24 FEATURE JULY 15, 2011 THE JEWISH ADVOCATE

By Barbara Gaffin
Move over, Prince William and
Kate, youve been usurped.
For the Jewish world, the real
Royal Wedding took place on
June 5 in Dnepropetrovsk,
Ukraine, where 2,000 guests from
all over the world gathered in the
regions major soccer stadium for
the marriage of Shneur Zalman
Futerfas and Yehudis Kaminezki.
The bride is the eldest daugh-
ter of the citys chief rabbi,
Shmuel Kaminezki, and his wife,
Chanie.
Both the bride and groom
have historic connections to the
city, where their families had once
served as prominent Jewish edu-
cators and religious figures, yet
ultimately suffered harsh retribu-
tion at the hands of the govern-
ment during the Communist era.
I have been involved with Rav
Shmuel and the Dnepropetrovsk
Jewish community since 1993,
when I worked on the Jewish
Community Relations Council ef-
fort to revive Jewish life in the for-
merly closed city. I knew the wed-
ding would be a simcha with mul-
tiple levels of celebration.
In fact, those early years of the
Dnepropetrovsk Kehillah Project
were no less remarkable than the
extravaganza that took place at
the stadium.
Just before the break-up of the
Soviet Union, Rav Shmuel and
Chanie arrived in Dnepropetro-
vsk from Israel and New York
with little money and a non-exis-
tent Russian vocabulary. But they
were armed with the blessing of
the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menachem M. Shneerson,
zl. The Rebbes father had been
the chief rabbi in Dnepropetrovsk
in the Communist days and was
imprisoned and tortured by the
KGB.
While the young couple may
have felt overwhelmed by an im-
poverished Jewish community, a
paucity of leadership and a small
old synagogue where few Jews
gathered, they were emboldened
by the enormous craving for Jew-
ish knowledge and identity ex-
pressed by young and old alike.
Enter Bostons JCRC. Once the
Soviet republics broke apart and
the gates opened for Jews desir-
ing to leave, some American Jew-
ish communities opted to turn
their energies toward new issues.
Others, like Boston, chose to
build ties, provide humanitarian
assistance and develop friend-
ships with these reawakening
Jewish communities. Little did we
realize how much we would re-
ceive in return.
With financial assistance from
Combined Jewish Philanthropies,
Boston initiated its partnership
by delivering medicine and a
truck-size container of food for
the residents of Dnepropetrovsk.
Over the years, we reached out to
a cross-section of the Boston Jew-
ish and non-Jewish community
there were projects for any syna-
gogue, agency, age, religious affil-
iation, profession or business that
wanted to help with this historic
revival. Those who answered the
call were rewarded with a power-
ful appreciation of their own Ju-
daism and Klal Yisrael.
In the early days of the part-
nership, a group of us from
Boston attended the first Jewish
wedding in Dnepropetrovsk
since before the Communist
regime. It was held in the court-
yard of the tiny, crumbling syna-
gogue. There was much celebra-
tion, but it seemed to be tem-
pered by an almost instinctual
fear of possible trouble from local
hoodlums and uncertainty about
what this new world of Jewish life
might bring.
Last month, another group of
us from Boston including Bob
Gordon, the original chairman of
the JCRC DKP and Judy Patkin,
long-time director of Action for
Post-Soviet Jewry was back to
witness a very different wedding.
For starters, we were a stones
throw away from the nearly com-
pleted Jewish-funded Menorah
Center, an ultra-modern com-
plex that will include a commu-
nity center, museum, shops,
kosher restaurants, offices and a
hotel.
And this time, there was no
trepidation, just unabashed joy.
We were warmly greeted by
young Ukrainians some stylishly
dressed, others in clown cos-
tumes who ushered us through
the entrance of the stadium,
under a huge poster wishing
Mazel Tov in Hebrew.
We walked down a red carpet,
looking up at 18-foot-high movie
star-like photos of the bride and
groom. (I was beginning to won-
der if any of these were Chabad,
Ukrainian or VIP wedding cus-
toms!)
A video camera suspended
on a wire like for a sports tele-
cast sent live footage to sever-
al Jumbotrons, showing guests
indulging in vast amounts of
kosher food (Ukrainian pastries,
Middle Eastern appetizers, sushi,
beef and fruit) and drink (wine
and vodka in its many incarna-
tions). The giant screens also
captured relatives fussing over
the bride and her being pho-
tographed with family (females
only). The crowd oohed and
aahed at the striking beauty of
the Kaminezki and Futerfas
women. Every move made by the
bride and groom was tracked by
a pack of paparazzi, tripping
over themselves to get the best
shot.
In addition to the usual Jewish
customs, the ceremony included
chanting of the shevah brachot
(seven blessings) by the whos
who in the Ukrainian Jewish
world, family members (promi-
nent rabbis) and of course,
Rabbi Kaminezki himself. There
was even a video on the giant
screen of the late Rebbe, speak-
ing about the importance of
mitzvot and service to Hashem.
It was clear we were no
longer in Kansas. But this was
no dream the Jewish commu-
nity in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine,
is flourishing in a way we never
could have imagined.
The wedding of Shneur Zal-
man Futerfas and Yehudis
Kaminezki was not only the cele-
bration of two people and their
families; it represented the ren-
aissance of a once-beleaguered
Jewish community.
The real Royal Wedding, in-
deed.
Barbara Gaffin was associate
director of the JCRC during the for-
mation of the JCRCs Dnepropetro-
vsk Kehillah Project.
The Royal Wedding of Dnepropetrovsk
2,000 celebrate a marriage and a Jewish community reborn
Giant photos were posted of
the bride, Yehudis Kaminez-
ki, and groom, Shneur Zal-
man Futerfas.
Guests
enjoy a
lavish buf-
fet, above.
Mingling
with the
clowns
before the
wedding
are Judy
Patkin
(left) and
Barbara
Gaffin.
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Established 1902
Vol. 202 No. 5 I 30 Shevat 5771 FEBRUARY 4, 2011 I www.TheJewishAdvocate.com I $1.50
T Te ee en ns s
A concert tix
dilemma.
S Se ee e P Pa ag ge e 1 13 3
M Mo ov vi i e es s
Marriages and
murder in
Barneys Version.
S Se ee e P Pa ag ge e 1 15 5
SHABBAT CANDLE
LIGHTING TIMES
Parshat Teruma
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Should CJP
move to burbs
Its leaders say no, but the
question arises as Hebrew
College puts its building on
the market. See Page 5
March madness
for music lovers
Second annual Jewish festival
features hip-hop to Ladino
with artists ranging from local
cantors to Israeli stars.
See Page 3
Boycott tempest
at temple
Dr. Alice Rothchild, local
leader of American Jews for a
Just Peace, gets stormy re-
ception at Temple Sinai in
Brookline. See Page 2
Jewish pride
in Moscow
Brandeis Professor Jonathan
Sarna returns to Russia after
25 years and is amazed by
the transformation.
See Page 9
My dad,
the bookie
A retired MIT professor
writes a book about growing
up with a gambler.
See Page 15
S St ta ag ge e
Hub debut of
Potoks Asher Lev.
S Se ee e P Pa ag ge e 1 14 4
Framingham
rabbis marching orders: Kabul
By Elise Kigner
Advocate Staff
More than 1,000 cantors,
song-leaders and fans crowded
the sanctuary at Temple Israel
of Boston on Sunday to mourn
and celebrate Debbie Friedman
in the way she had taught them:
through song.
Friedman a singer and
songwriter whose music trans-
formed the services of congre-
gations across the country
died Jan. 9 at the age of 59.
At Remembering Debbie: A
Tribute Concert, a group of
clergy and professional musi-
cians led the audience in songs
that ranged from solemn (Mi
Sheberiach) to silly (613
Commandments) to jubilant
(Miriams Song).
The concert began with the
screening of a video of Fried-
man singing Mourning into
Dancing and the lighting of a
havdalah candle.
Some 50 cantors and song-
leaders stood on the bima,
leading a niggun. In the audi-
ence, a mother swayed with her
State Guards only Jewish chaplain to be deployed in spring
Continued on Page 24
The community sings for Debbie
PHOTOS: JOHN POULIOT IMAGESTAR PRODUCTIONS
Top: Josh Nelson (center) and
Rabbi David Paskin (far right)
and other song leaders perform
at Temple Israel as slides of
Friedman are projected on the
wall. Above: Julie Silver.
By Charles A. Radin
Advocate Columnist
Saad Eddin Ibrahim is per-
haps the most credible of all
Egyptian dissidents.
He spoke out
in defiance of
Hosni Mubaraks
a u t h o r i t a r i a n
rule long before anyone else
dared. He was imprisoned; his
Ibn Khaldun Center for Devel-
opment Studies was trashed;
and he was beaten and abused
before he finally exiled himself
to the United States three years
ago. Hes taught at Columbia,
Indiana and DePauw universi-
ties, been a visiting fellow at
Harvard and is currently a pro-
fessor at Drew University.
A founder of Egypts civil so-
ciety and one of the countrys
most-prominent advocates of
democracy, Ibrahim also is
firmly on record against reli-
gious as well as military hege-
mony over the public sphere.
He took tremendous heat in
Egypt for reversing his initial
Continued on Page 24
By Elise Kigner
Advocate Staff
Kabul is a long way from
Framingham, but Rabbi Lau-
rence Bazer says taking time off
from Temple Beth Sholom to
serve as a chaplain for troops in
Afghanistan comes with the ter-
ritory.
Its part of who I am as a
rabbi, said Bazer, a lieutenant
colonel with the Massachusetts
National Guard. This month, he
heads to Fort Hood, Texas, for
training before flying to
Afghanistan in spring.
Stationed at a base in Kabul,
he will lead Shabbat services
and the major Passover seder;
coordinate worship for all
faiths; and counsel Jewish and
non-Jewish soldiers alike.
It is not my job to go find
Osama Bin Laden in the
foothills of Afghanistan. My job
is to bless the soldiers going
into their missions, and support
them throughout, said Bazer,
the first and only Jewish chap-
lain in the Massachusetts Na-
tional Guard.
In the past, it has been
Bazers role to send spiritual
leaders on missions. In Novem-
ber, he learned he would need
to go himself, his first deploy-
ment in his 22 years in the serv-
ice.
Given the lemon, I am going
to make lemonade out of it,
said Bazer, who is leaving be-
hind not only his 265-family
Continued on Page 4 Rabbi Laurence Bazer
I think I am
personable and a
good listener. They
see the chaplain and
not a rabbi.
Rabbi Laurence Bazer
referring to soldiers
US, Israel risk
playing into
extremists hands
More than 1,000 at Friedman tribute
Is best
stance on
Egypt to
back off?
Analysis
5771 2010-2011
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Volunteers tell how they put
their skills to work
A survivor carves a niche
in cancer fight
North Shore retiree flourishes
as a volunteer
Giving
Snapshots
of generosity
Spring/Summer 2011
As president, Nancy
Falchuk of Newton
cheers Hadassah
through tough times.
Inside:
A bat mitzvah project heals
women an ocean away
Three generations of Bostonians spur
humanitarian efforts worldwide
A Little becomes a Big brother that is
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A A g gu ui i d de e t t o o s si i m mc ch ha as s
S Sp pr r i i n ng g/ /S Su um mm me er r 2 20 01 11 1
Baby girls in the limelight
Chuppahs tell family stories
Artists Web site offers gifts
youll see nowhere else
Teen bands tune up for simchas Bnai mitzvah dos and donts
Howto have a blast on a budget
Party maestro even has
the furniture dancing
Here come the bridesgrooms
THE STUDIO-PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT LEVINE
Religious
Learning
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Programs
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