heritage Springs works in the sphere of Jewish culture and heritage preservation and for the foreseeable future we have suspended that work.
But Jewish heritage is preserved not only for the enrichment of the lives and knowledge of those with roots in that culture, but also for that of other groups, particularly those who now reside in the surrounding areas where the preservation is taking place which, in our case, are populations with little to no knowledge of Ukraine’s Jewish history.
By preserving Jewish heritage in Ukraine, we tell the story of the Jews who have lived here since the 8th century – their lives, their values, their achievements, their contributions to their communities – all of which inform present-day Ukrainians and link them to this rich past. Only through this type of connection can we hope to foster crosscultural understanding and appreciation.
So when the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, we quickly established channels to provide humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees. Our immediate priority is for their safety and well-being for as long as is necessary. In the aftermath of the invasion, our Ukrainian neighbors will hopefully return to their communities to re-start and build on the lives that they had been living previously. And at that point we will resume our Jewish heritage preservation work so that they can learn our story.
Darcy Stamler
Heritage Springs, Inc., Trustee
As an organization, you work in the sphere of culture / heritage preservation, but now with the crisis are engaged in humanitarian aid. Why did you feel it was important to switch focus — from the perspective of those who work specifically in Jewish heritage in Europe?
Was there any experience from your previous Jewish cultural work / heritage work which helped prepare you for this new task? Are there any parallels?
Answers in video by Helise Lieberman
Taube Center for Jewish Life & Learning, Director
As an organization, you work in the sphere of culture / heritage preservation, but now with the crisis are engaged in humanitarian aid. Why did you feel it was important to switch focus — from the perspective of those who work specifically in Jewish heritage in Europe?
It is very easy and difficult to say at once. In the normal pre-war life, we acted as a religious, cultural and educational center, a synagogue, a community for over 1,000 people in the main cities of Moldova. The humanitarian – first of all – crisis in the neighboring country made us respond immediately because of many reasons that include at least:
It would be simply unacceptable for us to continue working in the normal regime and develop usual programs at the moment when almost 400,000 refugees entered Moldova, when hundreds of Jewish families addressed us for help.
We managed to accept from 10,000 to 15,000 of people at six locations including our own synagogue, feed them, provide with medical and psychological assistance, clothes, hygiene items, transportation from the border to Chisinau and then to Romania, attract over 150 volunteers from Israel and USA, help with documental formalities those who emigrated to Israel and EU countries.
We had to accumulate all resources, physical, spiritual and financial having spent our five annual budgets in a month of the war. It would not be possible without a wide support from dozens of international organizations and funds, hundreds of people all over the world who had – we are sure – the same reasons, open hearts and high moral and human values.
Was there any experience from your previous Jewish cultural work / heritage work which helped prepare you for this new task? Are there any parallels?
In fact, being an Orthodox religious Jewish organization, Agudath Israel in Moldova paid a lot of attention to welfare help to the local needy Jews. This experience became very useful. Bringing humanitarian aid and shipments with kosher meals was also a good basis for similar actions in this period.
People are another very important moment that helped in this situation.
Energy and connections of our Rabbi – Pinchas Zaltsman – the Chief Rabbi of Moldova and dayan; flexibility and creative abilities of the staff who in a moment converted into a strong and professional team for unexpected and unplanned logistics and crisis management; openness and will to help by dozens of volunteers who did a tremendous physical and moral work in 24/7 regime. All this allowed our organization to become a shelter for refugees, and a headquarters of their rescue, transit or stay.
On this background, celebrating Purim together with over 200 refugees in the best hall of Chisinau at Radisson Blu hotel, marking bat mitzvah for a girl from Odessa, chuppah for a couple from Ukraine were already part of our normal activities in these abnormal times.
Now with this 1.5 months experience we understand that everything is possible with God’s help, however much better would be to aim all such efforts at peace, revival and development.
Michael Finckel
Agudath Israel in Moldova, Director
As an organization, you work in the sphere of culture / heritage preservation, but now with the crisis are engaged in humanitarian aid. Why did you feel it was important to switch focus — from the perspective of those who work specifically in Jewish heritage in Europe?
We are set up to work with communities in the whole of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Through our cultural heritage work we have connections to communities across this landscape and so, when the war started, we felt it was imperative that we contact them to see how they were impacted and if we could help. With the personal connections we have to communities in Poland and Moldova we knew that we could offer confidence to donors looking to offer support. We opened an appeal line and let people in our circles know what we were doing. In this way we have been able to channel some funding to these communities who are offering support and care to refugees.
We rallied members of the north London business community and collaborated with a bigger humanitarian aid agency to send food, first aid and hygiene products to Poland, and we have been well placed, because of our contacts in Eastern Europe, to broker connections between people in need of support and the agencies able to deliver that support. For example we connected with a member of the Jewish community in Lviv who were in desperate need of medication. They sent us their list of what they needed and we were able to send that to the correct agency who were then able to get the medication to them.
Was there any experience from your previous Jewish cultural work / heritage work which helped prepare you for this new task? Are there any parallels?
As part of the work that we do, we have our own humanitarian aid programme. We collect and send aid to communities in Belarus (resources, Judaica, clothes, blankets etc). As a result we have a lot of understanding of the challenges of sending aid overseas and experience and so organising the aid drive was not difficult for us.
The network and connections that we have, as a result of the cultural heritage work that we do, have proven to be invaluable. This network has enabled us to be able to react to the crisis in a way that is transparent because of the personal connections that we have.
The work that we do around cultural heritage in Belarus, gives us a depth of understanding and historical context which is the backdrop to this crisis in Ukraine. As a result, many people are now seeing us as a trusted, reliable go-to organisation which can help them navigate what is happening. To that end – it is a demonstration of how working in the field of cultural heritage is vitally important in the building of civil society.
Debra Brunner
The Together Plan, CEO