Women activists meet in Kiev

More than 100 Jewish women from North America, Israel and the former Soviet Union opened a conference Tuesday on Jewish social activism in Kiev. The conference is sponsored by Project Kesher, founded in 1989 to provide leadership training, Jewish education and social programming for Jewish women in the former Soviet Union. Project Kesher women’s groups are now working in more than 150 communities to address domestic violence, human trafficking, women’s health issues, anti-Semitism, and other forms of bigotry and intolerance in the region. During the five-day gathering in Kiev and Simferopol, eight Torahs brought from North America will be presented to congregations in Ukraine and Russia.