At Action for Post-Soviet Jewry (Action-PSJ), we often say that the heart of our mission is rooted in relationships—relationships that span decades and continents. For nearly 50 years, we have been a bridge between the Greater Boston Jewish community and Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union.

This connection is especially strong with the Jewish community of Dnipro, Ukraine—a partnership launched through Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP) in the early 1990s. It was then that Boston stepped forward to help rebuild Jewish life in Dnipro after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

These institutions—and the trust that holds them together—were born from the Boston–Dnipro Partnership launched by CJP. Action-PSJ has proudly played a central role in that work, and we are grateful that, more than 30 years later, we are still partnering with CJP to ensure that no elder, no family, and no child is left without care.

From Eyeglasses to Sight-Saving Surgeries

In the early 1990s, Boston volunteers helped launch a mobile eye clinic in Dnipro. We brought over equipment, donated eyeglasses, and supported basic screenings that helped people see to read and work. It was simple, grassroots, and deeply personal.

Today, that same community—once served by donated reading glasses—is receiving sight-saving ophthalmologic surgeries, advanced diagnostics, and treatments that prevent blindness. We have gone from basic screenings to high-level medical interventions, many performed by specialists at the Jewish Medical Center that Boston helped establish decades ago. (You can learn more about APSJ’s 50-year history here.)

Expanding Telehealth to Elders and Children

As the war intensified, Action-PSJ partnered with the Jewish Medical Center of Dnipro to provide telehealth services to our homebound elders across Ukraine. These beamed high-level speciality services right into the apartments of the most vulnerable elders. These are elders who have already lived through so much—the end years of the Holocaust, the harsh constraints of the Soviet era, the collapse of the USSR, decades of economic uncertainty and antisemitism—and now another war on their doorstep. They know what it means to survive the unimaginable. But no one should have to summon that level of resilience in their 80s or 90s. (Watch a message from one of the elders.)

The telehealth program became a lifeline for older adults unable to travel safely. But as needs grew, we expanded telehealth to include the children of the Special Needs Educational Resource Center (ERC), also founded through the Boston–Dnipro partnership.

Now these children receive neurological consultations, developmental assessments, mental health support, and more. And for their parents, having this care provided by professionals sensitive to their children’s needs, not needing to wait for months for an appointment and hours at a clinic, all while navigating the uncertainty of war, this care is a lifeline—and it’s rooted in the same partnership that began decades ago.

A Hanukkah Message From Boston to Dnipro

As we light our menorahs across Greater Boston, our homes will fill with warmth and community. But our light does not stop here.

It reaches Dnipro. It reaches the Jewish Medical Center and the ERC. It reaches elders, parents, and children who know that Boston—through CJP, through Action-PSJ, through all of us—has not forgotten them.

This is what it means to be in a global Jewish community. This Hanukkah, may our Boston community’s light continue to reach those who need it most in Dnipro. Because we began this journey together, and we will continue it together—in darkness, in hope, and in light.

Debbie Kardon is executive director of Action for Post-Soviet Jewry.

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