Euroasian Jewish News

Letter to EAJC President on tolerance clubs

To EAJC President

Mr. Mikhail Mirilashvili

Dear Mr. Mirilashvili,

The Tolerance Clubs are one of the long-term EAJC projects in Ukraine, where they have been running since 2005 and until the present time, in Moldova, where they have been running since 2006, and in Georgia, where they have been open since in 2012. Every club has its own age cohort of children, its own team of coordinators and coaches, its own focus areas that take into account the context of a given country and city, and its own program that takes every single one of these factors into account.

The Tolerance Clubs have several main aims: (1) to contribute to interethnic and interfaith tolerance among children and youth; (2) to create a safe and attractive atmosphere for teenagers who are part of the club; (3) to contribute to the development of the participants’ civil positions and to counteract anti0Semitism and xenophobia; (4) to form a sense of social responsibility among children and teenagers that would be based in European values; (5) attracting ethnic communities to the cultural and democratic values of the countries they live in.

Children who are regular participants in our clubs are less inclined towards xenophobia and aggressive nationalism, they are protected from discrimination and media propaganda alike. Club participants are opinion leaders who know what tolerance is and who impart these values to society. They are open to the world, they know how to maintain dialogue, to come to a mutually beneficial decision, to work in a team, to take responsibility, and to comunicate with a large variety of people. They share democratic and human values, they hold human rights and equality dear to their hearts, they carry the torch of their own culture and traditions and at the ame time are open to the cultures and traditions of others, and are active enactors of positive change in society.

The Clubs of Tolerance have a robust network of partners, including cultural centers, embassies, libraries and NPOs, which in itself speaks about how valuable to project is, and particularly for the reputation of the EAJC. In Kyiv the collaboration is with the Polish Center of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, in Chisinau with the Diversitate Center for Informal Education and the Kedem Jewish Cultural Center, in Kropivnitsk - with the Flora civil organization, in Lviv - with the Consulate of Israel, in Lutsk with the Innerspace coworking, in Tbilisi with the NGO Center for Participation and Development, in Chernivtsi with the NGO Eco-Culture, in Khmelnitsky with the charity foundation KSENA and the Khmelnitsky Regional Universal Research Library.

In the contemporary world, and in the contemporary Jewish world as well, an “intolerant” approach simple does not work. Rabbi Kook and many other Jewish thinkers believe that a tolerant approach is a marker of a fundamental change in the world, which is based in a deep religious tolerance, which means renouncing intolerance and desiring to understand the spark of G-d in the views of other people and intergrate that spark into one’s own views. It resonates with the concept of Tikun Olam, the important Jewish task of transforming or correcting the world towards peace and good. From its very inception, the EAJC has prioritized making the society in the countries where it works a better one. The first unique methods for improving how society sees the Jews were developed as early as 2002. The Clubs of Tolerance projects became one of these methods in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Our project, the “International Network of Clubs for Children and Teenager ‘Clubs of Tolerance’” was approved by the EAJC Program Commission.

We need financing to support the existence of each club over the span of a year. Each club holds weekly meetings, which have diverse formats such as workshops, interactive classes, lectures, and seminars. They are held for a group of regular participants, children and teenagers, and we invite qualified lecturers and experts for each class. Our network of clubs includes six clubs in Ukraine, one in Moldova, and one in Georgia. A detailed description of the project and its budget has been presented to the Israel office of the EAJC. Currently our clubs are continuing to work with the help of volunteers, but to maintain a quality level of our work and a systematic network of support we need your decision to support this project.

Respectfully,

Kira Kreiderman

Coordinator of the International Network of Clubs for Children and Teenager ‘Clubs of Tolerance’