“Jews and Ukrainians”: Extending the horizons of cognition

Conversations about books constitute the essence of the liberal arts. And it is a book that brings us together at this panel here in Rivne, Ukraine.  The book in question, “Jews and Ukrainians: A Millennium of Co-Existence,” is long-awaited and in real demand. It is unique, since it provides answers to some of the crucial questions facing all of us who work in the humanities in the 21st century.

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Unveiling of a multilingual plaque honouring Dr. Raphael Lemkin

On Thursday, 20 September 2018, the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Foundation will be unveiling a multilingual plaque (English, Ukrainian, Hebrew, Yiddish) honouring Dr. Raphael Lemkin, the “father of the UN Genocide Convention,” specifically in reference to the speech he gave in New York City (20 September 1953) acknowledging the famine of 1932-33 as a Soviet genocide.

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Hitler killed Yiddish — now these scholars are trying to revive the culture

CHERNIVTSI, Ukraine – In the elegant, slightly faded lobby of the Hotel Bukovyna, a group of gray-haired, eccentrically-dressed academics sipped cognac and argued in Yiddish. The collective represented just a handful of the over 100 scholars, enthusiasts, and Jewish community advocates from 12 countries around the world that assembled earlier this month for the International Commemorative Conference of Yiddish Culture and Language in western Ukraine.

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Holocaust survivor praises Sheptytsky, shares childhood experiences with youngsters at Bobriwka

COLEBROOK, Conn. – Since 2011, the Bobriwka campsite in northwestern Connecticut has hosted a weeklong music workshop where children and parents have learned how to play the traditional Ukrainian instrument, the bandura. This year, in addition to the usual bandura lessons, choral rehearsals, nature walks, sports and outdoor activities, the children and parents at the “Bandura at Bobriwka” reunion were privileged to host a very special guest.

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Tel Aviv on the Black Sea

The Ukrainian port city of Odessa, once home to hundreds of thousands of Jews, is experiencing a ‘golden age’ - with modern Israel proving an unlikely inspiration. If you know where to look, the ghosts of Odessa’s Jewish past are everywhere, haunting and playful: in the pizza restaurant blaring “Hava Nagila” across from the Potemkin Steps; in the forshmak (chopped herring), tzimmes and gefilte fish served in the city’s oldest eating establishments; in the Jewish jokes and Yiddish words that pepper local patois; to the sign above an overgrown courtyard that reads “The State of Israel was born here.”

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