Landed in Ukraine!
Project Kesher's "Flying Torahs" have landed!
On September 30th, children at the JCC in Manhattan painted colorful squares that were sewn together into a quilt which traveled with three Torah Scrolls to the communities of Mirgorod, Kamenets-Podolsky, and Shostka, Ukraine. A delegation of 33 American women delivered the Torah Scrolls. These are the 23rd and 24th Torah Scrolls that Project Kesher has brought to date to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus through the Torah Return Project.
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The Torah Scrolls were presented to representatives of each of the communities at a moving ceremony in Poltava, Ukraine. We were greeted by members of the local community and Project Kesher's women's group and teen group.
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The Poltava Project Kesher Teen Group "adopted" a local orphanage and visited the children for several years. During the US delegation visit, they completed a special gifting program for the 62 orphaned children who identified their own "wished for gift." PK teens went into the community and fulfilled every one! These teens, like all Project Kesher program participants, identify the most pressing needs in their community and are provided with the tools from Project Kesher to address them. How inspiring it was to share in the success of this project!
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 The children from the orphanage were invited to create their own artsquares to be sewn to the ones designed by our JCC artists.
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Project Kesher's Torah Return Project
Project Kesher is the largest Jewish Women's organization in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Our Torah Return Project has brought 24 Torah Scrolls to the region to date and has been a catalyst for the reemergence of Jewish life in the region.
Each Torah Scroll represents Project Kesher's commitment to the continuity of Jewish life in the region and each community is transformed as a result of the gift. All communities must have Project Kesher programs in place to ensure a committed generation of young Jews. We also see dramatic growth in our secular programming in our Torah communities, including new breast cancer awareness and support initiatives, tolerance programming, and ongoing projects to address the high rate of domestic violence. Our unique organizational model empowers women and girls to transform themselves and the lives of others.
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