On December 26-29, the Chairman of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress General Council, co-Chairman of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraie (VAAD Ukraine) Josef Zissels held a series of meetings with the leader of the International Renaissance Foundation Evgen Bystritsky, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Andriy Vitrenko, and Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Kvit.

 

Josef Zissels spoke about a number of projects that have been supported by the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress for many years and that are aimed largely at fostering inter-ethnic and interfaith tolerance. The projects employ unique methods of immersion. Over the summer and fall of 2014, dozens of teenagers and young men and women from families that were displaced from Donbass region as a result of the war participated in the projects. The methods originally employed for fostering tolerance were adapted for a warring Ukraine and showed great promise in bridging the “civilizational divide” betweeen its western and eastern regions.

 

Josef Zissels proposed that the Ukrainian government consider creating a state-sponsored program for fostering tolerance. The proposition provoked lively interest and a desire to continue discussing this important problem.