On January 29 a conference of the leaders of Kazakhstan’s Jewish organizations was held in Almaty. More than 100 people came for this important forum - Hesed Directors, Heads of Jewish Community and Cultural Centers, active young members from all cities of Kazakhstan. There were distinguished guests at the Conference: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Mr. Israel May-Ami, Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Assembly of Kazakhstan High Cossack Ataman Yuriy Zakharov, Chairman of the Vozrazhdeniye Society Alexander Dederer, Executive Vice President of the Eurasian Jewish Congress and Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan Feodor Ossinin, Chairwoman of the World Jewish Agency Sohnut in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Alexandra Briskin.

The event opened with the blessing read by Rabbi Shevakh Zlatopolskiy.

The conference participants were greeted by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Mr. Israel May-Ami, "This Conference is important to us all. It is especially important in view of the recent International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Embassy in Astana organized an event devoted to Shoa - we told about that tragic period when 6,000,000 Jews died. The fact that you are here is the best prove that the Jewish people was, is, and will be.

Our small state survived despite all threats and barriers.

In 2009 the relations between Kazakhstan and Israel developed very well. In June Kazakhstan was visited by the President of Israel, Shimon Peres, who was accompanied by leading businessmen and rabbis. The visit had both political and economic meaning. We currently work to further strengthen our relations."

Thanks to President Nazarbayev’s policy, Jewish Community of Kazakhstan is equal among equals. The Deputy Chairman of the Peoples Assembly of Kazakhstan, High Cossack Ataman Yuriy Zakharov, greeted all Conference participants on behalf of the Secretariat Chief of the Assembly, Eraly Lukpanovich Tugzhanov, "Mitsva" Association unites activities of the whole Jewish community of Kazakhstan in approximately 150 places of the country, it is actively involved in charity activities, conducts important social work to strengthen interethnic and interconcessional relations. The life of Kazakhstan Jewish Community proves the effectiveness of Kazakhstan’s model for interethnic tolerance implemented under the guidance of the Head of State.

The World Jewish Agency Sohnut has been working for many years in Kazakhstan. A Representative of the World Jewish Agency Sohnut in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Alexandra Briskin greeted the Conference participants. Ms. Briskin said that she is relatively new in Kazakhstan and she looks forward to cooperation with the community centers and Heseds.

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is the largest charity organization helping Jewish communities in 65 countries. It started working in Kazakhstan in 1991. Today the Committee provides all kinds of support to the Jewish community of Kazakhstan - there are social programs, programs for studying traditions and development of young leaders. Galina Chelokhsayeva read out the greeting from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, "Charity has been an important part of Joint’s activities right from its foundation. Usually we provide help to Holocaust victims, elderly people, socially underprivileged, disabled and orphans. We are pleased to note that Kazakhstan takes efforts to enforce respectful attitude to citizens of all ethnical origins, attributes great importance to developing tolerance and interconfessional consent, preserving and developing traditions of every ethnos."

Welcoming remarks from the Leader of Eurasian Jewish Congress (EJC) and President of Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan (JCK) Alexander Mashkevich were presented to the Conference participants. Ten-year work of Jewish Congress united Jews of Kazakhstan into a powerful community that looks into the future with confidence, openly follows Jewish traditions and is proud of Jewish history, and is an equal part of multi-ethnical society. An overview report was presented by Director of Public Affairs Department of the EJC, Roman Spektor, "For the ten years that passed since the foundation of the Congress, numerous programs providing for the needs of Jewish Community of Kazakhstan obtained important content. Due to the work done by the Congress, Separate Jewish organizations working in large cities and small towns of Kazakhstan now feel to be a part of the whole." In view of the ten years of successful work, Eurasian Congress awarded with a medal the following individuals for a remarkable contribution to the development of Jewish cultural and social life which supported mutual understanding and friendship between our peoples: Member of the Board Grigoriy Umanov, Rahel Hesed Director of Pavlodar Tatyana Slivinskaya, Efraim Hesed Director of Petropavlovsk Svetlana Makarovskaya.

Vice-President of JCK, Feodor Ossinin, presented a report on the work of the Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan: "Ten years of the Congress work in Kazakhstan has done a lot for the Jews of our country and I am proud that we together were making the history of Jewish people in Kazakhstan. I would like to underline that Jewish Congress of Kazakhstan is an integral part of the Eurasian Jewish Congress, which in its turn is an integral part of the World Jewish Congress."

At the conference additional reports of Jewish organizations leaders were presented. Charity activities were featured in the report of Hesed Polina Director Inessa Chugainova. Irina Kozhanovskaya, Director of the Freilehe Kinder Festival, spoke about cultural and community events. Closing report was made by President of Mitsva Association Alexander Baron, who noted: "Jewish Community of Kazakhstan is currently quite a unique phenomenon in the world as it is a rapidly developing Jewish organization in the country with predominantly Muslim population."

The Board of Mitsva Association plays an important role in Kazakhstan. It consists of distinguished Kazakhstani Jewish who have a great influence in the community. At the end of the Conference, members of managing organizations of the Board were elected for the next working period. Alexander Baron was unanimously elected the Chairman of the Board. Feodor Ossinin, Grigoliy Umanov, Eugeniy Mirzayev, and Igor Berner have become members of the Board.

Conference speakers and participants noted increased and further improving Jewish self identification in Kazakhstan. Interconfessional consent is carefully developed and protected among all Kazakhstani peoples.

Lyudmila Starodubova