Our History
“Project Kesher has breathed new life into me... I thought I forgot how to smile. It turns out, I can.”
Sallie Gratch, Co-Founder
Sallie Gratch is a passionate and responsive activist, drawing on her training as a social worker first to listen and then to assess possibilities and, most importantly, to take action. In the 1980s, she became immersed in the anti-nuclear movement, always seeking to go deeper and have greater impact, to move beyond demonstrations and petitions into citizen diplomacy. As she joined the International Peace Walk in the late 1980s, she infused her march from Cleveland to Washington DC with talks at synagogues and other ways to build relationships in service of her cause. She twice over joined with Americans and Soviets on peace walks between Leningrad and Moscow to “end the war that no one wants” and to meet the enemy, demystify national differences and build deeper and deeper connections. Her time in what was then the Soviet Union brought her into contact with Jewish women who knew nothing about Judaism except that it was a pretext for antisemitism. This experience led her to co-found Project Kesher -- and this was well before Chabad or the liberal movements in Judaism began to provide services. Project Kesher was established as a network of Jewish women to communicate Jewish knowledge and to foster human connections; it has grown into a vital life-saving organization training powerful women activists committed to Judaism and feminism and pluralism.
Pictured, Left to Right: Sallie Gratch and Svetlana Yakimenko, 1990s.
In 1989…
Sallie Gratch, a social worker from Illinois, met Svetlana Yakimenko, a teacher in Moscow. Together, the two Jewish women traveled throughout Russia and Ukraine, speaking with Jewish women determined to stay, despite historic oppression and the depth of need in their communities. The two activists discovered Jewish women living next door to one another, without knowledge about their connection and shared heritage. As these women began to gather, to share in the re-emergence of Jewish life post-Communism and learn about civic engagement, Project Kesher was born.
Today…
With more than 30 years of experience operating in Ukraine and 15 years working with Ukrainian and Russian-speaking immigrants in Israel, PK utilizes a carefully cultivated network of trained leaders, trusted partners, and effective strategies to meet the needs of women and girls.
