This week we concluded the NCSEJ Leadership trip to Ukraine. After meetings with high-level government officials in Kyiv, which I discussed last week, we attended Shabbat services in the Kyiv Hatikva Reform synagogue, followed by dinner with Hillel students and staff.

 

On Sunday, we spent an incredible day in Dnipropetrovsk, meeting with Jewish community leaders, young Jewish activists, volunteers, and governor of Dnipropetrovsk Valentyn Reznichenko. We received a warm welcome from Chief Rabbi of Dnipropetrovsk Shmuel Kaminezki and the local community, whose partnership with NCSEJ and the Boston Jewish community remains as strong as ever. NCSEJ was honored at a gala dinner dedicated to our visit. We also had a chance to meet with Boston Jewish community leaders Bob and Doris Gordon, who were visiting Dnipropetrovsk.

Rabbi Shmuel Kaminzki presents award to Mark Levin in Dnipropetrovsk

N CSEJ delegation meeting with Head of Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin

 

NCSEJ delegation with Dnipropetrovsk community volunteers

In addition to the meetings I mentioned in the last update, we met with several other government officials from the Ministry of Interior, State Security Services, as well as with the Head of the Presidential Administration Borys Lozhkin in Kyiv. We also visited the offices of HIAS, where we were briefed on the refugee situation in Ukraine, and met with representatives from JDC and JAFI. It was a very productive visit, during which we had an opportunity to raise many issues important to the Jewish community.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Past NCSEJ Chair Ed Robin

Executive Director Mark Levin, Governor Valentyn Reznichenko and NCSEJ President Alexander Smukler

Also this week, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced a reshuffling of the cabinet in the wake of local elections in which Western-oriented coalition suffered a setback. A story in this week's update that details this development gives a good insight into the challenges the Ukrainian government has confronted in recent months as it pushes though some of the highly unpopular austerity and reform measures.

I also want to highlight an article on the Azerbaijan parliamentary elections that took place this week, as well as a story on the growing partnership between Azerbaijan and Israel.