PKU Hosts First Webinar Series in Ukrainian

As Ukrainian Jews continue to move forward in claiming their dual identities of Jewish and Ukrainian, their next hurdle is the issue of language. The majority of modern progressive Jewish communal life and resources have been available primarily in Russian and not in Ukrainian, including Project Kesher programs and publications. In 2019, the Ukrainian Parliament passed a law making Ukrainian the official language of the state. More recently, the country has transitioned into full use of Ukrainian, and the implementation of this transition is expected and required throughout the country. While this poses challenges to the Jewish community, PK Ukraine leaders are leading the charge to embrace and center Ukrainian language and culture.

On April 14, 2021 Project Kesher Ukraine (PKU) launched their very first Jewish education  series in Ukrainian. The first webinar in the series was attended by 200 people, mostly new to PKU, and facilitated by Mihal Stamova. Stamova is a Jewish educator, researcher and historian from Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University. She will be facilitating this program and others Ukrainian over the next year and teaching PKU-trained leaders how to facilitate Jewish experiences in Ukrainian.