The Jewish community of Dnepropetrovsk hosted a delegation from its sister organization, the Jewish community of Greater Boston (Massachusetts, USA).The delegation included longtime friends of the Jewish community, who have already visited Dnepropetrovsk many times.
Visitors included Beth Moscowitz, chairman of the Post-Soviet Jewry Committee, JCRC International Partnerships Director Jim Morgan, JCRC coordinator Noga Nevel, Dr. Lewis Lipsitz, who is Chief of Gerontology at the BIDMC Harvard Medical School, and Louise Lipsitz, Chair of the JCRC’s English language Committee and a school director in Boston.
During the short but intensive visit, he guests visited the Resource Center for Children, the Beit Baruch Home for Assisted Living, a Jewish school, and many other Jewish organizations in Dnepropetrovsk, including the ORT Center and Chesed Center. Meetings with the leaders of Jewish organizations, leading medical experts, as well as informal discussions with members of the Jewish community’s Board of Trustees – Igal Rogov, Evgeniy Sharinov and Igor Raberov – also took place. Existing programs were discussed, as well as plans for new programs.
There was particular interest in the progress of a program that focuses on small business development for women. The Boston delegation discussed the project with Nina Raberova, the chairman of the microcredit committee, other committee members and the coordinator of the entire project, Natalia Rier.
Upon visiting the Beit Baruch Center, the guests from Boston brought a gift with them 100 anti-flu vaccines to protect the elderly residents. Dr. Lipsitz discussed the problem of maintaining the health of Beit Baruch residents and made valuable recommendations, as a leading specialist in the field of gerontology.
"Dr. Lipsitz came especially to show his support of our plans to create a gerontology center. His experience and knowledge, his advice as to its vision and strategy, is truly invaluable for us. Dr. Lipsitz has come to help us lay the groundwork here,” commented Zelig Brez, the director of the Dnepropetrovsk Jewish community.
The delegation discussed the possibilities for new cooperative projects. ORT officials made a presentation on the successful work of their organization and discussed the possibility of using ORT’s technological and methodological base for implementing joint projects between the Dnepropetrovsk and Boston Jewish communities. The delegation also enjoyed a very informative and productive meeting with Chief Rabbi of Dnepropetrovsk Shmuel Kaminetsky.