A Trip to the West

At the end of October I traveled to Western Ukraine (Rivne, Ostroh, and Luts'k) with Beiteinu. We were a group of 18 with children, teens and a few adults. The goal of the trip was to do some sightseeing, learn about the Jewish communities, and exchange our skills and experiences.

The group and I stayed in Rovno and as we walked through the streets of the city it reminded me a lot of my hometown Gorlovka, Ukraine. Rovno is smaller than Kiev, with an estimated population of 249,000, the streets are mostly empty, and there and a lot of neighborhoods with two story houses just like in Gorlovka. As we walked past the houses every day towards our cafe and Hesed I began to remember things about my past, my childhood, and ponder about the future I could have had here. As I continue my journey in Kiev, I continue to ask this question again, and again, and wonder about the person I would have become
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Going back to our trip - we saw places such as Ostrog and Lutsk that were once full of Jewish life, where  60% + of the population were Jewish. Jews came there as far back as 15th century, they lived there and prospered, and in 18th century Ostorg became one of the centers of Hassidism. Today, you can find abandoned structures from Synagogues, and parks that were once Jewish Cemeteries. The large Jewish populations that were once there are gone, and the number of Jews left is very small.

On a happier note, we met a lot of interesting people (check out Max's website here,) saw how other Jewish centers function, and brought a project from Kiev (that was a hit with the kids & teens in Kiev because they themselves came up with the idea) to the children of Rovno. The project consisted of decorating bags with different designs and decorations. A few pictures from the trip are attached
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