To most who have heard of it, Kishinev is another corner in the vast fabric of lands known as the former Soviet Union. To students of history, the current capital of Moldova was the site of a 1903 pogrom that left 49 Jews dead, hundreds of homes and businesses destroyed and thousands homeless.
To Mira Brichto of North Avondale, it is a chance for healing.
Dr. Brichto's organization, the R'fa-aye-nu (Hebrew for "heal us") Society, works to uncover the past and improve the future of Jewish-Christian relations in Central and Eastern Europe. The future is aided by surplus medical equipment donated to formerly state-run clinics and hospitals; the past is revealed in centuries of moldering manuscripts and documents that the society seeks to preserve.
The physical and spiritual aims converged a few weeks ago in Kishinev's Hall of Minorities. With medical supplies donated by Cincinnati's Jewish Hospital and Standard Textiles on their way, the society gathered Jewish and Christian officials together for an interfaith ceremony, something foreign to the Moldovan landscape.
Children selected from Kishinev's many ethnic groups read the Ten Commandments in nine languages as they clutched rainbow folders made by Cincinnati schoolchildren. They also sang Psalm 133 -- "How good it is and pleasant, for brothers to dwell peacefully together" -- in English, Hebrew and Russian.
For Dr. Brichto, the interfaith gathering in a place haunted by history presented an irresistible opportunity. The fact that previous generations of Jewish refugees founded the donor organizations added to the richness of the event.
"There is a certain poetic justice that people who ran from those shores came here, they prospered because of what this country is, and there's something quite wonderful about sending their excess medical equipment to promote physical and spiritual healing," Dr. Brichto said. "And healing ought to be part of the message." Next summer the R'fa-aye-nu Society hopes to embark on another ambitious project: the Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Lamed-Vov Kolel. Named for the late Chicago and Cincinnati archbishop, who was R'fa-aye-nu's founding honorary chairman, the conference will bring 36 Christian clergy from Central and Eastern Europe to Cincinnati to gain appreciation for the shared cultural heritage of Christians and Jews. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Xavier University, the College of Mount St. Joseph and Milford Retreat Center are cooperating in the effort.
Lending hand in Croatia
Among the many casualties of the 1990-91 breakup of the former Yugoslavia was the Reformed Church of Bilje in eastern Croatia. Bombed by the Serbs in 1992, the church languished as the village's population fled fighting near the border.
And now, as villagers trickle back under an uneasy peace, the church, too, has seen a small-scale resurrection. Its roof is still missing, but thanks to a group from College Hill Presbyterian Church, the rubble and trees that choked it are gone. With College Hill members alongside them, worshipers recently held their first service in the church in years.
The College Hill delegation spent two weeks last month in the Croatian countryside, clearing damaged churches, holding services and organizing a vacation Bible school. The local congregation sponsors missionaries in Croatia, who organized the work for 17 members, ages 16 to 67.
As they drove from village to village, the group was stunned to see the devastation -- entire neighborhoods flattened, with churches appearing to be particular targets.
"It's so depressing. You see these houses destroyed and you think, "There were families there and children,' " said Marybelle Chapman, who led the trip with her husband, the Rev. Harold "Chappie" Chapman. "Someone said they destroyed the churches and the community centers because that's where people got together."
Work on the Bilje church was especially moving for the group. Most of the congregation had fled to nearby Osijek during the fighting, and membership had dwindled to about 20 people who met at the Catholic church in town. They began holding services again on Easter in the church parsonage, and many turned out to help the College Hill group cart debris away in wheelbarrows.
"People were there with tears streaming down their faces," the Rev. Mr. Chapman said. "As we were digging out, Croatian men said they had been married in that church 38 years ago and pointed to the spot where they stood, and brought in the pictures the next day."
They also did work at a church in nearby Hrastin, which has an unexploded shell embedded in the tower. Workers painted the parsonage where members are holding services, bought and installed carpet, and held a vacation Bible school for children. One local parent with a disabled child met with Croatian parents of disabled children, and another started an Alcoholics Anonymous group in the area. And, the Rev. Mr. Chapman said, they tried to remember that what they were was more important than what they did.
"To be the presence of Christ. We came up with (the idea) that we would go as listeners, learners, servants, witnesses and guests," he said. "The living sermons were probably more powerful than words."
Passing out Bibles
From printing presses in an unassuming warehouse on Woodville Pike, Bearing Precious Seed churns out a United Nations of Bibles. Swahili, French, Ukranian, Tsanga, Italian, Pidgin, Amharic -- the ministry of Milford's First Baptist Church expects to print more than 3 million Bibles this year in 20 languages.
The church usually leaves it to missionaries in foreign lands to distribute the Bibles. But in mid-June, 25 young people from the First Baptist youth group took six chaperones and headed to Mexico.
Based in the town of Quahtamoc, the teens went to a different ranch or village every night and invited people to services. The Mexican children would show up first, followed by the women and then the men. A Mexican pastor led the services, and missionaries from First Baptist served as translators.
"It's a life-changing experience," said youth group member Christal Henline, 16, a Goshen resident who had been to Mexico before with her missionary parents. "I wanted my youth group to see what I saw. We really learned the power of prayer."
The group distributed more than 5,000 Bibles during the trip. The Rev. Jonathan Smith, youth pastor and trip leader, wanted the youth group members to learn as much about themselves as about Mexico.
"I was hoping they'd experience what it's like to be in the mission field," he said, "that they'd get a heart for mission work and see what our missionaries do every day of the year."
For Christal, at least, those goals were accomplished. A home-schooled high school junior, she and her family are heading to Alaska next month for a few weeks of mission work. She plans a life in the field. "While I was down there I resurrendered my life to missions," she said. "It was amazing to see lives changed and tears shed."
Counting her blessings
Seeing a children's hospital in Moscow convinced Lauren Reuscher how fortunate she is to live in the United States.
The Sycamore High School senior recently traveled with 17 other members of Madeira Presbyterian Church to the Russian cities of Moscow and Vologda. As they visited patients in the cities' children's hospitals, they saw patients dying of diseases -- such as juvenile diabetes, which Lauren has -- that are easily treatable here.
"I wouldn't even be alive if I was there," the 17-year-old said. In the hospitals, "there was nothing. You'd walk into a room and there were just beds and kids -- no medical equipment. They seemed so empty."
The relationship between Madeira and the Russian institutions was born four years ago, when member Sue Melvin traveled to Russia with her son's school. Seeing the dire needs, Mrs. Melvin and Deborah Reuscher, Lauren's mother, organized a drive to collect donations at her church.
After sending hundreds of pairs of socks and underwear and countless book bags full of school supplies, 18 church members hand-delivered their latest shipment between June 18 and July 7. Seventy-four boxes weighing 70 pounds each contained antibiotics, cancer medication, toothbrushes, hand cream, glue, scissors, pens -- all requested by the people they were visiting.
The group also gave away more than 3,000 Russian New Testaments, printed by Bearing Precious Seed, and the same number of crosses. They brought toys to children in the hospital and organized a day camp where teen-age Russian orphans jumped at the chance to do elementary-school crafts.
"The 17-year-olds were pushing the little kids out of the way to glue animal crackers on arks," said Mrs. Reuscher, the church's director of Christian education, who has learned Russian so she can write letters to the Russian institutions. "The things we take for granted they've never been exposed to before."
On her seventh trip to Russia, Mrs. Melvin noticed changes since 1994, some for the better and some for the worse.
"There have been some cosmetic improvements in the way the city looks, but the situation in the facilities and the situation with people's lives have not. That has gotten progressively worse," she said. "What we do is a small drop in what they need, but we're trying to build up trust with them to show that ordinary people in our country care about what happens to them."
Madeira members also have been sending supplies to an American missionary in Izmir, Turkey. The church is discussing a mission trip there next.
Members of Madeira Presbyterian Church recently delivered supplies to Moscow and Vologda, Russia.
