Rohatyn is a city located on the Hnyla Lypa River in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rohatyn Raion. It was first mentioned in historical documents in 1184 as a part of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia. Its name seems to be derived from Ruthenia, the name of the region of the location. However, on the town’s crest is the horn of a deer. This may explain the first part of the city’s name … the Ukrainian word for horn is “Rih.” Many deer live in the nearby forest; they were a part of daily life in the area. Today Rohatyn remembers its Jewish history and past times. This is due in large part to local historian and retired teacher Mykhaylo Vorobets. On a recent visit to Rohatyn, I was happy to meet this amazing man. Mykhaylo Vorobets was born in 1934 in a village near Rohatyn. He devoted his life to teaching children at a local school. Although he retired last year, students still come to his house. During his lifetime he collected and compiled information about Rohatyn. He interviewed older people, visited archives and libraries for research, and has written many articles. People […]

Halych is a historic city on the Dniester River in western Ukraine. The town gave its name to the historic province and the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhyn, of which it was the capital until the early 14th century. Today Halych is a small city which preserves its former name. It also is the administrative center of the Halych Raion (district) of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Halych is also home to a museum dedicated to the Karaite Jews, a Jewish sect that had been living in Eastern Europe since the Middle Ages Karaite Judaism  is characterized by adherence to the divine commandments handed down to Moses that were recorded in the written Torah, without additional Oral Law. Karaite Jews do not accept the written collections of the oral tradition in the Mishnah or Talmud. As well, Karaite Judaism follows patrilineal descent, unlike Rabbinical Judaism which follows matrilienal descent. At one time the number of Jews affiliating with Karaism comprised as much as 40 percent of world Jewry, and debates between Rabbanite and Karaite leaders were not uncommon. It is not known exactly when the Karaite community appeared in Halych. According to one legend, 100 Crimean Karaites were allowed to live in Halych under […]

Omelian Kovch was born 20 August 1884 in the picturesque southern Galician village of Kosmach, in the Carpathian Mountains. The family was full of priests. His father was a parish priest and his mother was the daughter of a parish priest. After completing his studies in Lviv, he embarked on the road to priesthood. He spent six years in Rome as a seminarian in the Greek Catholic College of Saints Sergius and Bacchus and as a student at the Universita Urbaniana of the Congregation for the Propagation of Faith. In 1922, after the Polish-Ukrainian war ended, Fr. Omelian was appointed to the parish of Peremyshliany, a town which, like most in Galicia, was composed primarily of three nationalities: Jews, Poles and Ukrainians. Throughout the inter-war years Fr. Omelian developed a vibrant ministry that included a rich liturgical life, organized cultural activity, and multi-faceted social outreach. With the arrival of the Nazis, the persecution of Jews began immediately. One day the Germans threw firebombs into a synagogue in Peremyshliany, closed the doors, and surrounded the building with soldiers. Representatives of the Jewish community ran to the Kovch house to seek help and find sanctuary with the Greek Catholic priest. Fr. Omelian […]

Zolochiv, a  town located 60 kilometers east of Lviv, was at one time a thriving Polish-Jewish-Ukrainian town. Then, in just three years, its Jewish population perished in the Holocaust. The Jewish presence in Zolochiv dates back to 1565. For centuries, Zolochiv was home to numerous artisans, tradesmen and notable rabbis.They lived throughout the city and were instrumental in its political, economic, and social development. With the outbreak of the second world war, large numbers of Jewish refugees fled from western Poland to Zolochiv. By then the town was occupied by the soviets, who deported many of the refugees to the interior of the USSR and conscripted young men into the Red Army. At that time an estimated ten thousand Jews and another ten thousand Poles and Ukrainians lived in Zolochiv. Before the Soviets retreated in 1941, the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police, murdered several hundred civilians and buried the bodies in four mass graves. Many were Ukrainian nationalists, along with some Jews and Poles. After the Nazis occupied Zolochiv, they blamed Jews for the murders and a pogrom ensued. In just three days more than three thousand people were killed, 2,000 of them in front of the Zolochiv Castle, the site […]

Purim is a holiday Jews observe in memory of an ancient victory recounted in the Book of Esther. This story had eerie parallels in Europe during the bloody 20th century. About twenty five hundred years ago, the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. The Jewish people were banished from Israel to Babylonia. Fifty years later, Babylonia was defeated by Persia, the most powerful kingdom in the world at that time. Achashverosh was the second Persian king. Drunk with power, he executed his queen, Vashti, who refused his order to dance at an extravagant feast. The king now needed a new queen, and he sent his men in search for someone even more beautiful than Vashti. In the capital city, Shushan, a Jewish orphan named Hadassah lived with her uncle Mordechai, the leader of the Jews. Esther was kind and gentle … and very beautiful. When the king’s men came, Mordechai said, “Don’t be afraid. Go. Don’t tell them you are Jewish. Use your Persian name — Esther. God will watch over you!” As soon as the king saw her, he chose her as his new queen. Esther kept her secret … but to remember which […]

  Husiatyn is a town in the Ternopil Oblast of Western Ukraine, located on the west bank of the Zbruch River. This river formed the old boundary between Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century, and the boundary between the Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union during the inter-war period of the twentieth century. The history of the Jewish community in Husiatynspans more than 500 years. After its incorporation as a town in 1559, Jews were among the first to settle there. Despite being small and vulnerable to anti-semitic attacks, by the late nineteenth century Husiatynwas a thriving commercial center and one of the most important Hassidic centers in Galicia. The Husiatyn Synagogue is a rare example of a sixteenth-century “Fortress synagogue” built in the Renaissance style. A fortress synagogue is a synagogue built to withstand attack while protecting the lives of people sheltering within it. The synagogue was rebuilt after a fire in 1742. Contemporary Yiddish writer S. Ansky describes the Husiatynsynagogue as “one of the loveliest and most splendid in Galicia.” Jewish American historian Omer Bartov described the synagogue as “exquisite.” The 18th century partitions of Poland turned Husiatyninto a border town, making it an […]

In these difficult times for Ukraine, it is important to remember the good, to be tolerant and support each other. Because we all are fighting for truth, justice, democracy and a better future for our country. On January 22, 2014, Mikhail Livinskiy a member of the leadership of the united opposition of Ukraine, made a proposal to Josef Zisels, Human rights defender and Head of VAAD, the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine. Mikhail Livinsky’s proposal was that Maidan’s self-defense forces organize a patrol and guards for the Kyiv synagogues. The synagogue defense program would be coordinated by a deputy of the Ukrainian parliament. Josef Zisels passed the proposal on to two Kyiv synagogues. He also passed it on to a Ukrainian Jewish organizations planning a commemorative ceremony at a third Kyiv synagogue. The ceremony was to be held on January 28, international Holocaust Memorial Day. One of the Oppostion leaders, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, made a statement to the Jewish community on Holocaust Remembrance Day. He said that “The Maidan does not accept ‘Black Hundred’ slogans. And those who attempted to use them were quickly removed.” The Black Hundreds refers to several groups comprising a far-right, Russian pro-monarchist movement […]