Jewish Tapestry Project

08/03/2025

Under the solemn skies of Brest on July 28, 2025, history whispered anew.

The Brest-Litovsk Jewish Cemetery Memorial 'Memory Embrace'—a sacred culmination of a twelve-year odyssey of remembrance—was officially opened.

In this hallowed moment, weathered stones returned home, and fractured memories were made whole. It stands as a testament to what determined hearts can achieve when united in purpose.

In partnership with our UK sister non-profit The Together Plan, we are immensely proud of what we’ve helped to accomplish.

This memorial on the territory of the Brest-Litovsk Jewish cemetery in the south of Belarus, marks the end of years of tireless effort to honour a long-forgotten chapter of history—the Jewish cemetery of Brest-Litovsk in southern Belarus. This is a story that needed to be told.

To everyone who supported, championed, and believed in this vital cause—thank you. This memorial opens a new dialogue and illuminates the hidden history of Eastern Europe’s Jews—the Polish Jews who became Soviet Belarusian Jews in 1939, only to be murdered between 1941 and 1944 after N**i Germany invaded the Soviet Union.

So many stories remain untold.
Now, we begin telling them.

Click the link to read the article: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/the-brest-jewish-cemetery-memorial-officially-opens/

30 July 2025 Approach path to Memory Embrace Photo credit: The Together Plan Under the solemn skies of Brest on 28th July 2025, history whispered anew as The Together Plan unveiled the Brest-Litovsk Jewish Cemetery Memorial – the sacred culmination of a twelve-year odyssey of remembrance. In this ...

04/11/2025

As we prepare for Passover — a time of freedom, remembrance, and resilience — our hearts are with those still waiting for their freedom: the hostages held in Gaza. May they return home swiftly and safely.

This season, we reflect not only on our ancient liberation but also on stories of more recent silence and suffering. For decades, the voices of Soviet Jews were suppressed, their history erased, and their pain hidden.

But now, we have a powerful opportunity to set that hidden history free.

This Passover, join us in supporting the completion of the Brest-Litovsk Jewish Cemetery Memorial in Belarus — a long-overdue tribute to a nearly lost community.

More than 80 years ago, over 1,200 headstones from Brest’s Jewish cemetery were desecrated. Under Soviet rule, even the Holocaust’s impact in Belarus was concealed. But through this memorial, we can finally restore dignity and memory to those who were silenced.

Read this extract from the memoirs of Ykhezkel Kotik, who lived just 40km from Brest (Brisk), and step into the world we are working to remember: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/a-snapshot-from-the-shtetl/

This Passover, as we celebrate our freedom, let us honour those who never had theirs.
✨ Every donation, no matter the size, helps us bring this story out of the shadows. Donation links are in the article.
Together, we can build a legacy of truth, remembrance, and hope.

Wishing you and your loved ones a season of peace, renewal, and freedom.
Chag Pesach Sameach🤍

03/28/2025

As Jewish communities across Belarus gathered to celebrate Purim in 2025, the festival’s vibrant traditions served as a powerful reminder of the resilience and revival of Jewish life in the post-Soviet space. Once nearly erased under decades of repression, Jewish identity and religious practice are experiencing a resurgence, with Purim offering a moment of joy, solidarity, and cultural reconnection. From Minsk to smaller towns with deep-rooted Jewish histories, the holiday’s customary megillah readings and masquerades highlighted not only the enduring spirit of Belarus’ Jewish population but also the broader efforts to reclaim and preserve Jewish heritage in the region.

Purim, one of the brightest and most joyful holidays in the Jewish calendar, commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from annihilation at the hands of an official of the Achaemenid Empire named Haman. This year, the L**h L**ha Minsk Jewish community celebrated Purim on a grand scale, organising a rich programme that united traditions, creativity, and community interaction.

The resurgence of Purim celebrations in Belarus underscores the resilience of Jewish communities, offering an opportunity to reconnect with traditions and embrace cultural heritage. Through creative performances, engaging activities, and the reading of the megillah, these celebrations fostered joy and unity, reinforcing the importance of community life. This year’s Purim was not only a festive occasion but also a chance for communities to strengthen their bonds, share happiness, and create lasting memories🤍

Read the full article on our website: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/revival-renaissance-resilience-and-a-well-travelled-megillah/

03/20/2025

It’s time to take the final steps toward completing this groundbreaking historic memorial.

Debra Brunner and Artur Livshyts, co-founders of The Together Plan, will be providing an exclusive update on the progress at the site and unveiling an exciting final push campaign – open to all ages – and explaining how you can take part and help us cross the finish line.

Don’t miss this opportunity to make history with us!

Book your tickets here: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/events/the-brest-litovsk-brisk-jewish-cemetery-memorial-the-final-push/

03/14/2025

Join us for our great big walkathon🎉

We’re coming together to raise funds for the completion of the historic Brest-Litovsk Jewish Cemetery Memorial in Belarus, an important project that will unveil an untold story of history and heritage.

Your participation in this walkathon will directly contribute to preserving this vital piece of Jewish history. Together, we can ensure the memory of the past is honoured and celebrated for generations to come.

Between April 18th and June 8th

🤍 set your own challenge
🤍 choose your distance
🤍 plan your route
🤍 set up your fundraising page and goal (as an individual or a team)

Wherever you are in the world, come walk with us, make a difference, and be part of something meaningful!

Click here to register: https://www.jewishtapestryproject.org/campaign/stepping-out-together-a-global-challenge/

03/04/2025

The Ghetto Fighters’ House and Jewish Tapestry Project invite you to a new series: ‘Jews in the Soviet Union: A Complex Narrative’

🗓️Join us for the second program on Sunday, March 9, 2025 - ‘The Intersection of Heroism and Tragedy during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union’

Guest Speakers:
Dr. Yaakov Falkov
Dr. Marta Havryshko
Mr. Marco Gonzalez

The second program in this series on the Soviet Union will focus on the intersection of heroism and tragedy during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Dr. Yaakov Falkov will give an overall description of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union with all its complexities concerning the Jews living in this region. The second speaker is Dr. Marta Havryshko and she will give a talk on the experience of Jewish women during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union. The final speaker is Marco Gonzalez, director of Yahad-In Unum, who will discuss the organization’s goal in mapping Jewish killing sites, collecting evidence and testimonies.

This program is in partnership with the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Center, Classrooms Without Borders, the Rabin Chair Forum at George Washington University, The Together Plan, and Yahad-In Unum.

Register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/YAAePfmzRz-OR9IMaThBOw

03/03/2025

We are delighted to share the exciting news of the long-awaited opening of the Jewish Educational Centre, which took place on February 5th in the historical heart of Mogilev, on Leninskaya Street. Our team in Minsk travelled to Mogilev to witness this significant event, where Artur Livshyts, co-founder of The Together Plan and Chair of the Jewish Religious Union of Belarus, welcomed the gathering of community members and distinguished guests.

This new cultural and educational space, developed over the past decade with the support of Belarusian and international investors and builders, is designed to serve as a hub for spiritual and cultural growth for both children and adults. The modern building features welcoming spaces for seminars, festivals, and community gatherings, with plans to establish a Jewish kindergarten and a Chabad synagogue in the near future. More than just a building, this Centre represents years of dedication and a shared vision to create a place for learning, connection, and collective progress.

The grand opening was marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony, attended by Chief Rabbi of Russia Berl Lazar, Rabbi Mendel Alperovich of the Chabad Jewish Community in Mogilev, and representatives of both national and local authorities.

The opening of the Jewish Educational Centre in Mogilev is a momentous achievement for the region, underscoring the importance of interfaith dialogue and collaboration. This Centre will serve as a space for individuals of all backgrounds to come together, fostering spiritual and cultural development, strengthening community ties, and paving the way for a bright and inclusive future.

01/31/2025

In May 2024, The Together Plan launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for a truly historic project: the creation of a memorial on the site of the Brest-Litovsk Jewish cemetery in the southwest of Belarus. This cemetery, once the resting place of a vibrant 26,000-strong Jewish community decimated in the Holocaust, is set to become a powerful testament to the past.

Since construction began in October 2024, we’ve been bringing you regular updates on the project’s progress. At the heart of this memorial will be 1,249 salvaged gravestones, fragments of history that once stood proudly in the cemetery. These stones will be thoughtfully incorporated into the design, ensuring that the memory of the community they represent is preserved for generations to come. The winter so far in Belarus has been mild, with some light snow. As a result the works have been able to continue at a pace and we are pleased to be able to share the latest images from the construction site.

We are aiming for completion this summer, but the road has not been without challenges. Inflation, sanctions, and the complexities of geopolitics have driven up costs, leaving us with some final fundraising to ensure the project reaches the finish line. Now, we need your support more than ever for this final push.

On February 16th, we’ll be holding an online gathering to update you on the developments at the site, share the latest news from our team on the ground in Belarus, and unveil our new campaign. This campaign is designed to inspire a global effort—one that will get people of all ages and abilities up and moving to help raise the funds we need to complete the memorial. Register your attendance here: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/events/behind-the-scenes-of-the-brest-litovsk-brisk-jewish-cemetery-memorial-project/

01/27/2025

As 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, we reflect on a pivotal chapter of human history. For much of Western Europe, the war’s conclusion is remembered as a victory over tyranny and genocide. Yet, in the Soviet Union, the narrative diverges. Known as the Great Patriotic War, it was a fight not just against the N**is but for the survival of the motherland itself. While this history is celebrated with solemnity, the Jewish experience during the war and its aftermath remains shadowed by deliberate silencing and systemic oppression.

Today, Jewish Tapestry Project seeks to uncover and preserve these buried stories. The Jewish experience in the Soviet Union during and after the war is a critical part of history that must be remembered and shared. It reminds us of the resilience of those who clung to their identity despite unimaginable adversity and systemic efforts to erase them.

As we commemorate the end of the Second World War, let us also honour the stories that were silenced and strive to bring them into the light. Remembering is an act of justice, and it is through remembrance that we ensure such tragedies never happen again.

Read the full article: https://www.thetogetherplan.com/80-years-on-the-untold-jewish-experience-in-the-soviet-union/

For more on Jewish history, heritage, and identity in Belarus, visit https://www.thetogetherplan.com/

Together, we can reclaim and preserve this vital legacy.

01/27/2025

This day, 27 January, marks the International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the N**i concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

During the Second World War Belarus became the front line and its Jewish population was all but wiped out. The Minsk Ghetto, notorious throughout Europe for its inhumane living conditions, was destroyed and its inhabitants murdered, while death camps in Belarus became the testing grounds for Zyklon-B, the toxic gas used widely to exterminate Jews across Europe. The few survivors – some of whom had escaped to Jewish partisan brigades in the forests of Northern Belarus – continued to suffer after the war due to discrimination and the prohibition by law of religious (including Jewish) practice.

Frida Reizman escaped the Minsk Ghetto as a child. Over 100,000 Jewish people perished in this brutal ghetto without walls. In 2020, we walked the streets of Minsk with Frida to hear her story. Frida has never left Minsk and it was only after the fall of Communism that she was able to start telling the stories of the ghetto. What happened on the territory that is modern day Belarus during the Holocaust is little spoken of. It’s time to talk.

Please watch Frida’s Story on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ss748Gq7KA&ab_channel=TheTogetherPlan

01/26/2025

Shortly before the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we invite you to watch this short film. This is the story of Leonid Simonovski whose mother sent him away as a young child to fend for himself in the forest, as she knew the killings in the Mogilev Ghetto would start soon.

In this impactful film, Leonid tells the story of how he came back to the house that once belonged to his family.

Watch it on The Together Plan’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nldiPuFP0&ab_channel=TheTogetherPlan

01/25/2025

In his early years Sam shared his home in Brest-Litovsk, a thriving town in Poland, with grandparents and extended family. His childhood was steeped in tradition and ritual. Jewish songs, morality tales, festivals and the Yiddish language forged the core of his identity and enduring sense of self.

Sam was one of the fortunate few who managed to escape the Holocaust with his family. They found their way out of the darkness of Europe in the late 1930’s, to arrive in Melbourne, Australia where they built a new life without fear and persecution.

In many ways, the challenges Sam faced in his early life in Eastern Europe provided him with the resourcefulness and fortitude to endure the difficult years as an immigrant in a foreign country. The skills he learnt as a boy in the family’s factories in Brest-Litovsk, interacting with the workers, also provided the expertise that would eventually enable him to build a thriving business in Australia.

In the run-up to the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we encourage you to watch this interview with Sam Webb, that The Together Plan commissioned with Alice Meyers of The Story Keepers, that was recorded during the global Coronavirus pandemic, in January 2021. He was 96 at the time of the recording.

To watch it, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcU9Et9XDcQ&ab_channel=TheTogetherPlan