Washington, D.C., February 25, 2008 – Carpatho-Rusyns worldwide called the robbery of the residence of Menachem Mendel Teichman, Rabbi of Uzhhorod [Ukraine] and the Transcarpathian oblast on October 7, 2007 an ominous event. It was not a robbery in the everyday sense of the word, which has the goal of seizing objects of value, but a barbarous action, in which the perpetrators aimed not so much to steal material valuables as to destroy a dwelling place, making it unusable, to wreck the owner’s possessions, and terrorize the Rabbi and his family – his wife and four small children. This tragic incident is perhaps unique in the thousand-year history of Subcarpathia (the Transcarpathian oblast). Over the course of the last five centuries or more, the indigenous Rusyn ethnos and the Jewish community have co-existed peacefully. There were never any Jewish pogroms on this land. Instead, between these two groups there have always existed neighborly relations, characterized by mutual respect and tolerance.

Menachem Mendel Teichman, Rabbi of Uzhhorod, Ukraine. (Photo: Ezra Tobak)

Therefore, it was an obligation of honor for Rusyn public organizations to express sympathy to Rabbi Teichman and his family, to show support for him in particular, as well as for the entire Jewish community of Transcarpathia. On October 26, 2007, Professor Paul Robert Magocsi, president of the World Congress of Rusyns, issued a Declaration in which he sharply condemned this act of vandalism, which could lead to the deterioration of inter-ethnic relations in the region. The Declaration, which was broadcast to the entire Rusyn world through the media, asserted: “This event is extraordinary, because Uzhhorod and the historic region of Subcarpathian Rus’ have, in contrast to most other parts of central and Eastern Europe, never experienced any pogroms. Whereas Uzhhorod itself is home to people of many ethnicities, the region of Subcarpathian Rus’ is inhabited primarily by Rusyns. Carpatho-Rusyns, wherever they live, are appalled by what has happened to the residence of Rabbi Teichman.”

The World Congress of Rusyns called on the government of Ukraine to make every effort to find the perpetrators of this attack and to bring them to justice. A group of Americans of Rusyn background (Mika Popovic, Elaine Rusinko, Victor Haburchak, Harold Krivell) and the Carpatho-Rusyn Research Center (Erie, Pennsylvania) presented a financial gesture to Rabbi Teichman as a sign of support at this difficult time.

Rabbi Teichman presents the Rusyns of Transcarpathia with a silver menorah. Valerii Padiak, Chairman of the Dukhnovych Society of Uzhhorod, accepts the gift. (Photo: Ezra Tobak)

On December 4, the first day of the great Jewish holiday Hanukkah, at the Rabbi’s invitation a group of representatives of the Rusyn intelligentsia and public organizations took part in the ceremonial lighting of the first Hanukkah candle, which took place in the building of the great synagogue of Uzhhorod (now the Concert Hall). Present were the patriarch of the Rusyn movement Vasyl’ Sarkanych, Rusyn folk artist and former soloist of the Transcarpathian National Chorus Vira Bahanych, distinguished teacher of Ukraine and member of the World Council of Rusyns Mykhailo Almashii, head of the Regional Association of Subcarpathian Rusyns Mykola Bobynets’, national artist of Ukraine and laureate of the Shevchenko Prize Volodymyr Mykyta, and head of the Dukhnovych Society and publisher Dr. Valerii Padiak, among others. The Jewish congregation of Transcarpathia reacted with applause to the reading of the Declaration of the World Congress of Rusyns by Valerii Padiak. In addition, Padiak noted numerous examples of Rusyn-Jewish cooperation and mutual support. For example, he observed that a former member of the Jewish community of Transcarpathia, Stefan Moldovan, who currently lives in Canada, regularly contributes funds for the Rusyn Sunday schools of Transcarpathia.

In his address, Rabbi Teichman expressed deep gratitude to those who shared this unexpected sorrow with him, his family, and the Jewish community. He expressed appreciation for those who support the Jews of Transcarpathia and sustain the preservation of inter-ethnic peace and stability in the Transcarpathian oblast. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Teichman also thanked the Rusyn organizations for their moral and material support and expressed a desire to allocate the monetary gift to a fund for the support of orphans in Transcarpathia.

Press-Center of the Uzhhorod Dukhnovych Society

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