Donetsk

Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine:

Donetsk.

Community history

On Rosh Hashanah 5668 (1908) in the beginning of a street called Fourth Line (now Oktyabrskaya Str., 36) a synagogue was opened. Then a primary school was opened nearby the synagogue. Given the large territorial dispersion of Yuzovka (early settlements of Donetsk) and towns near it with the permission of the board of the community religious services and prayers were carried out in private homes.

From 1928 to July 1937 Kodkin Solomon Danilovich was the rabbi of the synagogue, a former rabbi in Konstantinograd of Poltava region. Since 1917 Solomon Kodkin was a member of Zionist Organization through which cheders and national Jewish schools, clubs for the study of Hebrew were organized and the emigration of Jews to Eretz Yisrael was promoted. On September 7 1938 rabbi Solomon Kodkin was arrested and sentenced to death. The sentence was carried out immediately In Artemovskaya prison.

Although in 1931 the decision of the local authorities abolished the synagogue as a religious institution of Jews, the building survived. In 1980s at the request of the of Jewish believers led by Samuel Elishevich the synagogue was returned back to the community. In 1995 the Lubavitcher Rebbe schlich Yitzhak Pinchas Vyshedski became the rabbi of the Donetsk synagogue and the head of the Donetsk Jewish community. Synagogue building was repaired, reconstructed and given the proper level of artistic and decorative finishes. Now all the daily, Sabbath and holiday prayers are fully restored.

At present we can admit that all the conditions for the development of national and spiritual life for the community and every Jew in particular are present. The community has the opportunity to provide the necessary assistance to its members in any matter as to their material and spiritual life.

Today as officially registered and actively working Jewish community consists of thousands of people and more and more young people come to the synagogue, we are proud to remember our fathers who kept the Jewish spirit in their hearts during the difficult years.

Young men and women come to the community to learn how to be a Jew, to learn the history of the Jewish state and the tradition of Jewish life, to feel themselves the heirs of the great and ancient nation. The Jewish community has not only past and present but future as well, bright and beautiful as our children.