Changing the Future in Ethiopia

Check out this moving video showing JDC humanitarian assistance programs in Ethiopia, 2010, funded by the Mary L. and William J. Osher Foundation, in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston.

Official Launch of the Dallas JDC Ambassadors Circle

The Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas has formally announced the formation of their local JDC Ambassadors Circle chapter.  They will be holding a community JDC Ambassadors Circle event in May featuring Mandie Winston, Senior Program Officer and Jennifer Kraft, Director of Community Relations.

You can read more about the chapter and the event in the Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas newsletter, Community Connections.

"The Bond of Rememberance"

In this recent blog post from Leslie Dannin Rosenthal, President of Women's Philanthropy at the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey, Leslie shares more reflections from last month's Women's Philanthropy mission to Cuba. 

Read the latest on From Leslie's Laptop.

"Haiti's Echo"

Last month the publisher of he Baltimore Jewish Times wrote a nice editorial highlighting JDC's humanitarian efforts in Haiti titled, "Haiti's Echo". 

Read the article HERE.

Interview with Rick Hodes on NY1

The official premiere for the documentary profiling Dr. Rick Hodes, Making the Crooked Straight was held on April 13 at HBO's headquarters in Manhattan.  New York local news channel, NY1 interviewed both Dr. Hodes and filmmaker Susan Cohn Rockefeller during the party. 

Watch the interview and read the accompanying article at NY1. 

Learn more about JDC's work in Ethiopia.
Official website for Making the Crooked Straight.

Dr. Rick Hodes Taking Center Stage

For more than 20 years, Dr. Rick Hodes has provided comprehensive medical treatment in Ethiopia.  As JDC's Medical Director, his programs have served tens of thousands of people through two medical clinics, immunization, nutritional support, family planning, and community health. He was instrumental in ensuring the safe immigration of Jews to Israel during Operation Solomon in 1991, the historic airlift of over 14,000 Ethiopians to Israel in 48 hours. Dr. Hodes works with people suffering from heart disease, diseases of the spine, and cancer.

Dr. Rick was inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame and was selected by CNN as one of its CNN Heroes in 2007.  He is now the subject of a new documentary film, Making the Crooked Straight and a new book, This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes. 

Watch on Wednesday, April 14, at 8:00 pm (EDT) when Making the Crooked Straight will debut on HBO. 

The official trailer for Making the Crooked Straight


The official film WEBSITE
HBO's web page for the film
Photos from the film premiere in New York from WireImage

This is a Soul: The Mission of Rick Hodes by Marilyn Berger is available for purchase HERE. Read an excerpt from the book HERE as well as a wonderful article about the author in the New York Times.

You can watch an interview with Dr. Rick and Marilyn Berger with ABC News HERE.


Learn more about JDC's work in Ethiopia HERE and you can hear from Dr. Rick about his work in these clips of his presentation to the JDC Ambassadors Circle.


Video clip from Dr. Rick Hodes' presentation at the JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium on May 19, 2009.



During his presentation to the JDC Ambassadors Circle, Dr. Rick Hodes shares the story of his involvement in Operation Solomon in 1991, where Dr. Rick was in charge of the medical care for over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted to Israel over a period of 36 hours. 

A Loss in the JDC Family

From Irv Smokler, President and Steve Schwager, CEO

It is with profound sadness that we inform the JDC family that Eugene (Gene) J. Ribakoff passed away early Friday evening, April 9th, in Palm Beach. Gene was 84 years old.

Gene, born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, first joined the JDC Board in 1986 and quickly began to take on leadership roles that clearly reflected not only his leadership abilities, but also the Jewish soul of a unique personality who was devoted to helping the Jewish people around the world.

He effectively chaired JDC's Israel Committee, our Central and Eastern Europe Committee, and the Transmigrant Committee, where he oversaw the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Jews from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.

Never weary of responsibility, he became JDC's thirteenth President from the beginning of 2001 through December 2004, and then served as the Chairman of the Board for the next four years. During his presidency, he was a caring and effective JDC ambassador who traveled to Federations throughout North America and to countries around the world, always seeking to highlight the needs, to strengthen partnerships, and to celebrate JDC's programs of rescue, relief, and Jewish renewal.

Equally important, he was a generous philanthropist who set the finest example for others to emulate.

Gene was a straightforward, no-nonsense advocate for the Jewish global family and an esteemed friend whose thoughtfulness and wise counsel were treasured.

While we shared his attention with a myriad of other organizations and institutions—World ORT, the United Way of Palm Beach County, Brandeis University, Massachusetts General, and the Palm Beach and Boston Federations, to name just a few—he often said that his tenure as JDC's President was "the best job in the Jewish world." Those of us, both professionals and lay leaders, who had the good fortune to know Gene will always remember him as a true gentleman, a good person, and an exceptionally successful businessman who, through his generosity, his kindness, and his devoted leadership, made a difference in the lives of so many in our global Jewish family.

Always impeccably dressed and with a lighter side that loved good cigars, fine wine, and the Boston Red Sox, we looked forward to spending time with him. The Jewish world has lost one of its best.

Gene was also a visionary; he recognized that loving kindness towards the Jewish people was a passion to be shared with the next generation, which is precisely what he did with his children and grandchildren. He clearly demonstrated the importance of Jewish peoplehood by example.

Please join us in extending our heartfelt condolences to Gene's wife, Stephanie; to his son and JDC Board member Charles Ribakoff and his wife, Patty; to Gene's daughter and JDC Board member Betsy Sheerr and her husband, Richard; to Gene's seven grandchildren: Ben and his wife, Elizabeth; Deborah and her husband, Zach; Jack, Corky, Nicki, Lauren, and Melanie; and to Gene's three great-grandchildren: Charles, Mia, and Noah.

Funeral services were held yesterday in Palm Beach, with burial taking place today in Worcester, MA.

May the family find comfort and peace and may Gene's memory be for a blessing for all those who were fortunate enough to know him.

Steve

Youth Village in Rwanda Featured on CBS Evening News

CBS Evening News recently featured the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, a special project of JDC, in a piece during their evening broadcast on March 31.

Watch the video on the CBS Evening News website HERE.

The Agahozo Shalom Youth Village (ASYV) aims to create a safe and structured residential community for orphaned children in Rwanda. The village will be a place of hope, where traumatized youth can "dry their tears" (Agahozo) and "live in peace" (Shalom).

Within this caring environment, the rhythm of life will be restored, so that youth who have been through great trauma will find a home and a community, as well as a place to learn and become leaders for tomorrow. The youth who come to live and learn in the ASYV will grow into healthy adults who are not only able to care for themselves and their families, but who are also committed to making their community, their country, and indeed the world a better place.

To learn more about the Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, check out their website, read the blog and view the latest photos.

JDC MONITORING SAFETY AND ENSURING CARE FOR JEWISH COMMUNITY CLIENTS IN KYRGYZSTAN

NEW YORK, NY, April 8, 2010–The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s largest Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, has been continuously monitoring the safety and working to ensure the ongoing care of its Jewish community clients in Kyrgyzstan during the recent political crisis. To date, there have been no reported injuries to the country’s Jewish community.

“As events unfold, we are in constant communication with JDC's staff in the country and continue to maintain uninterrupted the critical services we provide for Kyrgyzstan’s Jewish elderly,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. “We are concerned at the possible impact of the situation on the Jewish population. In Kyrgyzstan, as everywhere else in the world, our first call is helping Jews in need, distress or danger.”

Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous country bordering Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China, is home to an estimated 1,300 Jews. Most of the Jews are concentrated in the nation's capital, Bishkek. Jews can also be found in 10 other locations throughout the country.

As part of its long-standing work with the Jewish community, JDC supports the local Hesed welfare center in Bishkek which provides food and medicine and home care to the community, as well as a Jewish library, a program for family education, among other aid and Jewish renewal programs for elderly and children at risk.

Local Jewish Press Features Visit to Jewish Morocco

Recently returned from JDC's Next Generation study mission to Morocco, two participants from Houston wrote a wonderful article in the Jewish Herald-Voice, Houston's Jewish newspaper, about their experiences and impressions. 

Read the article HERE. 

JTA Op-Ed: Lithuanian Jewry needs help to fuel renaissance further

By Sanford R. Cardin
March 11, 2010
Read the article on JTA HERE.


TULSA, Okla. (JTA) -- The warmth emanating from the conference room of the Conti Hotel in Vilnius stood in stark contrast to the damp weather outside. Just steps away from the site of the Vilnius Ghetto, remnants of which can still be found, more than 30 young Jewish activists from across Europe were miraculously networking, studying and sharing their dreams for the Jewish future.

As I listened to their conversations, it quickly became clear why the conference organizers had decided to hold this meeting in Lithuania: There is no place in the world quite like Vilnius, once home to one of the largest and most respected Jewish communities in the world.

Vilnius in the 1700s had approximately 110 synagogues and 10 houses of study (yeshivot). It was home to the great rabbinic sage, Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, the famous Gaon of Vilnius, and Yiddish was the lingua franca. As a center of Jewish life, intellectualism and culture, it was known as the "Jerusalem of Lithuania."

By the time World War II started, approximately 250,000 Jews were living in Lithuania -- more than 50 percent of the population of Vilnius was said to be Jewish.

All that changed, however, with the invasion of the Nazis in 1941. Some 180,000 Lithuanian Jews were murdered within months of the country's fall to the Nazis. Before the nightmare was over, more than 95 percent of this once-thriving Jewish community was slaughtered. Properties were confiscated (unlike in other European countries, they have yet to be returned to the Lithuanian Jewish community, despite international appeals), synagogues destroyed and cemeteries desecrated (with the tombstones used for other purposes, including the building of steps and sidewalks).

Today, Lithuania and its Jewish community of 3,500 again are under pressure, albeit of a significantly different kind. They are suffering an economic "double whammy." A darling of investors as a leading emerging market for the past 10 to 15 years, it turns out that most of the growth Lithuania was experiencing was a result of the global real estate bubble. So when that bubble popped, so did Lithuania.

Real estate values have tumbled, banks are in trouble, credit is unavailable and the economy is struggling.

As if that weren't bad enough, the cost of electricity and heat is about to increase by 30-40 percent at the same time as people are being laid off, salaries are being frozen or cut, and state pensions are being reduced or eliminated.

When Lithuania joined the European Union, it agreed to shut down its Ignalina nuclear power plant, a facility susceptible to the same kind of problem experienced in Chernobyl. With the close of the plant on Dec. 31, much more expensive sources of power are needed now to meet the energy requirements of the country.

Is the future of Lithuanian Jewry as bleak as the skies over Vilnius on the darkest of days? Not by a long shot.

In a story now playing out all across Europe, out of the ashes and despite the current economic challenges, Jewish life in Vilnius is slowly re-emerging.

The president of the community is Dr. Simon Alperavitchius, a white-haired elder for whom Yiddish remains his mother tongue. His executive director is a charismatic 28-year-old named Simon Gurevichius, who after graduating from university at the top of his class decided that his career could wait while his beloved Jewish people could not. Simon has molded a community in his image: young, energetic and optimistic.

Under the leadership of the two Simons, Vilnius has developed a thriving kindergarten with 40 pupils this year and 80 in 2011, if the necessary space can be found and funded. There is also a K-12 day school, among the best academic institutions of its kind in Vilnius, in need of space and funds to be able to admit the students it now must wait-list.

Informal Jewish educational opportunities in Vilnius are equally impressive.

But what the future holds for this community is unclear. Without the continued assistance of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as well as the infusion of funds and expertise from other sources, it will be very difficult for Lithuanian Jewry to keep its emerging young leaders active and engaged. That's the bad news.

The good news is that philanthropists can make a big difference in Vilnius’ Jewish life for relatively small sums. The key institutions are in place, the community is motivated and the leadership is as committed today as it was when the Israeli poet Abba Kovner, himself a leader of the Jewish partisans in the Vilnius Ghetto, vowed "to fight rather than go to the slaughter like sheep."

Left to its own devices, Lithuanian Jewry has a chance to bring itself back to life in ways virtually no one believed possible just a few years ago. With the help of others, the future of this once-dominant and resilient center of Jewish life can be assured.

Sanford R. Cardin is president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.

JDC CEO's Visit Featured in Local Jewish Press

When Steve Schwager, CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee visited the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh, he shared stories the local Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle, was on hand to hear what he had to say. 

You can read the article in The Jewish Chronicle HERE.

Around the world with JDC Short Term Service Programs

JDC is working to connect young, North American Jews to the global Jewish community through Short-Term Service Programs for college students and young adults.

Participants engage in meaningful volunteer projects directly connected to JDC’s global programs that give them the opportunity to take action to meet challenges facing Jewish communities abroad, gain insight into global Jewish needs, connect with local Jewish peers and explore notions of global Jewish identity and collective responsibility. Participants return home feeling a real responsibility to care for their Jewish “family” overseas, and prepared to take action on behalf of the community they visited.

Read about their experiences on the official blog, JDC: In Service.

Pictures from recent trips:

Students from Hillel at University of Maryland Baltimore County with their peers at the Hillel in Odessa, Ukraine. 

Students from Hillels at the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Houston, and the University of North Texas after painting the synagogue in Basavilbaso, Argentina

Students from Hillel at Penn State University celebrate the re-opening of the childrens’ playroom at the JCC in Tallinn, Estonia.

By the end of 2010, nearly 800 North American Jewish young adults will have experienced a JDC Short-Term Service Program and served in communities around the globe, from Israel, to Kazakhstan, to Argentina, to Rwanda.

For more information on JDC’s service programs, visit www.JDC.org/serve.