JDC Volunteer Shares Her Experiences on Her Blog

Tanya Fredman, an artist from St. Louis (featured in an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and posted on our blog HERE) spent most of this past year as a volunteer both in Israel and at the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda.

(click on the picture to see more photos)

Share in her stories, thoughts and photographs of her volunteer experience by visiting her blog, Painting Hope: Israel and Rwanda

Training the Best of the Best

The latest briefing from Steve Schwager, CEO

Time and again, people call or email me after they travel abroad to comment on the unique quality of JDC and the staff they meet in each overseas community. I could simply say “thank you” and that we have an excellent recruiting process, but truthfully that is only part of the story.

JDC is a complex organization supporting hundreds of programs at thousands of sites; we spend in excess of $1 million a day in the process. Since our operating model around the world is to empower local communities, those communities must be prepared to shoulder the responsibility of carrying out JDC programs—and this requires high quality professionals. How can we best guarantee such an outcome?

The answer is that we devote significant time and effort to training. This is critically important in countries where community development skills and leadership skills are not equal to those we find in the West.

Given the size and breath of our activities, each person in our organization and in the local communities must be trained to handle effectively the many and varied scenarios they may face. We train dedicated JDC professionals, local community staff, volunteers, and lay leaders so that they have the know-how to most efficiently and effectively help those in need. If we do not inculcate this essential knowledge into the process and that information is not passed down through training one generation after another, then the chain will be broken and essentials—such as food and medicine—will not reach clients in need in the most efficient manner.

READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP

JDC Ambassadors Society Mission to Turkey and Uzbekistan

Recruitment has officially begun for the
JDC Ambassadors Society Mission to Turkey and Uzbekistan

 

January 15-22, 2010

 

 

Mission Highlights:

• Spend a memorable and unique Shabbat with the Jewish community of Istanbul
• See firsthand the educational, welfare and community development programs that energize the Uzbek Jewish community
• See the sights of modern Istanbul and marvel at the magnificent ancient monuments of Samarkand, Tashkent and Bukhara

  For more information, please contact Dov Ben-Shimon at (212) 885-0841 or email dov@jdcny.org

Baltimore Israel & Overseas Blog: JDC in the FSU

This recent post from the Baltimore Israel and Overseas blog of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore talks about JDC's work in the Former Soviet Union, the triumph of the revitalization of Jewish life in the region and the tragedy of the extreme poverty that many still live in today.

You can read it at Tragedy and Triumph: JDC in the FSU.

Reflections on the Past and Looking to the Future

A Rosh Hashana message from Alan Gill, Executive Director of International Relations

Friends,

JDC turned 95 years old this past Monday. I was in NY that day and when I came to the office , I stood in our lobby and took a longer look than usual at the portrait of JDC's founders. Of course, I read once again the famous cablegram from Henry Morgenthau to Jacob Schiff --the plea for emergency assistance for the suffering Jews of Palestine. As always, I felt that surge of pride of being associated with the mission and history of JDC.

As Rosh Hashana nears, Jews throughout the world are mustering the courage to face our innermost selves during these days of introspection and awe. We will examine our actions of this past year, and we will commit to do the necessary repair work in order to bring ourselves to new levels of humility, inner strength and righteousness during the coming year.

We who have been handed down the privelege of stewardship of JDC's mission and vitality have, perhaps, a special sense of responsibility during these coming days of reflection. To be 95 years old and to have helped millions of Jews in need in 85 countries; to have helped Israel during its rebirth to statehood while continuing to do our part today in its efforts to be "A Light Among Nations"; to have aided our brethren who suffered under communist regimes to reclaim their Jewish identities while providing life-sustaining care to those most needy among them....these achievements are truly awesome in their own right.

Yet, in this coming week of introspection and judgement, it is upon us whom the Jews of the world depend to ask ourselves, "How will we be judged at this time next year?" And we will specifically ask ourselves if we are up to the challenge of shepherding JDC through the most challenging economic times in our 95 year history.

There are too many stacks of documents in our archives that speak all too painfully of those periods when JDC was able to do only so much for our People in peril. We could only rescue so many Jews of Europe from the clutches of the Nazis. We could only do so much for our brethren in the Soviet Union until the Iron Curtain fell. Despite doing all that they could, I imagine that those who were responsible for JDC during those times had the most trying of High Holidays. Knowing that Jews were suffering and in utter danger and that JDC could only do so much... how could they not have felt a sense of collective responsibility and cry during their prayers, "Ashamnu!"

Today's challenges might pale in severity to those of our forebearers, yet they carry grave consequenes all the same. During our meetings next month, the Board will be faced with the most trying budget decisions in recent history. However, as challenging as these times may be, they are not political in nature. For unlike in past generations, we have the unprecedented opportunity to reach any Jew in need, in any corner of the globe. All that we lack are the necessary resources to do what JDC has done so nobly throughout its rich history. And this is surely what will be on my mind when the Shofar sounds Sunday morning.

Warmest wishes to you and your loved ones for a Shana Tova.

Alan

Blue Dawn: Army Service Launches Careers for Haredi Israelis

Service in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is an asset for finding employment in Israel. It provides practical training and connections useful in finding a rewarding career, and for many potential employers it is reflective of the applicant's discipline, teamwork abilities and decision-making skills. Job applicants without army credentials may be refused employment, making deferral or exemption from army service a disadvantage for career life in Israel. While many Haredi men recognize army service as a gateway to career opportunities, they are discouraged by the IDF's secular environment and rigid requirements.

JDC's Blue Dawn program was created to allow Haredi men to benefit from the vocational training and job skill acquisition that, in addition to IDF service itself, can put them ahead in finding high-level employment. Blue Dawn units adhere to religious stringencies consistent with the participants' civilian lives, even providing time for daily Torah study. Since many of the men are married and have children, they are placed on bases close to home and offered more flexible hours.

Blue Dawn started in the Israel Air Force, where participants trained in areas such as aircraft mechanics and electronics or helicopter engine repair and maintenance. The program has now been expanded to other IDF divisions including software testing and computer programming for intelligence units, mechanical and electrical repairs aboard navy ships, and work in the IDF's Planning and Logistics Division. Upon completing their service, participants may continue their career development with JDC's support if needed. Some choose to remain in the IDF as a career.

Client Profile: Yochai

Before joining Blue Dawn, Yochai, 21, was learning Torah full-time in yeshiva. He was also considering his future. He knew that he would have to earn a living and could not stay in full-time study. But his lack of work experience and university credentials did not offer many options for gainful employment.

Yochai knew that the army could provide training to lead to a profession but he would not enlist as its conditions did not match those of his Haredi lifestyle.

Yochai's parents are ba'aley teshuvah, people who became orthodox after being raised in secular or less observant homes. As they had served in the army, their experience enabled Yochai to identify with army service. But the family's devotion to Haredi values made the army a line he would not cross.

When Yochai learned about Blue Dawn, and the IDF's readiness to create the conditions he needed – such as glatt kosher meals, gender separation and time for Torah study and prayer – he had a change of heart. He says that the army's willingness to invest in these terms made his service a reality.

Today Yochai is part of a team that conducts the front line quality control and repairs of the IDF's surveillance aircraft. In a short time, the team has mastered how to take apart and reassemble complicated aircraft systems. During Operation Cast Lead, Yochai was one of a group of Haredi air force soldiers who, as their officer says, "did not shut their eyes to sleep," putting in the many hours needed to keep surveillance planes operational.

Yochai is grateful to JDC for enabling him to serve in the IDF and begin a life of gainful employment.

To a Happy and Healthy New Year

Shanah Tovah U'Metukah

Wishing You a Happy and Sweet New Year

from the JDC Ambassadors Circle 

Israel, Ein Shemer; circa 1957; Yemenites celebrate Israel Independence Day.

Picture from JDC Archives featured in the Sept. 4 issue of the New York Jewish Week. 

The Tough Choices...

The latest briefing from Asher Ostrin, Executive Director, Former Soviet Union Programs:

We have spent the better part of the summer collecting data and doing all sorts of economic analyses in order to understand the full impact of the economic downturn on the people who depend on us in the FSU. We know that the situation there is bad; that unemployment and underemployment are rampant, inflation has eroded pensions, and so on. Last year we reduced our assistance to the elderly in real terms, and some 20,000 needy Jews were removed from our caseload.

The challenge that we face is not so much understanding the problem on the macro level. We know that many more need help, and many who receive help do not receive nearly enough. We can provide all of the data, and put forward proposals for what is needed. But I have felt all along that this is not enough. The data is important, but the human side of it all is of course paramount. The question, then, is how does all of this translate to the individual? What does it mean to say that many elderly Jews simply do not get enough support to live lives we would want for them? How do we get beyond repeating the "dilemma of food or medicine", so that our constituency doesn't become calloused by the sheer repetition?

What follows is an attempt to explain this situation from the perspective of the individual. By looking at one client who is not noticeably distinguishable from most of those we serve, and understanding a bit better her struggle for survival, we can hope for some insight into the impact we are trying to understand.

READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP

YOK to Break New Ground–and Attendance Record–with Urban Rosh Hashanah Event

"Yo OK” is Spanish for “I’m OK”—and that idea is the inspiration behind The YOK Project, an exciting JDC-initiated program with various partners in Argentina that deploys non-traditional means to connect with Jews who are unaffiliated with traditional Jewish institutions. YOK reaches out to this group through innovative urban events and activities that are infused with Jewish content, customs, and traditions. That description certainly applies to the YOK’s signature Urban Rosh Hashanah Festival, a popular outdoor celebration that returns to the streets of Buenos Aires September 12-13.

A record 30,000 people (Jews and some non-Jews) are expected to participate in the unique cultural event—up from the 28,000 who attended YOK’s Urban Passover in April—and anticipation is running high: “This (will be) my fourth Urbano,” said Marcela Armus, a psychiatrist and secular Jew who responds to the opportunity the event offers to explore Jewish culture and tradition outside a more formal context. “I really like these events because they are open to the whole community.”

Claudia Rozencwaig, another veteran attendee, is looking for this year’s festival to break new ground: “YOK keeps broadening opportunities for cultural entertainment and they re-invent themselves every year.” Indeed, the 2009 edition of Urban Rosh Hashanah will expand geographically to include four additional city blocks, as well as in the scope and variety of activities planned.

This year for the first time, participants will enjoy myriad crafts, music, an array of traditional foods, activities for children, and engaging forums on Jewish history, philosophy, and spirituality—all to be found along the festival path. Organizers expect to attract greater involvement by unaffiliated Jews who, nonetheless, are eager to embrace their Jewish roots.

“I long for these Urban weekends because my family doesn’t celebrate, which means, for me, this is my only contact with some of my Jewishness,” said Jazmin, a university student and opera singer.

It was to fill that very need that YOK launched its Urban festivals in 2006. Two terrorist attacks in the early 1990s spurred many Argentine Jewish institutions to turn insular, inadvertently weakening connections to secular and non-affiliated religious Jews on the outside. In 2006, YOK reversed the trend, taking Passover and Rosh Hashanah outdoors and inviting everyone to share in the celebrations at no cost and with no additional obligations. Said one YOK organizer: “We wanted to establish a space where people could gather to share their Jewish culture and traditions with the whole community.”

The results have proven popular with all age groups and backgrounds. “I’m not Jewish,” said Marcelo Bardi, a secular Catholic who plans on attending this year, “but this festival is a great place to show my kids something different from our own traditions.”

If Not Now, When?

Over the last few weeks, I have shared with JDC’s Board and our Federation colleagues a serious concern: today we are not able to serve tens of thousands of elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe primarily due to a lack of adequate resources from our North American Federation partners. Last week UJC leadership contacted Irv Smokler and Alan Jaffe and reported that the Annual Campaign results for 2009 and 2010 may be even worse than we anticipated. UJC reported that overseas allocations could decrease between 10 and 20 percent from 2008. While we can quantify the financial loss and the number of clients who consequently will not be served, what is missing from the equation is the “human element”—the life story of each individual Jew who will not be helped.

I share with you a field report from Searle Brajtman, Director of Special Projects for JDC’s FSU team, who works out of our Israel office. As you read this, I want you to think about your own mother or grandmother. Would you consider this acceptable?

…I just returned from Kazakhstan, where JDC is sponsoring one central Hesed in Almaty that has an additional 12 branches throughout the country. The purpose of my trip was to see how we can reduce the infrastructure costs while continuing to provide welfare services. Not a simple task in a country as huge as Kazakhstan, which encompasses several time zones.

I'd like to share the story of one of those Hesed branches, in Aktyube (formerly known as Aktyubinsk). During the first four months of this year, 99 elderly and 35 children received welfare services—a total of only 134 clients. While this number of clients does not seem to justify an investment in infrastructure, a total of 329 clients received assistance as recently as July 2008. Unfortunately budgetary constraints necessitated tightening the criteria and the least needy no longer receive services.

The Aktyube Hesed serves 6 periphery locations; the furthest is some 75 miles away. Located just south of the Urals region of Russia (where I recall seeing about 6 inches of ice on the sidewalk), three of the smallest periphery locations are inaccessible from November through March, as snow is not swept off the roads. The Hesed director estimates that there are about 1,500 Jews in the region. Four times a year they have holiday celebrations in a hall for 200 to 250 people. Around 70 different people visit the two-room apartment Hesed each month, and some of those 70 visit the Hesed several times a week. It's not just a Hesed. It is a “community” gathering space and a facility that is used frequently on a multi-generational level, partially due to the warm atmosphere which permeates this modest apartment. In fact, it has become a second home for many.

 And so we come to Raisa. Raisa is one of the people who participate in the Women's Club. For her, the Hesed provides much more than the means to help her live; it provides a reason to live.

Raisa is 65 years old and was born in Aktyube. She has a second-degree disability and looks like a typical Soviet Jewish grandmother of her generation—stout, on the short side, hair dyed brown, red lipstick, and a ready smile—until she begins to tell us her life story. Her father, a Polish Jew, was released from prison in Aktyube in the Stalinist period and married a Jewish woman who died before Raisa turned 5 years old. The father put her in a local orphanage, telling her that he was going to Poland to see what had happened to his family and that he would return to fetch her; Raisa remained in the orphanage for three years. She was adopted by a Russian couple, but she always knew that she was Jewish, as her official documents containing her nationality are based on her birth certificate. She grew up, married, and had a son and a daughter. In 1964, when Raisa was almost 25 years old, her father returned to see what had become of her. But she was not interested in meeting him; she considered her adoptive parents to be her real mother and father.

Raisa’s daughter married and moved to Orsk in the Urals region of Russia; she, too, had a daughter. Raisa's son, Andre, was married in Orenburg, also in the Urals region; he, too, had a son. After his divorce, however, Andre returned to his mother eight years ago, who had by then been widowed for 15 years. Andre was a good son to his mother and helped Raisa while also volunteering at the Hesed. Two years ago, at the age of 40, Andre had a heart attack and died. It was then that his mother began coming to the Hesed and attending the Women's Club. The Hesed is her only remaining family in Kazakhstan. Raisa’s life has been filled with tragedies—she lost her mother as a young girl, and was abandoned by her father soon afterwards; she buried her husband and she subsequently buried her son. And if the Hesed closes, I am not sure that Raisa will have a reason to live.

Clearly this is not just a Hesed; it is a center of Jewish community life and a “home” which, during the time of my visit, was filled with children. For the more than 1,000 Jews who live in this region, there is no Jewish facility within a radius of several hundred miles other than a small Jewish cemetery. It is true that the Hesed serves fewer than 150 welfare clients. But it is certain that if JDC is no longer able to afford to sponsor its infrastructure, Jewish community life will be buried for all those children and for all those Raisas….

JDC is doing everything possible with our own resources to maintain essential services. Our overhead is now 3.9 percent, primarily due to continuing staff reductions and other efficiencies. We are drawing 10 percent of our endowment this year and with Board approval, we will do it again in 2010. But clearly such withdrawal rates are not sustainable over the long term.

As Irv and I have stated often, JDC stands ready to do anything possible to help our Federation partners raise more funds. If we do not help our fellow Jews in need, who will? We must work together to tackle this challenge, and time is of the essence. Ethics of our Fathers asks: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

A Family Reconnected to Their Jewish Roots

The latest briefing from Asher Ostrin, Executive Director of Former Soviet Union Programs

The Komi Republic is a quasi independent region in the outer reaches of the Russian Federation. Its weather is extremely harsh. It's rich with natural resources, but the population is sparse because of the severe living conditions. During Soviet times people were offered considerable incentives to settle in the area in order to provide the infrastructure needed to mine the resources. Salaries were up to 40% higher than elsewhere. Shops were kept fully supplied with commodities unavailable elsewhere, and in general the standard of living was quite high. Nonetheless, there were not many takers, because of the difficulties of living there. The standard joke about the weather was that the region had two seasons: winter and July 15. It wasn't just cold, travel was virtually impossible for extended periods. The region hosted a series of camps known collectively as the Gulag, as the distance and difficulties of terrain and weather made for perfect conditions in which to hold prisoners with little risk of escape. In addition, the prisoners could be forced to do some of the "heavy lifting" that was needed to maintain the economies of the Republic.

In December of 1967 the USSR signed an agreement with the People's Republic of Bulgaria to supply timber from the Komi region for the Bulgarian construction industry. Carrying out the agreement was no easy task, as communities had to be constructed on the tundra for the Bulgarian workers. By the mid 70's three settlements were ready to receive Bulgarian workers. One of the settlements was Usogorsk. It was in the middle of one of the forests in which the men would work. It was 140 kilometers away from the nearest civilian settlement in the region. Three Gulag prisons were within a 20 kilometer radius.

For vacations the Bulgarian workers often went to regions in the USSR with warmer climates. Uzbekistan was a popular destination. It was exotic, while at the same time politically acceptable, and not many places fell into that category for eastern bloc vacationers. Samarkand, the second largest city in the country, was a particular draw. It lay on the Silk Route, and had a marked middle Asian culture. Arriving there you were transported to a different world while still in the confines of the permitted. It had a strong Moslem heritage, and architecture to match. In addition, the weather is very mild. Organized tours of the Bulgarian workers in Komi visited regularly.

On one of these tours in the early 80's, one of the construction workers met a girl from the Jewish community in Samarkand and fell in love.

This is a strong, and quite insular Jewish community. Unlike Jewish communities elsewhere in the USSR that were ravaged by assimilation, this community maintained its traditions. Synagogues were full and marriage within the group was the norm. There were Jewish neighborhoods in Samarkand, and semi clandestine, but officially tolerated, education frameworks for Jewish education. Bukharian Jewry even had its own local dialect, an analogue to other Jewish languages like Yiddish or Ladino.

The relationship was frowned upon by the family of Gulya, the young woman who was very taken by the Bulgarian lumberjack. Gradually, their love grew and on a subsequent visit they were married.

Gulya was rejected by her family, and she joined her husband back in Usogorsk. She lost contact with her family and community, and gradually stopped any vestige of Jewish observance. She met no Jews in her new community, and she became indistinguishable from her neighbors in practice and life style. Gulya gave birth to two daughters. The second, Elina, was born in 1990. Shortly thereafter, her parents' marriage disintegrated and they split.

The girls were raised in a "typical" Soviet family. They had no exposure to other Jews, as Gulya was not even in contact with her family. Their passports identified them as "Russians". To this day they will say that may even have been told at some point that they were Jews, but the comment would not have registered because it had no context. In Usogorsk, the sobriquet had no meaning.

In 2001 Sasha, the elder sister, moved to Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi republic, to begin her university studies. The city has a Jewish population of 1,500. In one of her classes she sat next to a young man with whom she struck up a conversation. He was a volunteer in the local Hesed center, and from time to time would tell her about how he spent his free time there helping the elderly needy. He readily identified himself as a Jew, but this meant little to Sasha.

On a visit home she mentioned in passing to her mother about the young man she had met and his Hesed activities. The mother responded in a casual way that she too was Jewish. No great, emotional confession; it was all very matter of fact.

On her return to Syktyvkar the local fellow invited Sasha to visit the Hesed center. It was the night of the Passover Seder. Sasha was intrigued and began regularly participating in Jewish events in the town.

When Elina started school in Syktyvkar her sister brought her to the Hesed. Her first visit was a Hanukkah party. While the party was fun, she was particularly intrigued by the holiday's story and the personal resonance for her. She began to volunteer with the elderly, and soon started a program for young children.

This year, JDC sponsored a young leadership program in St Petersburg, called Lehava. These programs, throughout the FSU, have become a cornerstone of our Jewish Renewal program. Students study about Jewish life and community, usually over a two year period. The goal is to connect them to community life, generally through personal projects.

Those responsible for the St Petersburg program, including graduates, took a decision a while ago to open registration to young Jews in the catchment area of the St Petersburg JDC. The Komi community nominated Elina, and she passed what has become a rigorous acceptance process due to the popularity of the program. Elina has developed two programs for the Syktyvkar Jewish community- one for outreach, and the other a Jewish heritage program to explore the personal histories of members of the community, few of whom were raised in the region. Both programs now serve as models for small Jewish communities around the FSU.

When I heard Elina's story I so regretted that Elina's extended family from Samarkand could not see her now. This woman is in many ways the story of Soviet and post Soviet Jewry. Because of her life choices, her mother was written off- no one would have believed that anywhere among her descendants Jewish life would thrive. They saw Gulya's choice of spouse as dooming her and her offspring to assimilation. But even those who took issue with that conclusion would have had to concede that a decision to live in Usogorsk meant the end of the line for Jewish identity in that family. Studying in Syktyvkar hardly raised the odds that a Jewish consciousness would reappear.

And yet, a chance meeting, the existence of a Jewish welfare center primarily serving the elderly, and some other unpredictable situations, together with the care and concern of a very distant Jewry for the fate of every individual Jew- all conspired to reclaim these two young Jewish for the Jewish People. There's a further message in this for JDC planning purposes. The bifurcation between Renewal and Welfare is artificial and misleading. They are symbiotic. In this instance, the Hesed, which we categorize as a welfare program, has reclaimed two young Jews otherwise lost to the Jewish People.

Gov't signs $6 million deal with private family foundation, JDC

From The Jerusalem Post
by Ruth Eglash
September 8, 2009

The government on Monday signed a $6 million deal with the US-based Ruderman Family Foundation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to create new services aimed at improving the lives of Israel's disabled population.

JDC Israel-director Arnon Mantver, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog and President of the Ruderman Foundation Jay Ruderman met Monday to finalize details of a partnership to improve the lives of disabled adults in Israel.

Called Named Masad Nehuyot in Hebrew - it has yet to receive an official English name - the project involves a $2m. investment from each of the parties, both of which will be involved in the decision-making process along with representatives from the disabled community.

"We have brought together many Jewish foundations to work with the Israeli government on projects here but none have been involved in such a high level of partnership," Alan Gill, executive director of international relations for the JDC, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "This is the first time we have created a national contractual partnership in this manner."

The four-year partnership, which will directly involve the Ministries of Health and Welfare and Social Services, will initially focus on supporting and developing seven centers for independent living countrywide. It is estimated that 700,000 people between the ages of 20-64 with varying types of disabilities currently live in Israel. Each year, more and more disabled people opt to live independently.

"We've been involved in working with special needs children for many years," explained Jay Ruderman, executive director of his family's multi-million dollar charitable trust, regarding the decision to enter such a partnership. "We wanted to be involved in something bigger in Israel, and this initiative will have so much impact on a specific area of society."

Ruderman, who made aliya with his family four years ago and now lives in Rehovot, even though the foundation is still based in Boston, added: "Bringing together the government and the JDC to improve the lives of people with disabilities is already a great achievement. We hope this project will raise further awareness in society."

According to Tamara Barnea, Director of the JDC's Unit for Disabilities and Rehabilitation, who will head the Masad Nehuyot project, the main aim is to allow individuals with disabilities to impact both their own community and the wider non-disabled community. It will focus on adults with any type of physical, mental or emotional disability.

Speaking at the Jerusalem Center for Assisted Living, which Ruderman visited Monday; Barnea said the initial goal was to develop additional centers around the country.

"The center in Jerusalem is the first of its kind in Israel," explained Barnea, adding that the center, which opened five years ago in the capital's Katamon neighborhood, was peer-led and provided advice, support and practical training to people with disabilities living independently.

"There is one other center in Beersheba, and a new center in Haifa is slated to open this week," she added. "The JDC and the government are strategic partners in this program. We know how to turn pilot projects into long-term sustainable services, but the goal is to include representatives of the disabled community in all our plans."

Barnea explained that the Ruderman Family Foundation's experience in developing projects for the disabled in the US would also be an important contribution.

"This partnership is vital," commented Moshe Yosef, who sits on the steering committee of the charity Disabled Now, which founded the Jerusalem center. "However, what is more important is that the disabled community is included in the decision-making process."

The wheel-chair bound university graduate, who also met Monday with Gill, Ruderman and Barnea, pointed out the charity's slogan, "Nothing about us - without us," and added: "We know better than anyone what is good for us and nothing should be decided without us."

Minister of Welfare and Social Services Isaac Herzog, who met earlier in the day with Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Gill, Ruderman and JDC-Israel Director Arnon Mantver to finalize the deal, touted the arrangement as a "revolution in the treatment of people with disabilities in Israel."

"It will also give us the chance to progress professionally with the knowledge and understanding of how to work with and assist the disabled community."

You can also read our official press release about this wonderful new partnership HERE

'Imperfect Justice'

An update from Steve Schwager, CEO:

The Holocaust Era Assets Conference (HEAC) held in Prague at the end of June was an unprecedented event. More than 600 delegates representing 46 countries (mainly from Europe) as well as many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) came together to review what has—and has not—been done to return Jewish property that was looted, stolen, confiscated, violated, and destroyed during the Holocaust. The Conference was the closing event, and perhaps the highlight, of the Czech Presidency of the European Union.

JDC was one of 22 NGOs participating in the Conference itself, as well as in preparatory meetings earlier in the year. JDC Board members Fran Eizenstat, Judge Ellen M. Heller, and Nigel Ross (Co-Chair of the Conference’s Immovable Property Working Group) attended the Prague gathering, as did JDC professionals Yechiel Bar-Chaim, Herbert Block, Alberto Senderey, and Gideon Taylor (representing the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany [Claims Conference]), as well as Diego Ornique, Stefan Oscar, and Eitan Horvath from our JDC Europe team.

JDC’s participation in the Prague Conference was critical. Our mission of assisting Jewish communities and JDC’s clients in the FSU and in Central and Eastern Europe is a top priority, and so we have been involved in issues of compensation for Holocaust survivors and the restitution of Jewish communal property for a very long time. JDC has worked actively on these issues through our membership in the Claims Conference and the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), of which I am privileged to serve currently as Co-Chair. And certainly JDC’s Board of Directors follows these issues closely through our Property Reclamation Committee.

The Conference featured declarations and impassioned calls for justice surrounding such issues as: (1) Restituting Immovable Property that was taken from individual Jews or Jewish communities; (2) Return of Looted Art and Judaica; (3) Holocaust Education; and (4) Social Welfare Needs of Nazi Victims.

Certain particularly recalcitrant countries, like Lithuania and Latvia, were publicly rebuked in many speeches for failing to restore Jewish communal property, while other countries like Poland were called to task for not returning private Jewish property and respecting inheritance rights.

For the first time, the question of compensation for heirless Jewish property played a prominent role. Participating states were summoned to advance funds out of the value of such property in order to pay for the medical and social care of survivors.

A “Terezin Declaration” was signed by the 46 participating governments at the conclusion of the Conference. It established the “European Shoah Legacy Institute,” to be based in Terezin, which will follow up on all the issues raised and will try to ensure further progress on behalf of all the participating countries. The official conference proceedings and documents can be seen at http://www.holocausteraassets.eu/

Yechiel Bar-Chaim, JDC’s Country Director in the Czech Republic, offers his personal observations on the Conference below:

Amidst the blur and the din of 46 different national positions on each of the issues and the diverse actions of the numerous Jewish organizations represented, two men stood out at the Conference for their skill and their decency.

First and foremost was Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, the Head of the U.S. Delegation. He is the key individual who accomplished so much as the Special Envoy on these issues for the Clinton Administration (see his book on this experience: Imperfect Justice). More than once we heard and witnessed at the Conference how, without Mr. Eizenstat’s prestige, experience, sense of focus, and clarity—and in the absence of his “iron stomach” diplomatic patience—nothing at all would have been agreed upon or moved forward.

Also worthy of recognition is my friend, the former Czech Ambassador to Israel and Director of the Education Center of the Prague Jewish Museum, Dr. Milos Pojar, the chief organizer of the Conference. He rightly claimed that the Czech government’s diligent actions and far-ranging support for these efforts constituted part of the ongoing legacy of the founder of the Czech (and Slovak) republics, Tomas G. Masaryk, a revered figure in Jewish history in his own right.

The Conference was enveloped by a range of Jewish cultural and religious activity—often connected with JDC’s long efforts to promote Jewish renewal in this part of the world—that did honor to us all. Thus a Cantorial Concert marked the opening night and a festive Shabbat dinner at the Prague Jewish Community Hall brought Elie Wiesel and many other participants together. JDC’s Chairman of the Board, Judge Ellen M. Heller, spoke at the Conference about JDC’s extensive activities on behalf of Holocaust survivors, and JDC Board member Nigel Ross, as JDC’s Property Reclamation Committee Chair, took the time to meet with the Czech Union of Jewish Students, who found themselves discussing JDC and our worldwide role in a lively Shabbat discussion that lasted past midnight on Friday. The renowned historian of JDC, distinguished Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Yehuda Bauer, delivered an important lecture on the goals and means of Holocaust Education, while Ed Serotta’s narrative photo exhibit of the individual histories of Czech survivors and their families lined the walls of the concluding concert held at Terezin.

The concert, entitled “Defiant Requiem,” highlighted the history of Rafael Schacter, an inmate at Terezin who taught 150 fellow prisoners to sing Verdi’s masterpiece. As the transports East took his singers away, he chose other inmates to replace them. Murray Sidlin, Dean of the School of Music at Catholic University, sang the Requiem “in context,” along with the University Choir, incorporating into their performance tremendously moving and evocative video testimonies from survivors who had once sung with the indomitable Mr. Schacter.

I am certain that, like Irv and I, you see the current efforts regarding looted Jewish assets truly as an “imperfect justice.” Nothing can take away the horrors of the Holocaust and the unimaginable injustices that occurred while the world stood by, but certainly imperfect action is better than no action at all. And clearly this Conference was a critical step forward in the process.

Baltimore Israel and Overseas Blog Features JDC President's Message

The latest post on The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore Israel and Overseas blog features the recent message from JDC President, Dr. Irv Smokler about the current situation facing Jewish communities and JDC in the Former Soviet Union.

Read Irv Smokler's message by visiting JDC President's Report: The Situation in the Former Soviet Union