HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JDC!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY RALPH GOLDMAN!!

96 years +1 day ago, on August 31, 1914, Henry Morgenthau Sr., then U.S. ambassador to Turkey, sent an urgent cable to New York philanthropist Jacob Schiff, asking for $50,000 to help the Jews of Palestine (then under Ottoman Turkish rule), who were cut off from their normal sources of support by the outbreak of World War I. Within a month the money was raised and from that beginning, JDC was founded.

And 96 years ago today, Ralph I. Goldman was born in Ukraine. 

So, how are these two things connected?  

Ralph Goldman has been the very soul of JDC, helping to shape the organization into what it is today.  He served as Executive Vice President from 1976 – 1985 and from 1986 – 1988 and as Honorary Executive Vice President since 1988. 

Ralph has dedicated his life's work to Jewish communal service.  He has been a moving force in the establishment of many innovative social, educational, and cultural programs enriching life in Israel and throughout the Jewish world.  With JDC he was the driving force for our return to the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and in establishing our critical role in Israel.   

Learn about the role of JDC throughout the past 96 years at JDC Throughout the Years.   

And you can see some favorite photos of Ralph throughout the years at JDC: In Service. 

Ralph and past Ralph I. Goldman Fellows, June 2010