Lutsk - TLSE's Twinned Community in the Ukraine

TLSE now has a "twin" Community in the town of Lutsk in the Ukraine. This is an exciting project for us, and for the past eighteen months we have been developing and strengthening our link with the Progressive Jewish Community in this Ukrainian town. We have been exchanging letters, photos and information about Lutsk and TLSE, and we hope that both communities will benefit from the link.

Two small groups of TLSE members have visited Lutsk so far, and we were all particularly pleased that Rabbi Pete was able to accompany us on our trip there in March 2007.   Funds raised for Lutsk this year from TLSE's Yom Kippur Appeal have been used to help fund Hebrew classes for the Lutsk Community members who are keen to learn more about their Judaism and areas of religious practice.

Lutsk is situated in the north west of the Ukraine, near the Polish border, just north west of Lviv. In 1939, when it was part of Poland, about 40% of the city's population was Jewish and there were 38 synagogue buildings and Jewish congregations and communities in the town. But after the tragedies of the Holocaust and decades of Soviet rule, there had been no Jewish Community there for many years, so it is a great achievement that this Liberal Jewish Community that was set up here only in 1999, now has as many as 200 members.

They do not have a rabbi based in Lutsk - there are only 2 progressive rabbis in the whole of the Ukraine - so they have to rely on their own members for most of the services. And although many of the members in Lutsk have not had the traditional Jewish backgrounds that many of us remember, they are trying to involve all age groups in community life.

So we at TLSE look forward further developing our relationship with the Lutsk Community, and hope that members from both communities will benefit from the link. We have much in common in spite of our different backgrounds and geographical locations. A Lutsk Planning Group has been set up at TLSE to co-ordinate the project - do contact the office if you are interested in participating, and look out for details of Lutsk Link news and activities on the synagogue noticeboard and in our Hakol Magazine.

Photo Gallery from Lutsk

The building in Lutsk used by the community for services and social events	Family Kiddush	Celebrating Havdallah
Simchat Torah	Sukkot	The community with their new scroll, at Shavout
Shabbat service	Kabbalat Shabbat	Yom Ha'Shoah memorial service at the Lutsk holocaust memorial
Photos from our first visit to Lutzk
In the Art Studio	Don & Stella with Tanya (interpreter), at Shabbat lunch	Kesher Women's Group mock seder
Street scene, Lutsk	Tanya (interpreter), and one of the older members of the community, on the ramparts of the 12th C Lutsk castle	Netzer group
Photos from our visit to Lutsk in March 2007
The TLSE group visiting in March 2007, outside the synagogue building	Concentrating . . . .	Hakol arrives in Lutsk!
Erev Shabbat	Barmitzvah ceremony	Meeting with the synagogue Board
Erev Shabbat	Members of both communities on our last evening	Members of the Netzer group in Lutsk