Jewish Life in Independent Ukraine Fifteen Years After the Soviet Collapse

One researcher, Gidwitz, B, Jewish Life in Independent Ukraine Fifteen Years After the Soviet Collapse (2007) , notes:

The official Ukrainian government census in 2000 reported 105,000 self-identified Jews, a figure that Ukrainian scholar-activist Iosif Zissels estimates had decreased to 92,915 by 2006. Mr. Zisselsnotes that: (1) some Jews are reluctant to acknowledge their Jewish heritage, and (2) whereas Jewish law (halacha) defines Jewish identity by matrilineal descent, many Ukrainians define ethnicity in offspring of mixed marriages according to patrilineal ancestry because most offspring bear the father's name.For both reasons, Mr. Zissels observes, halachically Jewish offspring of mixed marriages may not identifyas Jews. He estimates the actual number of halachic Jews in Ukraine as close to 200,000, and the number of Jews eligible for immigration to Israel under the Israeli Law of Return as 400,000.

Zvenigorodka was recently adopted by a temple in New Jersey!

Over Memorial Day weekend 2000, ten members of Temple Shalom, Succasunna, New Jersey, traveled to Ukraine to bring a Torah scroll to the Zvenigorodka Jewish community and to participate in a B'nai Mitzvah ceremony there for 17 young people and one adult. Zvenigorodka is a small town southeast of Kiev, a journey of some four and a half hours by bus. The Reform/Progressive congregation there is one of approximately 34 burgeoning congregations throughout Ukraine. Just before the Temple Shalom visitors arrived, the congregation had successfully petitioned the government for the return of its synagogue. Among the congregation was a thirteen year old girl who joined the B'nai Mitzvah service, a newly-accepted rabbinical student, and an amateur Jewish genealogist. In addition to the Torah scroll, a gift to the entire Jewish community, the travelers from Succasunna brought a tallit and a kiddush cup for each Zvenigorodka Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Each set of these items was donated by an up-coming Bar/Bat Mitzvah family from the congregation. The travelers found it truly inspiring to dance in the streets of Zvenigorodka with the congregants and their new Torah, especially since, less than ten years earlier, being a Jew, let alone openly practicing Judaism, was dangerous. The B'nai Mitzvah ceremony which followed was equally inspiring and had a decidedly international flavor with rabbis from Kiev, England and New Jersey conducting the ceremony in Hebrew, English, Russian and Ukrainian... CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

The new temple in Zvenigorodka is now named "Temple Shalom."