JDC Ambassadors

JDC/PRESENTENSE NAMES FIRST MOSCOW FELLOWS

2012-01-26T11:45:00.000-05:00

MOSCOW, January 24, 2012― The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and PresenTense have announced 13 young Jewish entrepreneurs as its first group of Moscow-based Kaet Fellows. From a high tech expert to a small town rabbi, these Russian social innovators will enter a 5-month incubator where they will transform their ideas for addressing community challenges into sustainable local ventures. Such ventures will include those focusing on Jewish education, emergency medical training, the needs of Jewish seniors, volunteerism, Jewish art and culture, among other topic areas.

“One of the cornerstones of our work in the former Soviet Union over the last 20 years has been to build the next generation of Jewish leadership and we’re very proud that together with PresenTense our first class of fellows will bring a new level of innovation and creativity to a Jewish community yearning for new ways to connect and grow,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager.

The Kaet Fellowship is made up of seven interconnected modules. Fellows participate in a holistic program including professional mentors, personal coaches, and a curriculum based in cutting-edge business and entrepreneurship theory. At the end of the program Fellows participate in launch night, the culmination of the Fellows' hard work - a final celebration of innovation when the entrepreneurs pitch and present their ventures to their local community.

“PresenTense is incredibly excited, and honored, to work with the JDC and join in its historic effort to renew and empower the Jewish community in the former Soviet Union. The energy and excitement we've seen on the ground in Moscow has convinced us that the former Soviet Union is emerging as a major power center for the renewal of the Jewish People worldwide, and we are especially excited to connect Russian Jewish social entrepreneurs and volunteers to our community around the world,” said Ariel Beery, co-founder of PresenTense. “We're especially excited to walk in the footsteps of our hero, Ralph Goldman, in developing a deep partnership with the Moscovite Jewish community for mutual growth and benefit.”

The first class of JDC/PresenTense fellows include:

Yohanan Kosenko - 27, a rabbi, will create a database of a Jewish cemetery in Moscow as a way of telling the story of the community by involving the younger generation in telling the story of their grandparents.

Kira Belelyubskaya and Evgenia Mazurova – 45 and 34, both local Hesed employees, will develop a program that educates families with elderly relatives on the challenges facing aging people and create new intergenerational connections.

Ekaterina Moreyno and Olga Belozerskaya – 41 and 43, a professional athlete and a museum professional respectively, will build a program to provide robust first aid training, a field severely lacking in Russia, at a local Jewish organization. Will utilize Israeli medical technology and ensure the Jews of Russia can help in emergency situations.

Olga Dukor – 29, a journalism professional, will create and utilize photo exhibits as a way of helping people explore Judaism and Jewish life in Moscow.

Olga Fomenko – 52, a Hebrew teacher with a long career in the music industry, will develop an initiative that links Jewish people seeking volunteer opportunities with Moscow Jewish organizations seeking such help.

Arkady Baranovsky - 34, and author, will develop a theater group for released Jewish inmates. Currently has a project running in a first stage but is looking for expansion

Ksenia Nalogina – 21, a student, will build a religious Shabbat living space close to synagogues for young visitors to Moscow (possibly a hostel).

Evgeny Kerbel – 35, founder of a headhunting firm, will create a recruitment agency for Israelis in Moscow.

Inessa Sinkevich – 34, head of a Jewish kindergarten, will develop an internet portal organizing activities for Jewish moms.

Sergey Novikov – 29, a high tech expert, will establish a school of Jewish art and music, conducting educational activities for children.

Olga Lovinsky – 33, owner of a jewelry distribution business, will organize large-scale book and toy exchange and garage sales for Jewish families with children.

About PresenTense

PresenTense is upgrading the Jewish people's operating system by growing the next generation of social entrepreneurs. We build Community around expressing and sharing new ideas, enable Creativity to refine those ideas, and train Pioneers to launch their ideas into successful ventures. PresenTense is currently operating in 12 different communities worldwide, and in the past 5 years helped launch over 150 new ventures shaping the future of the Jewish people.

Enterprising Community Leader Mirrors the New Dynamism of Turkey’s Young Jews

2012-01-24T10:45:00.000-05:00

JDC in Turkey offers a myriad of opportunities for

young Jews to become involved—or more involved

—in the local community, and for those who are

interested, to play key roles in its future

development.

Photo: Jamie Rosenberg (via JDC website)

"Our community is small, but our potential is enormous. If given the right opportunities, there is nothing we can't do." That's what 29-year-old volunteer organizer Lisi says about her peer-run Jewish leadership group in Istanbul, Turkey.

Judging from the growing numbers of previously unaffiliated young Jews that she's successfully recruited into the club, Lisi's enthusiasm is producing great results.

Lisi's story is not so different from many of her contemporaries', not just in Turkey but in many parts of the world. She grew up loving Shabbat celebrations at her grandparents' house, going to Jewish school, and taking part in youth group. But by the time she graduated from university her Jewish circle was shrinking while her world and her horizons were steadily growing. At the same time, questions about her Jewish identity and whether she had the tools she needed to command her future began to arise.

"I learned about the local young leadership group and was curious about the professional opportunities that it offered. I didn't even know it was Jewish at first; it was a nice surprise." Like many of JDC's leadership programs for young Jews, the group's seminars combined Jewish learning with professional skill development.

In Turkey, JDC offers a myriad of opportunities for young Jews to become involved—or more involved—in the local community, and for those who are interested, to play key roles in its future development. Programs include training seminars such as Buncher Community Leadership, which helps strengthen Jewish identity and provides mentoring for young leaders; the Leatid Center for Jewish Leadership, which works with seasoned and senior Jewish professionals to hone their management and community development skills; and Jewish education and networking for young adults through Gesher regional programs. Additionally, the Hadracha Training Institute seminars for senior youth leaders, where Lisi says she garnered important know-how, are creating role models and facilitators for the Turkish Jewish community and other communities in the region.

Three years later, Lisi has become one of the group's leading organizers, and she's implementing the very strategy that got her interested to involve a whole new cohort. "Reaching people and attracting them into the community is the hardest thing to do," explains Lisi, a successful account manager for an international fashion brand. "But our network is growing because we know our target group and what resonates with them: 20- to 30-year-olds who are thinking about their careers."

The global recession hit Turkey particularly hard and recent university graduates unable to find work are turning to the Jewish community for help. "We give them opportunities, help them build skills in communications and management, and facilitate networking. We offer young people experiences they can't turn down."

Seeing positive results, Lisi and her friends started thinking more broadly about what kinds of activities young Turkish Jews might enjoy. They organized the group's first heritage trip outside of Turkey, to Spain, which attracted over 100 participants. The following year the group traveled to Prague and to Rome, and by then participation had doubled in size.

"Part of the aim of each tour is to meet young Jews wherever we go. It seems like it is getting more difficult for Jews to find each other, because we are getting separated from one another as there are more challenges in life and more advantages outside of our communities. We are finding each other through this group and building a synergy by inviting new young people to every program."

With each success, Lisi's motivation redoubles. Looking ahead she is optimistic. "We've brought people together and we enjoy being together. Now the next step needs to make us even better!" she insists. "We are looking to organize bigger programs, setting new sights to attract even more people to our world."

JDC Israel - People with Disabilities and Sustainable Environment

2012-01-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

A great video from JDC Israel about the opportunities for people with disabilities in Israel in the environmental field.

Community’s Caring Warms Winter Chill for FSU Elderly

2012-01-18T09:11:00.000-05:00

Perel relies on Hesed year-round
for food and other support.
Photo: JDC Website

Perel Geller dreads the Ukrainian winter, when plunging temperatures and long months of snowfall compound her daily hardship. At the age of 80, she has gotten used to living alone in a tiny shack without utilities; but it is getting harder to endure the below-freezing gusts on her already demoralizing walks to a shared outhouse. Her only bit of relief is the winter assistance she receives from JDC’s Hesed network.

Distributed once a year in advance of the season, JDC’s winter relief packages—warm blankets, clothing, and heating fuel—made the harsh winter months bearable for more than 27,000 impoverished Jews across the former Soviet Union last year; people like Perel whose well-being depends on services from JDC’s Hesed social welfare centers. A beneficiary of Hesed Shlomo in Zhitomir since 1997, today Perel also receives a food card with which to purchase groceries, medicines and medical consultations, as well as personal hygiene and laundry service, and she participates in local JDC-supported Day Center activities with other Jewish elderly. These vital acts of loving kindess (hesed) let Perel know she is not alone, especially after so many years of suffering.

Born in July 1930, Perel endured repeated evacuations and much privation during World War II. Her father, a laborer, joined the Soviet Army when the war began, while Perel, her mother, and her two siblings fled first to Stalingrad, then to the Volga region, and finally to Kyrgizia. There, 11-year-old Perel had to work with her mother on a collective farm to help support her family. Forced to share a tiny apartment lacking heat and utilities with other families, the Gellers were constantly sick. But despite physical and emotional hardship as well as the family’s repeated displacement during the war, Perel managed to save her mother’s Hebrew prayerbooks—relics she treasures to this day.

When the Gellers returned to Zhitomir following its liberation in 1944 (where they were soon joined by Perel’s father) their home had been given to others and their family was reduced to living in and were a windowless, one-room apartment. The small stove they installed for cooking and a bit of heat caused them endless, terrible headaches.

Overcoming tremendous obstacles, Perel completed medical school and worked for years as an obstetrician. But her siblings soon moved from Zhitomir, leaving her to care for their increasingly infirm parents. Since their death, Perel has been suffering from a variety of medical conditions all alone—save for Hesed.

“Thanks to them I can live in dignity, feeling I am part of a caring community that has not forgotten me.”

State-of-the-Art School Gives Haiti’s Children New Beginning

2012-01-12T09:32:00.000-05:00

The Zoranje middle school is restoring a modicum

of normalcy for children whose lives were

devastated by Haiti's January 2010 earthquake.

Photo: JDC website

Fabienne S. says her favorite school subject is English because, "I love the language of the people who come from other places to Haiti. I want to be able to communicate with them."

Now that she's attending 8th grade at the Ecole Nouvelle Zoranje school that JDC recently helped build and open in partnership with Prodev Foundation, she'll be able to do just that.*

The state-of-the-art, handicap-accessible campus includes kindergarten, elementary, and middle schools. Thirty-seven teachers work with a student body of 650 kids, 25-30% of whom are considered internally displaced people in Haiti following the earthquake. The school follows the national education curriculum but also offers modern teaching methods, extracurricular activities like arts, music, science, sports, and of course, Fabienne's favorite subject.

Fabienne will be learning English in part through a special program called Teach the World Online, a volunteer-based initiative that uses Skype to connect kids in classrooms around the globe with native English-speaker teachers. Volunteers and students alike find it incredibly exciting to meet each other over the internet and get to know each others' different 'worlds.'

Lucien S., Fabienne's Social Studies teacher, says the Zoranje school is special "because the administration understands the reality in Haiti and does a lot to help the children get a good education. The school is adaptive to the conditions in the country."

Even before the January 2010 earthquake—one of recent history's worst natural disasters—Haiti was considered the poorest country in the western hemisphere. The quake killed over 300,000 people and left an estimated 1.3 million people homeless. Two years on, some 634,000 people live in displaced persons camps. 50% of the population is under the age of 21 and the country has a reported 60% illiteracy rate. Educating this large number of young people to ensure the country's hopeful future is not easy, but Zoranje is a promising start.

The school is based in a town of approximately 5,000 people, 30 minutes outside of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. JDC equipped the school with a water well, tank, and pump. JDC also built a Mother and Child Clinic as part of the Zoranje campus, which will serve as a health education center, teaching the kids and the community about basic hygiene and disease prevention. The clinic will be operated by another JDC partner, Zanmi Lasante/Partners in Health, and will offer basic medical services, vaccinations, and HIV/AIDS prevention; as well as family planning, pre-natal services to expectant mothers, and care for babies and toddlers.

The Zoranje school is meant to be a model that will be replicated in other parts of Haiti in the future. The experience and expertise gained here will offer lessons to expanding the network of schools—and changing the reality of education in Haiti.

As Fabienne's teacher points out, "education is a good investment in Haiti because it will help Haiti have more responsible citizens who can contribute to its development. Investing in the education of Haiti's children is the answer to many of this country's problems."

Fabienne is eager to become a doctor and knows Zoranje is an important first step, especially considering where she came from. Before moving to this community with her parents and five older siblings, Fabienne lived in Cité Soleil, an extremely poor and densely populated area in Port-au-Prince, often referred to as "the slums." She used to spend three hours every day just getting to and from school, leaving little time for homework.

Today, her daily reality is starkly different—and a lot more promising. With a huge smile she says, "Thank you for allowing me and so many kids who were unable to go to school previously come to Zoranje."

* The state-of-the-art, handicap-accessible middle school in Zoranje was built and opened by JDC in partnership with Bonita Trust

Disabilities Inclusion Champion Pioneers Groundbreaking Israel Initiative

2012-01-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

Jay Ruderman visits the Zusman Center for

Independent Living in Jerusalem, a program of

Israel Unlimited in which the Ruderman Family

Foundation is a founding partner.

Jay Ruderman is a longtime advocate for the inclusion of people with disabilities in his native Boston and his current home, the State of Israel. Through his leadership of the Ruderman Family Foundation, he promotes the rights of people with disabilities in the Jewish community and works to strengthen the relationship between Israeli leaders and American Jews.

The Ruderman Family Foundation partnered with JDC and the Israeli Government in 2009 to create Israel Unlimited—a national initiative to meet the needs of Israel's 700,000 adults with disabilities (17.9% of the population) and improve their ability to live independently and integrate into Israeli society.

More than halfway into the program, Jay discusses its successes, challenges, and his steadfast vision for the future.

JDC: Israel Unlimited runs extensive community services for people with physical, sensory, emotional, and cognitive disabilities, as well as individuals with chronic health problems that cause functional impairment. What initially inspired your activism for people with disabilities?

JR: Originally the Ruderman Foundation made a commitment to Jewish day school education in Boston, but very quickly we realized that children with special needs did not share in the opportunity. We became concerned with this was an issue of fairness: Why should some children have the advantage of a Jewish education but others—sometimes in the same family—be denied it?

Ironically, after a few years of working on the issue, it became that much more personal to me when one of my nephews was diagnosed with autism.

JDC: Given your prominent work on inclusion issues in the US, how did you get involved in the work in Israel?

JR: We wanted to go from impacting a major Jewish community in the United States to being able to effect change on a national level in Israel.

We partnered with the Joint [JDC], which is an extremely professional organization and committed to making sure funders get the most impact for their philanthropic dollars. We were lucky to have the opportunity to found an initiative as partners and take the lead on the inclusion issue in Israel.

JDC: How did the innovative Israel Unlimited partnership emerge and who was involved? What do you see as JDC's role in the program?

JR: Our Foundation approached this initiative as an investment for which we provided participation as an entrepreneurial partner. JDC offered the expertise and research on the needs in Israel, and also brought in the government to bring the program's innovation and inclusivity to a new level. The Joint's expertise was required to make the partnership with the Israeli government work.

Israel Unlimited marks the first time that a private foundation has sat at a table with the Joint and the Israeli government in the field of disabilities.

Our Foundation is very entrepreneurial in the way we approach raising awareness and changing public attitudes, which we see as integral to the program being really successful. Our investment was matched and will most likely be expanded from an initial four-year financial commitment to a program continuously operated by the government that grows and evolves to meet the needs of the community.

Today the Board of Israel Unlimited includes a wide variety of stakeholders, including the Treasury Department, which ensures that the model programs are integrated within governmental policy and sustained by the government when the developmental stage is over.

JDC: As an advocate you've frequently said, "Government needs to give a little [to people with disabilities] to get a lot." What do you see as the government's role in ensuring inclusion of people with disabilities?

JR: Society tends to see first the disability and then the person. And though society wants to provide special services for people with disabilities, they are very costly. Government needs to step in and find the funds because equal opportunity is what we should be about as a people.

People with disabilities have to deal with discrimination as well as a financial impact. It is up to us to be a better society and include them in all aspects of life, including education, employment, and health care.

JDC: How have you seen the program grow and develop since its start?

JR: We are at the half-way point now and Israel Unlimited has taken on a variety of innovative projects, from Supportive Communities that give people the care they need to live independently in their own homes to special accessible Ulpans (Hebrew language learning programs for new immigrants) that allow people to really engage in Israeli society.

We have learned from different ministries that the Israeli government approaches groups of people by the type of disability that they have, which often leaves wide gaps for people with multiple disabilities or those whose issues are not well defined.

We've been able to see a better picture of what the needs are, and what the opportunities could be. Whatever isn't yet being addressed by the government is a space for something new and innovative.

Investing in the Joint is investing in knowledge, history, and an institution with the power to work with Israel's government to make society better. Our Foundation believes strongly in the relationship we have developed with the Joint. That's why we made the investment. Now other funders are showing interest in this area, and it is very exciting to imagine how the initiative can grow.

Many of the benefits probably won't be known until well into the future but the potential is tremendous.

JDC: Israel Unlimited works to integrate and enable people with disabilities to live rich, fulfilled, and independent lives. What success story has particularly stuck with you?

JR: Through the Centers for Independent Living, the confidence and the self-esteem that people gain from being linked into a network, a job market, a social scene, is transformational. People who were previously prisoners in their homes come out into the world!

I remember being in a neighborhood in the south of Israel where I was going to pay a visit to a homebound person in a walk-up. We saw some kids playing in the street and asked them if they knew the person and they said, "no." When neighbors don't even know you're there, when there's no one to bring you medicine or help you fix a broken faucet—let alone offer you human contact or friendship—that's when you are truly invisible.

But people with disabilities make up 18% of Israeli society. They should be included…and we're seeing tremendous progress in that direction.

JDC: When you speak generally about the trend of people with disabilities and employment, you reference the 'win-win-win' between employers, people with disabilities, and the government: "Many employers have seen their relatively small investment repaid in spades, with loyal and dependable workers who in many cases outpace those employees without disabilities. It is truly a win-win-win: Employers get good workers, individuals achieve independence and a new measure of confidence, and the government, over time, sees more tax revenue and less dependence on disability benefits." What such example have you seen in the field?

JR: In our work in Boston, we were initially focused on young kids but with time we began to think about what was happening to them after they graduated. Young people with disabilities in their 20s often must confront loneliness and limited or no job opportunities. So we partnered with our local Federation (CJP - Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston), Jewish Vocational Services, and Hebrew Senior Life (a provider of senior housing and services), and decided we would take a new approach.

Rather than providing general skills training, we asked our employment partner, Hebrew Senior Life, what skills they needed in new workers. We then began training 20-somethings with disabilities in those specific skills so that we could place them in viable employment there. The program has just begun, but we expect that there will be many new jobs created for people with disabilities, and perhaps almost as important, interactions between the elderly and the employees that will be mutually gratifying.

JDC: Back in Israel, Israel Unlimited is already helping thousands of people with disabilities and their families live independently in their homes, become activists for accessibility and community involvement, provide support services for their disabled peers, and much more. What are your goals for the partnership's remaining year and a half?

JR: I see the initiative as a work in progress. The pilot projects have spread throughout the country and we can look at different levels of success: how much government money comes in, what other funders come in, and what new avenues for partnership have emerged. I focus on the funding community because that's what I know and because other funders can help expand the impact.

Our efforts are entrepreneurial, which makes philanthropy exciting. We are investing and we are privileged to be involved in changing our society for the better.

JDC: ADVANCE 2011: The Ruderman Jewish Special Needs Conference just took place and you've expressed great excitement about being "the incubator for ideas that will lead to better and more effective services." Who was the conference for and what kind of exchanges did it facilitate?

JR: ADVANCE brought together funders, experts from the field of disability, and community leaders to share information and learn from each other, and transform the way communities serve the needs of adults and children with disabilities.

We are facing an overwhelming challenge with this issue, in terms of cost, complexity, etc. We will have no real impact if we operate individually. ADVANCE brought together major funders and partners, including CJP, the Joint, JFN, and JFNA, because we all need to work together to have a greater social impact.

JDC's Work Comes To A Close In Algeria

2012-01-04T12:34:00.000-05:00

From Steve Schwager, CEO:

According to some scholars, Jewish life in Algeria probably dates back nearly 2,600 years, to the time of the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. So Penny and I feel that it is of special importance to note that this past July, the last Jew in Algeria assisted by JDC, Mrs. Esther Azoulay, passed away.

Her passing brings JDC's direct program involvement in that troubled country to a close after a period of 60 years. And how did that work begin?

JDC’s connection started with its support for the Refugee Welfare Committee, which was established in Algeria in 1943 in order to bring assistance to European Jews who found asylum there during WWII. Later, when the State of Israel came into being, JDC also supported the aliyah of Jews from Algeria. However, in 1953, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Algeria felt that JDC should expand its programs for the Jews of Algeria in both the social and cultural arenas, and a JDC office was finally opened in Algiers in 1957.

JDC provided assistance in many areas: home visits to the needy, support for the development of educational institutions, medical care, cash assistance, and food packages, including matzot for Pesach. By 1959, 4,000 Jews were benefiting from JDC’s aid. In addition, JDC helped strengthen Jewish life in Algeria by supporting the construction of a rabbinical school and Jewish summer camps.

Even prior to 1962, when Algeria achieved its independence, Jews in Algeria had been facing hostility from certain segments of both the local French and Arab population. And once the French departed, Algerian rule was marked by militant Arab nationalism, growing Islamization, and virulent anti-Zionism. By the end of 1963, the 120,000-member community had dwindled to some 3,000-4,000 Jews.

In 1964, Mr. Choucroun, President of the Jewish community of Saïda, sent the following letter to Dr. Franco Levi, the JDC representative in Algeria:

At the time when I am preparing to leave Algeria, I would like to say once again how much I am grateful to the organization you represent and for your good deeds. You saved people in distress … thanks to your actions, children and elderly smiled at life. There do not remain any more poor people in Saïda.

The story of the final desecration/destruction of the last remaining synagogue in Algiers in 1988 makes stomach-churning reading even today. The damage done was so extensive that the synagogue, now in ruins, had to be permanently closed. By the end of the eighties, only 94 Jews remained in the country.

In the mid-1990’s the assassination of two Jews in Algiers marked the end of an era.

JDC remained a pillar of strength, providing assistance to those who needed help even as the community continued to shrink.

Since 1985, Line Meller, then living in Algiers, served as JDC’s liaison with the remaining Jews of Algeria.On our behalf she helped to assure the welfare of a small number of aged and impoverished Jews, who continued to receive cash assistance from JDC until they passed away.

Although JDC could not redeem these unfortunate Jews from their suffering since they did not want to emigrate, the work that JDC did kept them alive. JDC enabled Line Meller to light a candle in a black hole of darkness.

In 2010, Mr. Messaoud Chetrit, 82-years-old and the last Jewish man still living in Oran, passed away. A delegation of Jews came from France to ensure that he was buried according to the traditional Jewish ritual in the very cemetery of Oran where he had been the final caretaker.

And that brings us to the last Jew in Algeria assisted by JDC, Mrs. Azoulay, who had a very difficult life. In 1992, her case came to the attention of JDC, which from that point on provided her with regular cash assistance. Over a period of two decades, this JDC aid enabled Mrs. Azoulay to pay for all the medical care she needed for her multiple ailments. But perhaps what she treasured most about this JDC connection was the reassurance it gave her that she had not been forgotten by her people.

Among her last words to JDC was this postcard, sent to Yechiel Bar-Chaim in JDC’s Paris office:

January 10, 2011

Dear Mr. Bar-Chaim,

I received the magazines and the greetings card that you sent me together with the wishes of all JDC Paris staff. I was very touched. I had tears in my eyes. Fortunately, there are people like you who have compassion for others.

I wish you and the JDC Paris staff good health, peace in the world and everything you wish.

I send you my love and thank you again.

Esther Azoulay

Inside Ukraine, a Jewish Teen's Inspiring Journey

2011-12-29T09:09:00.000-05:00

A Day in the Life of Katya...

From Moscow - Chanukah Torch Relay

2011-12-21T15:25:00.001-05:00

Hillel Moscow held a torch relay last night through the center of the city for the lighting of the first candle to usher in the Festival of Lights.

Hillel Moscow Hanukkah Torch Relay 2011 from Valentin Scutaru on Vimeo.

Chag Sameach!

2011-12-20T15:35:00.000-05:00

WISHING YOU A HAPPY CHANUKAH

Thank You!!!

2011-12-16T12:18:00.000-05:00

We would like to thank everyone

who joined us in New York City

on December 12, 2011

for the

JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium

Better Together: A Professional's View

2011-12-07T17:17:00.000-05:00

Working in Israel's most disadvantaged neighborhoods, JDC's Better Together program strives to address the most outstanding risks to children and youth in the community by mobilizing residents, identifying and utilizing community resources and responding to unmet needs. In Neve Alonim, a neighborhood in the city of Ashkelon, Better Together is making a difference through the support and partnership of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County.

Maya is Better Together’s Local Coordinator. A veteran Better Together staffer since 2004 in Haifa, Maya came to Ashkelon in 2010.

Maya employs her professional skills and experience – she holds a Masters degree in Human Resources in addition to her social work training – to all aspects of her Better Together work, in particular some of the more delicate issues involved.

Such situations range from bringing local authority staff into coalition with non-profits and encouraging their collaboration, to helping residents overcome their widespread suspicion of professionals, or convincing staff that the effectiveness of their work would be increased by involving parents.

Maya talks about the program and its progress to date:

"I see a critical need for new services in the neighborhood for pre-school children and for youth.

I am acutely aware of the need for support, such as the help we receive from the Jewish Federation of Middlesex County. It’s enabling essential change-processes and the introduction of a new approach. We are seeing its impact already as more and more people take part in programs.

The Community Center has become a focal point for the neighborhood, a place where residents can express their needs and get actively involved. The Local Professional Forum and Residents Forum are based there, which facilitates collaboration. The two groups are already working in harmony such as when they organize events that engender a sense of belonging. They are also helping to improve services while indentifying those which are lacking. This means that we are able to develop new programs and services in the most effective way.

I believe deeply in cooperation, and it is a source of daily satisfaction for me to see smiles returning to the faces of children and parents in the neglected Neve Alonim neighborhood."

Poland’s Largest Jewish Gathering is Youth Inspired and Volunteer Led

2011-12-02T09:10:00.000-05:00

Volunteer-organized Limmud Keshet in Poland
brings together hundreds of Jews young
and old for a weekend of fun and Jewish learning

Anna is a poster child for her community's campaign about Jews in Poland. With a Jewish mother who knew little about her roots (she had no one to learn from) and a non-Jewish father, Judaism was not a part of Anna's family life when she was a child.

But around the time she turned 16 something changed. Her mom met a friend who introduced her to the growing Polish Jewish community, which she was surprised—and very pleased—to discover. Soon she started taking Yiddish classes and coming to events and holidays at the Jewish Community Center. And Anna, excited to connect with her mom and reconnect with their ancestry, came along, too.

Anna joined the Jewish student organization and soon found herself on a Taglit trip to Israel. "For me, that was transformative. I felt grateful for the experience and wanted to do something in the community to show my appreciation," said Anna. "I became a volunteer and started to feel needed and useful. I found the place where I felt at home."

So when JDC brought Limmud—a pluralistic, volunteer-organized learning initiative that's active today in over 50 countries—to Poland four years ago, Anna was among the first to get involved. And it didn't take long for her mother to join her and become a Limmud volunteer herself.

For three years running, Limmud Keszet Poland has been the largest gathering of Polish Jews in the country since the late 1960s. Over 600 participants took part last year and this year the same number of spaces sold out within 24 hours of the event's announcement.

But what makes Limmud Keszet significant is more than just numbers; it is the fact that this volunteer-led event draws Jews of all ages (from 6 months to 90 years old), of all denominations and traditions (from Orthodox to Progressive), and from a variety of linguistic backgrounds (Polish, Hebrew, Yiddish, and English) together for a weekend of fun and learning. In short, there's simply nothing else like it on the Polish-Jewish calendar.

Volunteers organize over 100 lectures and workshops led by world-famous scholars, artists, rabbis, and fellow community members. There is something for everybody: arts and crafts workshops for children, cooking classes, dance lessons, discussions on Jewish philosophy and the Torah. At Limmud, everyone shares his or her areas of expertise with the community.

For Anna, volunteering at Limmud is very special because it connects such an eclectic group of people. "Nowhere else in Poland can you meet so many Jews in one place. Nowhere else will you find everyone—Orthodox, Reform, professors and "beginner Jews"—coming to celebrate Shabbat together."

Monika, the event's organizer, says Limmud is chiefly about "breaking barriers by bringing elements of the entire community together"—something that is particularly hard to do given the history of Polish Jewry, in which barriers often formed important protections but also kept the community fragmented. "Limmud is our ideal vision of what we as a Jewish community would like to be: united and sharing in the joys of practicing and learning about our tradition…and planning for a better future."

Through events like Limmud, young Jews from across Poland are getting involved and ensuring the focus of Jewish life in their country remains modern and forward-looking. Anna, who is a Jewish professional today, is proud to play an active role in her community's growth and evolution. "My peers are choosing to raise their children Jewish. That's already a step that will pay off in the future!"

At-Risk Youth Turned Aspiring Entrepreneurs

2011-11-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

JDC’s Turning Point Program helps Israel’s
at-risk youth garner business acumen,
a paycheck, and the self-confidence to
create a promising future for themselves

"Fakhera" was only 15 when her father lost his job and her mother left their home to find work in order to provide for her seven children. Struggling in class, fraught by the family's economic stresses, and getting into trouble for acting out, Fakhera dropped out of school to try to find whatever job she could in her Israeli-Arab village in northern Israel.

Fakhera found work cleaning at the local supermarket—working 10-12 hours a day for less than minimum wage—but the extra income came at a high price to her future. That's why the counselor from the Ministry of Education's Youth Advancement Service for youth dropouts encouraged Fakhera to enroll in an alternative setting that would enable her to complete her studies. Soon afterward Fakhera joined JDC's Turning Point program.

Turning Point introduces Israel's at-risk youth to the real world of business, equipping them with job-readiness and entrepreneurial skills and placing them in mainstream work opportunities.

Fakhera was among the 350,000 Israeli children and youth who are considered to be "at-risk"—the troubled state in which one out of six Israelis under age 18 find themselves today. Of these, approximately 50,000 are on the verge of dropping out of school or have already dropped out, show extreme signs of truancy, or are juvenile offenders. They have few ambitions, do not pursue gainful careers, and lack hope for their future, while their delinquent behavior and sense of alienation put them on the fringes of society.

Turning Point appeals to these hard-to-reach teens by focusing on issues which are relevant to their lives—finding a job, earning money, and achieving financial independence. The program helps them restore vision by providing guidance and practical tools to break out of the destructive cycle they are in. As young people like Fakhera learn real life business concepts and job skills, their self-confidence grows and they begin to see themselves anew and recognize opportunities for success.

For Fakhera, joining Turning Point helped her cope with her family and school troubles and allowed her to envision a brighter future. While she was proud of her financial independence and ability to help her family, now she saw that she could get a better job and chart a path for herself in the workforce. "The visits to different workplaces and the meetings with business people opened my eyes and showed me that I could want more from my work," she said.

Learning to interview successfully and build a social network, Fakhera developed a support system and the confidence to look for jobs in other fields.

Today she is waitressing at a popular coffee shop and says the collaborative environment gives her great job satisfaction. Prior to Turning Point, she had never experienced the feeling of being part of a team; now she has a social circle that supports her in pursuing her dreams.

"We fully believed that Fakhera had what it took to develop and advance in the workforce because she exhibited such commitment, trust, and energy in her work," says Samir, one of her program facilitators. "She has accomplished her goals in her studies, too. She earned a certificate for 12 years of study and is continuing on to complete matriculation exams."

Turning Point has reached over 6,400 15- to 18-year-olds in 66 locations across Israel through its mentoring, job-readiness and entrepreneurship education, and youth-run business venture program modules. This year alone, some 1,000 at-risk teens will participate in Turning Point programs.

Now 17 years old, Fakhera is happy among her Turning Point peers—a unified group that works in cooperation, fulfills commitments, and is thirsty to learn. "With this support system I feel strong and know my future is in my hands."

*Additional Note: Turning Point operates in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Social Affairs and Social Services, and Industry, Trade and Labor; the National Insurance Institute; Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship; International Bank of Israel; Matan (Israel's United Way); local authorities; Israeli philanthropic and non-profit organizations; and the Israeli business community.

Doctor Brings Expertise and Gains Insights in Ethiopia

2011-11-25T11:21:00.001-05:00

Dr. Gordon, BCM-Osher-JDC Medical Fellow

in Ethiopia, hosts a teaching session with

medical students from University Hospital, Gondar.

Photo: medshare.org

In an effort to improve medical education, clinical care, and research in Ethiopian pediatrics, JDC has teamed up with the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) and Gondar University Hospital (GUH). Over the past two years, BIPAI pediatricians placed as fellows have been formally integrated into every aspect of medical education at GUH, contributing invaluably to both the education of the local medical professionals and the care of the hospital’s patients.

David Gordon, M.D., M.P.H., is the current BCM-Osher-JDC Medical Fellow in Ethiopia. He trained in pediatrics at the University of California in San Francisco, holds a Masters in Public Health from Boston University, and has worked in India, Lesotho, Kenya, and Turkmenistan. David shares his insights on medical miracles, mind-bending local challenges, and the importance of cardboard toys for malnourished children.

JDC: Can you share some details about your personal background? When and how did you initially decide to go into medicine?

DG: I was born in Walnut Creek, California. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer until 1992, when on a whim I joined a program called Amigos de las Americas, run out of Texas. I raised money by selling grapefruit door to door, and paid for a ticket to Ecuador as a "community sanitation" volunteer. I was placed in a small village high in the Andes, where I worked with the local health department to construct latrines, give health-related presentations to villagers, and do what I could to develop the local infrastructure. It was my first time seeing poverty like that, and as a kid coming from suburban California it made a big impression on me.

I went to college, where I studied international development through the geography department, to figure out why people in Ecuador were so poor. At some point, I recognized how integral a population's health was to its economic productivity: people become sick because they're poor, and they become poor because they're sick. I became interested in public health, and in medicine by proxy. The rest of my education fell into place from there.

JDC: You've worked in such a wide variety of places, including India, Lesotho, Kenya and Turkmenistan. In what ways is Ethiopia a unique place for you to be working? What issues do you see transcending national boundaries?

DG: Ethiopia is like nothing I've ever seen. Its landscape, with green plateaus and rocky outcroppings, is stunning. Its culture, practically untouched by colonial hands, seems pure in a way I can't fully describe. And its people are friendly and respectful of me in a way I've rarely seen in my travels. As wonderful as Ethiopia is, it presents many challenges to providing medical care. First, there are local customs that threaten the health of children, and as a physician it's difficult to understand why these customs still exist. Holy water is used for everything from ear infections to the treatment of HIV, a practice which considerably delays a patient's presentation to allopathic care.

Second, the pathology that I see here is unlike any I've seen elsewhere. Ethiopia aspires to become a middle-income country, but it is still extremely poor. It has the world's 7th highest incidence of tuberculosis; it is one of just three places on earth endemic for a parasitic disease called visceral leishmaniasis (or kala-azar), which hits children here quite frequently; seasonal food security continues to be a problem, and severe acute malnutrition accounts for the bulk of our admissions; and countless rare diseases, including endemic typhus (the last place in the world this condition can still be found), abound. The wards are as much a classroom for me as they are for our medical students and interns.

Third—and this has more to do with me than with Ethiopia—this is the first time I've worked as a fully-credentialed pediatrician in another country. My status as a physician affords considerable legitimacy, and I have been able to connect with colleagues faster and accomplish much more than I was as a Peace Corps volunteer, a medical student, or a resident. The willingness of my Ethiopian colleagues to collaborate with me in this way has made my experience here more gratifying than any I've ever had.

Many of the same problems that weaken medical care in the US can be found in Ethiopia, too. Interns are severely overworked, and everyone (including me, sometimes) expects them to be miracle workers. Systems of delivering care break down constantly, as they do in the US, and fixing broken systems takes time and energy above and beyond what we're already putting into the job. And in a busy ward, with everyone dealing with the same problems, it happens too often that providers fail to relate to patients as human beings: we know what needs to be done, we need to do it quickly, and the human side of delivering care is undermined by the machines we have to become. Fighting all this is just as difficult here as it was in San Francisco!

JDC: Can you describe your typical day, if there is such a thing?

DG: I wake up at 5:45 and go for a run along the main road, usually getting warm greetings from passersby who yell "Gobez (well done)!" One child runs out to me, pumps his arm up and down several times, and yells "YES!" The latter happens just before a large hill that brings me home, and always recharges my energy. I drink a cup of buna—or coffee—at a cafe across from the hospital, where the owner often brings his 4-year-old son for me to evaluate for one ailment or another.

At eight, I join the department for morning conference, where we hear from interns about patients that were recently admitted and help them learn the essentials of pediatrics. Truthfully, I probably learn as much as I teach, since the pathology in Ethiopia is so different from that in the US!

After conference, two days a week, I teach medical students at the patient bedside. One student presents information about the patient, and I spend two hours making corrections, expanding the list of possible diagnoses, and reviewing the basics of physical examination and therapy. On the remaining three days, I work on "quality improvement" and research.

At noon, I walk across the street to a restaurant, where I fill my stomach with local cuisine for the equivalent of 50-75 cents. From two to four, I do rounds with interns on actual patients, hearing about details and making corrections to their management. I usually spend an hour at the end of the day reading about conditions I've seen on the ward and making sure my team's management is in agreement with international standards of care.

In the evening, after five or six, I like to walk around my neighborhood. Some children near my house teach me Ethiopian games; some families ask me to come inside to see a sick child and then sit me down for coffee or tea; and beyond my community, in the lush farmland, I like to walk and clear my mind for the night. Then I cook dinner, work on small projects or watch a TV show, and go to bed around 9:30; most of my friends call me an old man, but I can't function without a good night of sleep.

JDC: Do you work in tandem with the other Fellows in the program? What about local medical professionals?

DG: Currently, I'm the only BIPAI representative in Gondar. Usually, there are three of us, and two more will be joining me soon. We all work on our own projects, but lean against each other heavily: we consult each other on clinical cases, discuss good approaches to getting projects accomplished, and point out resources when we find them.

More commonly, to make our work sustainable, we partner with other physicians in our department. Six general practitioners, two residents, and three Ethiopian "senior consultant" doctors contribute significantly to our work, and without their involvement nothing would get done. We hope that when BIPAI leaves some day, we can leave behind a team of providers that can keep our interventions going into the future.

JDC: How do you cope with the difficult things you encounter so regularly? Have you seen any "miracles"?

DG: I wish there was a secret to making the sight of a suffering or dying child easy, but it never is, and I hope it never will be. I've seen students and residents visit this hospital for a one-month attachment and give up after two weeks, practically in tears; it makes me wonder if I've lost some element of sensitivity somewhere along the way.

I do two things when something bothers me. First, I run. Sometimes I run really far. And I always feel better when I come back. Second, I do something about the problem, even if it's small. Of all the cases I've seen in the past year, the malnourished kids have been the most heart-wrenching for me. They lie there, and they don't even have enough energy to complain. After my first week on that ward, I came home and made five toys out of cardboard, plastic bottles, and old magazines. Kids that I thought were lost forever smiled for the first time, mothers started playing with their children, and for a while the quietest ward in the hospital became the loudest.

Surviving here, I think, depends on feeling like you're moving forward, and on believing that your presence means something. A realist would probably die here, but as an idealist I'm thriving.

Honestly, every healthy discharge feels like a miracle, since kids come to us really sick and we care for them with so little! But other miracles happen, too. Interns who seem too busy to improve their practice sometimes take my advice to heart and surprise me with improvement. Medical students who I think aren't paying attention in lecture approach me afterward and ask appropriate questions, even asking for more reading material to augment their learning. If I look for miracles, I find them.

JDC: How does your Public Health background play into the work you are doing in Ethiopia?

DG: As a physician in general, moreover, I think it's important to think like a public health practitioner. One sees disease in a broader context if one is trained to think at the population level. It's easier to recognize clusters of disease and ask why they're occurring; it's easier to include environmental adjustment in a child's discharge plan; and it's more likely that a patient's family members will be recruited for testing when an infectious diagnosis is made. I've heard some people say public health (which focuses on communities) and medicine (which focuses on individuals) are mutually exclusive. On the contrary, I think public health and medicine can and should work very well together.

JDC: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced in your time in Ethiopia so far? What are some of the most unexpected surprises?

DG: I always find technology frustrating, and technology in Ethiopia is no exception. So much of what I do requires 1) a source of electricity, 2) a source of internet, 3) a computer that works, 4) a cord that connects a computer to the internet and another that connects it to electricity, and 5) a printer that works, has electricity, has a cord that connects the computer to the printer, and accepts my flash drive. This may sound logical to you, but in Ethiopia you would be AMAZED by how rarely all these components actually co-exist.

The same is true for lectures in powerpoint—at least one of these components is almost always missing, no matter how prepared you are. Ethiopians deal with this by shrugging their shoulders; admittedly, I deal with it by getting really angry. I want to do good work, but I feel like the universe is working against me. I'm becoming more patient with time here, and I think I'm becoming a better person.

I've been surprised by how far we get with such few resources. A child with a newly-diagnosed neurologic disease in the US would get an MRI and blood work very quickly. Here, I have to re-learn how to interpret physical findings in context, knowing that the only data I'm going to get will come from my ears, hands, eyes, and nose. It's validating to know we can do so much with so little, especially having trained at a US tertiary care hospital where any question was answered with a sophisticated test. I'm also surprised by both the heroism and the greed of providers here. My fellow pediatricians and internists voluntarily stay long hours to care for their patients and are meticulous when educating medical students. In other departments, however, senior physicians often shunt the poorest patients into private clinics to earn more money from their care; equipment is stolen from the public hospital for use at private facilities; and, incentivized by more competitive salaries, many leave practices serving the poor to work abroad or for international NGOs that may or may not provide comparable services. I really do feel like I see the best and worst in people here.

JDC: What do you think you'll do once you complete your current service?

DG: I have absolutely no idea what I'll do after this. I've wanted this job, more or less, since I was sixteen years old, and it frightens me to think that I have to set new goals now. I have an interest in policy, and may pursue a career with the WHO or one of the US-based health development organizations. Alternately, I could continue practicing pediatrics for an underserved community in the US and focus on community development. After this experience, it will be difficult to ever let my interest in international health go. I'm open to ideas.

Family Retreats Offer a Helping Hand to Special Needs Kids and Their Parents

2011-11-22T09:19:00.000-05:00

Integration camps for families with children with
special needs provide tailored services and care
and offer a welcoming community and entry point into
Jewish life.
Photo: JDC Website

For Vladimir and Irina, everyday parenting is a struggle. Both of their young children suffer from debilitating illnesses: Nikita, 8, has cerebral paralysis; his legs do not work, so he can’t move without his parents’ help and his speech is also severely impaired. Ellina is five, and soon after she was born her parents learned that she had encephalopathy (brain disease/disorder) and would require ongoing medical attention throughout her life.

The difficulty of meeting their children’s special needs is confounded by the pressures of making ends meet on the family’s meager $200 monthly income. The children require regular doctors’ visits, treatments, medications, and nutritious food—but the household utilities alone cost over $100 per month.

Strained, isolated, and overwhelmed, Vladimir and Irina have no public resources to turn to for help—which is why JDC’s assistance is so critical. They receive food and medicines, diapers, clothes, and household supplies to help them meet their basic needs. They rely on special packages of food and Jewish items in order to celebrate the holidays. But the family has found its greatest assistance in the community and support that embraced them at this year’s JDC Family Integration Camp just outside their hometown of Kishinev, Moldova.

“Other families with kids with special needs can understand the hardships, pain, and fears that go along with raising children with disabilities and help us feel less alone,” Irina says.

JDC supports family camping programs throughout Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Over 5500 people will participate in intergenerational camps, Shabbatons, and retreats throughout the region this year. Integrated family camps are unique as they are staffed by specially trained madrichim as well as psychologists, medical doctors, and specialists for children with special needs. They provide an environment where parents and children alike can receive tailored assistance and take part in sensitive programming designed to make the most of their children’s abilities and talents.

Families take part in Jewish activities (like decorating hamsas, kippot, and Shabbat candles), and everyone comes together as one big family to celebrate Shabbat and then to sing Havdalah songs as Shabbat draws to a close. For many, these programs offer the only chance to connect with other families in the disability community and to find an entry point into Jewish life.

This is just what happened to the Shoob family: Eugene, 50, is a single father to Lubov, his ten-year-old daughter who suffers from cerebral spastic infantile paralysis. They didn’t think other families would understand their trying circumstances so they’d never taken part in community activities until last year, when when they participated in the family camp in Minsk, Belarus.

“The days we spent at the Jewish family retreat were unforgettable,” Eugene reflects. “Initially, I went for the sake of my daughter but I learned so much myself. Lubov found new friends at camp and came back proud to be part of the Jewish people. I’d thought it was hardly possible to find like-minded people at my age but found out just how wrong I was.”

Today Eugene and Lubov take part in their local family club and the Mishpacha (Family) theatre program, and attend all of the community’s holidays, concerts, festivals, and activities. They’ve started going to synagogue and Lubov now attends the JDC-supported Minsk Jewish Community Center programs where she plays, dances, and has made many friends. Eugene is very grateful for his newfound community and cannot wait to for this year’s retreat.

“I have always known my family is Jewish,” he said. “But now I know what that means and what a joy it can be.”

Working Together for a Good Start in Life

2011-11-17T11:42:00.000-05:00

The following personal story of a young mother's progress, as she ensures the development of her young children while furthering her own career, encapsulates the community involvement that is the cornerstone of Better Together's success.

Young mother Sarah regularly attends Neve Alonim’s Early Childhood Enrichment Room with her two children, aged three and six. Although she has a full-time job caring for babies at a day care center, the family's financial position is still precarious.

Sarah first heard about the room through the neighborhood's Community Center. When staff conducted interviews with residents prior to setting up the room, Sara stepped up and joined the Mothers’ Forum, which was established to ensure that Better Together's early learning programs fit the needs of the neighborhood's preschoolers.

Three times a week, Sarah brings her children to family literacy programs at the Playroom, and they both already feel at home there. While there, she formed a close bond with the staff, who have become a source of much needed support.

Moreover, Sarah is now employed there to run regular creative activities for parents and children. She has also recruited several new families to the Playroom, and as a member of the Mothers' Forum she is now participating in the course to develop community leadership.

As a result of her involvement with Better Together, Sarah is rapidly becoming a key figure in the neighborhood. While making an invaluable contribution to activities for very young children and their parents, she is increasing her family's income and gaining valuable, career-enhancing skills.

Bringing Health Awareness to Hungary’s Women

2011-11-15T11:09:00.000-05:00

Melinda, a local Roma volunteer professional (left)
and Marianna, JDC’s WHEP Program Manager in
Hungary (middle), share information about breast
cancer with a Roma woman at a Health Day in Pécs.

Klara, a 52-year-old banker and mother of two, clearly remembers the day she attended the breast cancer screening that led to her diagnosis. It was brilliantly sunny and she had a full afternoon of client meetings scheduled. There were 17 women in line ahead of her to have a mammogram. As she turned to leave, a screening assistant called after her, encouraging her to reschedule after work hours to ensure she didn't put off the exam another year. She returned at the end of the week and three days later got a call asking her to come in for another mammogram—and a biopsy.

Klara had learned about and done self-examinations regularly, but the tumor was so deep in her breast she couldn't possibly have discovered it if the mobile screening project—a special JDC initiative to provide underserved women in remote areas throughout Hungary with access to health services—hadn't come to her town that year.

A prominent part of JDC's Women's Health Empowerment Program (WHEP)—currently active in Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia, and Montenegro—the mobile screening is integral to the Equal Chance Against Cancer campaign initiated by JDC in partnership with the Open Society Foundations' Roma Initiatives and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The campaign's Equal Chance Health Days have provided breast cancer screenings for over 4,500 women in 42 locations across Hungary since 2007.

The campaign strives to change the attitudes of health professionals and the majority population towards the disease and give underserved women, including the Roma and women with disabilities, access to critically needed information and services. JDC's education initiatives, awareness-raising activities, and health services reach disadvantaged women in some of the country's most remote areas, and end up saving hundreds of lives each year.

Klara considers herself lucky to have had her tumor discovered. It was spreading so aggressively that undiagnosed she would have died in three months. Instead she underwent surgery, followed by chemotherapy treatment and a successful recovery.

"Early detection can mean the difference between life and death," says Marianna Jó, JDC Program Manager of WHEP in Hungary. "Unfortunately, there is a 10-year gap in life expectancy between majority and minority populations in our country. It is estimated that Roma women are three times more likely to die from carcinogenic diseases than non-Roma." Marianna explains that this phenomenon is perpetuated by misconceptions surrounding the illness, and a lack of access to health services among populations living in remote areas in deep poverty and facing long-standing discrimination.

The following year, when the mobile screening unit came back to Klara's town, she volunteered her support and experience to help newly diagnosed women. She'd fought the cancer on her own because her husband was too devastated to be able to help; now she had renewed strength. "I could explain to women how to use a prosthesis, where to find psychological support…all those things I did not know when I got ill," said Klara. "I was so happy I could help these women, to listen to them and to their needs."

This peer support concept inspired a new program JDC is launching this month for underserved women, particularly the Roma, in Hungary in partnership with the Open Society Institute. The new Mothers Centers for disadvantaged women in the countryside will provide information about and access to public services; develop community through common activities; and contribute to the Roma women's active citizenship in Hungary.

Melinda, a civil society professional from the local Roma association who helped bring the mobile screening unit to Klara's town, will volunteer as a coordinator for their Mothers Center. She sees it a unique opportunity for Roma women to meet, discuss, and deal with issues that are relevant for them as mothers and women, as individuals and as a group. For example, she and Klara are focusing on making their Center health-oriented and inviting women from their Roma community to discuss topics like women's issues, diet, disease prevention, and diabetes.

Melinda believes openness and authenticity are critical to this empowerment program. "We solicit the needs of women in the community before we start the program. They see that the community house is for them, that we do these things for them, so that their lives get better," she explains. "These women do not get to go anywhere. They go to the supermarket to do the shopping, they see the public nurse or the doctor with their kids, but they have nothing else, only the household."

That's what makes each of the four centers such a critical resource: they will provide a forum for women to raise issues and share concerns about their health, their children, financial management, and domestic issue. "We think that women's health, child-care, early childhood development, and school issues are their main interests. They want to be good mothers, so that they can raise good children. This is what they see in us—an opportunity to learn and be better."

Are YOU the next Ralph I. Goldman Fellow in International Jewish Service?

2011-11-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

JDC is currently recruiting for the 2012 – 2013 Ralph I. Goldman (RIG) Fellowship in International Jewish Service -- the premiere opportunity for engaging young Jewish leaders in the work of the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization.

Who? JDC is looking for the best young Jewish thinkers and doers -- writers, artists, policy shapers, business innovators, and community builders -- there is no single profile that fits. We are looking for leaders in their field who have the promise to influence the future of Jewish life and the world.

What? JDC’s Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship is a one-of-a-kind, paid, professional development opportunity to live and work in overseas locations where JDC is active and engage with the inner workings of the organization.

Where? JDC works in over 70 countries around the world.

When? Fellowship begins in September 2012 with an orientation period at JDC’s headquarters in New York, continues with two or more overseas assignments, and concludes in New York in September 2013.

How? www.jdc.org/ralph

Deadline: December 30, 2011

Qualifications? Master’s degree or equivalent; Professional achievement in the candidate’s chosen career; Exceptional leadership and communication skills; Strong interest in international Jewish affairs and public service.

Email globalservice@jdcny.org to submit a letter of intent, or for more information.

From Steve Schwager, JDC CEO

2011-11-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

I spent all last week in Israel, visiting both new and old JDC programs. I also had numerous meetings with various Israeli government officials. So you can probably predict my next comment to you, which is that I wrote this column in "an old, familiar place" – 37,000 feet in the air while flying back to Newark Airport.

On the government side, I met with the Cabinet Secretary and Director General of the Prime Minister's office. We discussed JDC's upcoming 100th anniversary Board meeting in Israel and how the government would officially recognize JDC's work. These sessions were very meaningful; the government officials were very supportive and spoke glowingly of our mission in general, as well as our specific programs.

I then met with the new Commanding General of the IDF's Home Front Command, which is responsible for protecting the citizens of Israel during war or terrorist attacks. The General had come to be briefed on our work and asked JDC to partner with the IDF if Israel is once again faced with war. Specifically, he was impressed with our networks of volunteers, including our 200-plus Supportive Communities for the elderly and disabled, our 20-plus Young Adult Centers, and the local ESHELs that have been established for Israel's seniors. Formal coordination procedures are now in place and regularly tested. JDC is a full partner with the State of Israel's response system to ensure that the most vulnerable citizens will be helped in times of crisis.

The third official I met with was the Deputy Accountant General of the Finance Ministry who is responsible for reviewing programs in the social services. He told me how amazed and impressed he was with the scope and the number of cities in which JDC works. He also expressed his appreciation for our partnership and the unique contributions that we have made and continue to make to the State.

During all three visits, what was truly rewarding was being able to clearly see the esteem in which JDC is held by these senior officials.

On the program side, I visited various sites and enjoyed rewarding and interesting conversations.

In Jerusalem, I visited a prepatory program for young adults who are going into the army. Those of us who do not live in Israel typically believe that every Israeli young adult—whether male or female—goes into the army right after high school. But the 20 young people I met in this program changed my view forever. These were young adults coming from the kibbutz movement or small towns. They felt that they were not ready for the army and needed more time to mature before serving. So during this year after high school, they were taking part in this preparatory program in which they studied about Israel and Judaism and did volunteer work with the elderly or children. This was a meaningful approach that reflected both maturation and a dedication to the State of Israel; I saw these young adults as a new generation of pioneers who will continue to build Israel.

We also visited the Arab village of Sachnin in the north of Israel. The village is home to 27,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs who are among the most vulnerable citizens of Israel. Each division in JDC has established programs in Sachnin that address the needs of this population. We have separate programs for the elderly, the disabled, children at risk, the unemployed, etc. Until a few years ago, each program operated independently. JDC-Israel has now implemented a more holistic model by appointing a senior staffer to coordinate our efforts. Evaluations by the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute show that this change has had a meaningful impact both on JDC and on the local municipalities. While I was there, I met the mayor, who was deeply grateful for all our work.

I always talk about how important it is to see our programs first-hand, but I must admit that it is also very rewarding to hear from our partners that what JDC is doing most certainly makes a difference. Irv and I are very grateful to the Israeli government for its partnership and support; and we are grateful both to the JDC professionals and to the volunteers who make it all happen.

A Homecare Visit That Restores Dignity and Hope

2011-11-04T13:01:00.000-04:00

For Irina, a 79-year-old widow living in poverty
in Melitopol, Ukraine, JDC-supported Hesed
services are a lifeline. “I have no one else to rely
on. I am so grateful to the people at Hesed for
their care and attention.”

While just a teenager, Irina, now age 79, witnessed her family’s vibrant Jewish community in the Urals region of Russia decimated in World War II, their synagogue go up in flames, and the Jewish cemetery destroyed. Still, Irina persevered. Undeterred by the anti-Semitism and later hardships she faced during years of communism, she graduated from university and moved to the Far East to begin her 34-year career as a French teacher. The only thing she has to show for that now is a pension that puts her below the poverty line.

Living on less than $112 a month, Irina depends on JDC’s Hesed social welfare center in Melitopol, Ukraine, to provide food; medicines; heating fuel and blankets to protect her through the winter; and weekly home care visits from Yelena who cooks, cleans, and bathes Irina—basic tasks that would be impossible to accomplish alone.

For Irina, it is a good day when she doesn’t suffer a mild stroke. It’s a bad day when she lies shivering on her bed because her decomposed ancient firewood heater can’t protect her from the bitter Ukrainian winters. Every day is a struggle for survival—one she faces on her own since the deaths of her husband and son. Her loving marriage was cut abruptly short when her husband died in 1959 of radiation exposure from his service as a career medical officer in the Soviet Army. And Irina watched her only son—the joy of her life—succumb to leukemia before his 28th birthday.

Today Irina fights severe, deforming arthritis with every step she takes along the creaking floor of her home. She lives alone and isn’t able to venture outside its four walls—except when Yelena comes.

On a rare bright morning when Irina feels strong enough, she accompanies Yelena to the local supermarket where she can choose her own groceries and purchase them with dignity using a special food debit card provided by Hesed.

All that Irina has left in the world are childhood memories of celebrating Jewish holidays with her large family, and some tattered photos of her son. These have been her only source of comfort through ensuing decades of heartache. But today she has Yelena; today she has dignity.

* Vital relief and homecare services are reaching 165,000 of the most frail and vulnerable Jewish elderly across the former Soviet Union thanks to the invaluable support of the Jewish Federations of North America, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, the Maurice and Vivenne Wohl Charitable Foundation, World Jewish Relief (UK), and a generous new gift from Bonita Trust.

Empowering Young Adults: Young Adult Parliaments

2011-11-02T09:49:00.000-04:00

Although nearly 40% of Israelis are young adults, few opportunities exist for their social and civic involvement. JDC's Young Adult Parliaments aim to change this situation by providing young adults with the means to take effective action to improve their communities. Dimona is just one community that has benefited from this injection of young energy and compassion.

The residents of Dimona – an impoverished town in the south of Israel – struggle to cope with the limited local resources and services. The town’s young adults who choose to build their future in Dimona find it hard to improve their environment, leaving them feeling powerless and disconnected.

Dimona’s Young Adult Parliament has changed this. As the town’s young people have come to understand community needs and how to work with local leadership, they have led focused lobbying and civic action campaigns and brought about concrete solutions.

For example, in less than a year they have transformed local transport services – solving a longstanding obstacle for residents. When the parliament set out to address the lack of bus routes offered in the city it faced indifference from the management of the national bus company and opposition from local taxi drivers. Ignoring these obstacles, young parliament members engaged the public, obtaining over 3,000 signatures of support from local residents in a petition sent to the National Minister of Transportation. Their lobbying effort resulted in a five-fold increase in the number of bus lines and routes, saving impoverished residents significant costs in taxi fares.

Young Adult Parliaments empower and engage 18-30 year olds to take active roles in the social, economic and political life of their communities. Parliaments bring together a representative group of local young adults from a given geographical area to address key issues on the public agenda, from education and employment, to housing and transportation. Parliament members act as a lobby and social action group to improve the quality of life for themselves and their communities.

JDC RESPONDS TO TURKEY EARTHQUAKE

2011-10-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

(Photo: JDC website)

To Donate to Turkey Emergency Relief, CLICK HERE

New York, October 24, 2011 ― In the aftermath of the devastating earthquake in eastern Turkey yesterday, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) has begun collecting funds for relief efforts. Responding to initial reports of hundreds of deaths and wide-spread building collapse, JDC is working with its local partners -- including Turkey's Jewish community -- to ensure the victims' immediate needs are addressed. JDC’s past humanitarian interventions in Turkey have included the provision of aid and training after earthquakes in 2010 and 1999. JDC staff experts are current determining what next steps are necessary, especially in the hardest-hit Van Province.

“Our hearts go out to the people of Turkey at this tragic time and we offer our condolences the families of those lost in the earthquake. Building off our historic work in Turkey, the disaster-preparedness training we have provided in the past, and the strength of our partnership with the Turkish Jewish community, we are responding quickly and strategically to help victims in their time of need,” said Steven Schwager, JDC’s Chief Executive Officer.

The 7.2 earthquake is the most powerful to hit Turkey in a decade. As rescue crews continue search operations, aftershocks plague the region. JDC’s multi-pronged involvement in the Turkish Jewish community began following World War I when it came to the aid of orphaned Jewish children. JDC’s work continued with its reinvestment in Turkey in 1992 by improving social services and Jewish community-based economic development, as well as its provision of disaster-relief and development efforts in the country.

JDC's disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Interaction, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israeli relief agencies, and the United Nations. JDC has provided immediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters around the globe and continues to operate programs designed to rebuild infrastructure and community life in disaster-stricken regions.

To Make a Contribution:

Online: www.jdc.org/turkeyrelief

By Phone: 212-687-6200

By Mail:
check payable to: JDC TURKEY EARTHQUAKE RELIEF
Attn: JDC
P.O. Box 4124
New York, NY 10163
212-687-6200

JDC Board Members to be Honored

2011-10-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Mazal Tov to JDC Board member H. Fred Levine and his wife Velva on being chosen as the 2012 recipients of the Joan Alexander Chesed Award from Jewish Family Service in Houston.

Read about it in the Jewish Herald-Voice:
Transformative couple to be honored

A Day in the Life of Zhanna

2011-10-19T09:12:00.000-04:00

Spend a day with Zhanna, one of nearly 165,000 impoverished Jewish elderly in the former Soviet Union for whom JDC provides a lifeline and breaks the isolation.

Op-Ed by JDC CEO Featured in Wall Street Journal

2011-10-17T12:09:00.000-04:00

JDC's CEO Steve Schwager wrote a wonderful op-ed that recently appeared in the Wall Steet Journal 'Houses of Worship' column in the Editorials section.

You can read the article on the Wall Street Journal Website

Wall Street Journal -- HOUSES OF WORSHIP
OCTOBER 14, 2011

A Miraculous Post-Soviet Religious Revival

Jewish practice has come a long way since owning a Russian copy of Leon Uris's "Exodus" could land a Jew in jail.

By STEVEN SCHWAGER

As Jews around the world gather to celebrate Simchat Torah next week—the raucous holiday marking the completion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings—I am reminded of one of the more curious practices among Soviet Jews in the final decades of the Communist regime.

Living under duress, these Jews gathered illegally in homes or even in the streets to celebrate a holiday for an object that most had never seen, let alone read from. Such celebrations persisted despite systematic anti-Jewish persecution by the Soviets, including university quotas, discouragement from certain jobs, and an all-out effort to eradicate Jewish culture and religion.

And yet 20 years after the Soviet Union's fall, this act of defiance has taken on an entirely different character. That's because—contrary to all expectations—we are in the midst of one of world's more miraculous revivals of Jewish civilization, and in much of the former Soviet Union such celebrations are no longer taboo. In fact a million or so Jews in former Soviet states are now celebrating their faith, history and culture with an enthusiasm previously unimaginable.

I credit this renaissance to two main forces.

First, and perhaps most extraordinary: the resilience of Jews whether in Ashkabad, Chisinau or Tbilisi. After the tsars and the Soviets, they cautiously embraced their new freedom and began to explore, on their terms, what it meant to be a Jew in an open society.

Second: the indefatigable efforts of American Jews and Jewish organizations. My organization, the Joint Distribution Committee, was actually described by Stalin's prosecutors as the "international bourgeois Jewish-Zionist organization" allegedly behind the notorious "Doctors' Plot" of 1953.

In reality, of course, the plot was a Stalinist fabrication and a pretense for anti-Semitic propaganda, show trials and executions. Nonetheless, we and many others continued our secret work in the Soviet Union. Then in 1991 we openly continued in the new states that emerged, with hands full of instruments of Jewish knowledge and tradition, helping to recreate Jewish life.

The quest for Jewish knowledge and community life, pa Ruski, is tangible among people grappling with the challenges of post-Soviet societies. And yet not only can Jews of all ages pray in a variety of synagogues—from Chabad to Reform congregations—they can also engage in bar and bat mitzvah retreats in the hinterlands of Siberia. In Hebrew and Russian prayer books, religious schools and even online, in the world's first Russian-language Jewish education guide, they are learning about the Jewish New Year, the Torah, Israel, Passover and the mitzvot (commandments) that make up Jewish life.

In almost 200 Jewish Community Centers, music, art, dance and more lead to creative expressions of identity. As Moscow suffered from soaring temperatures and nearby forest fires two summers ago, young Jews at the local JCC—who inherited a society that eschewed modern philanthropy—led an unprecedented Facebook campaign to deliver food, fans and comforting words to the community's poor and elderly.

In the public square, 200 Jewish libraries containing more than a million Jewish books complement the Jewish Studies courses at more than 100 universities in the post-Soviet region. In 16 Hillel centers, meanwhile, thousands of Jewish students are embracing their identity and wearing it publicly. Such pride was evident when Vladimir Goodkov, the Jewish winner of the popular Ukrainian Stars Factory program (a version of American Idol), had his friends from his Jewish youth group in Kharkov celebrate Shabbat dinner with him and his co-contestants on Ukrainian National TV.

When asked who inspired his decision to choose a televised Jewish meal over a concert in Cannes or his own CD release, he said: "The way I am now—enthusiastic, not afraid to say anything—is thanks to the people, the community that I became part of."

It is a long journey from the days when owning a book in Hebrew or a Russian-language copy of Leon Uris's "Exodus" was enough to get a Jew sentenced to jail.

Mr. Schwager is CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

Bringing Holiday Sweetness to a Special Needs Boy in Zaporozhye

2011-10-12T09:44:00.000-04:00

“I am really touched and surprised that in such hard times
there are people who are still ready to help,” says Vadim’s
mother, Nataliya, who relies on JDC’s monthly food
allowance to feed her family.

Five-year-old Vadim received a delicious surprise this Rosh Hashanah. His family, who normally subsists on whatever staples they can cover using their monthly JDC food allowance, got a special holiday package last month that included challah, honey, pomegranate juice, and sweets—likely the only ones Vadim will taste all year.

Single-mom Nataliya, 31, supports Vadim and his two-year-old brother Matvey on approximately $200 a month, which in Zaporozhye, Ukraine is barely enough to keep a roof over their heads. The family shares a room in an apartment that has no working bathroom or kitchen. Nataliya’s older brother and his family live in the main room, and her younger brother sleeps where the kitchen used to be.

As much as Nataliya would like to improve the family’s situation, every effort she makes is hampered by Vadim, who was born with congenital cerebral palsy. He is unable to walk or function independently, and fully relies on Nataliya, just like his toddler brother. Desperate for help, Nataliya turns to the Jewish community and depends on JDC—the only source of support in a country with few social safety nets for even its most helpless people.

Since Nataliya only gets occasional work as a sales clerk, the family mostly survives on what they receive from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ)-JDC Partnership for Children in the Former Soviet Union through the local Jewish Family Services (JFS). Vadim is one of the 30,000 children whose families depend on critical assistance such as a monthly food package, medication, clothing, and toys that the boys share.

At the same time, JDC provides special care for Vadim’s physical needs, supplying him with rehabilitation equipment to strengthen his limbs through the Tikva program for children with disabilities, supported by World Jewish Relief.

But Vadim’s cerebral palsy requires more targeted intervention to improve his mobility. Nataliya has been trying hopelessly to save up enough money to get him special massage treatment. Much to her surprise, the JFS, Tikva professionals, and some local volunteers organized an ongoing fundraiser to accompany each big event at their Jewish Community Center in order to raise money for Vadim’s massage course. When Natalia heard about the success of the first fundraiser, she was overjoyed.

“I am really touched and surprised that in such hard times there are people who are still ready to help.”

JDC EXPEDITIONS 2012: THE FAR EAST

2011-10-11T10:27:00.000-04:00

ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT

For more information, please contact Sam Amiel at sama@jdc.org.il

Learn more at the JDC Website

JDC Receives 4-Star Rating from Charity Navigator

2011-10-11T10:05:00.001-04:00

From: Irv Smokler, President and Steve Schwager, CEO
Re: Charity Navigator Rating
Date: October 7, 2011

In May 2011, we wrote to you to explain why JDC’s Charity Navigator rating was reduced from 4 to 3-stars.

We have just been informed by Charity Navigator that they have revised their rating system and we have once again been awarded a 4-star rating, which is the highest rating possible.

In today’s competitive philanthropic marketplace, Charity Navigator is America’s premier charity evaluator. They highlight the work of efficient charities and provide donors with essential information needed to give them greater confidence in the charitable choices they make. They wrote the following about JDC: “This exceptional designation from Charity Navigator differentiates American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust.”

We know you share our pride in their faith not simply in what we do, but also how we do it. And as we begin a New Year, we thank you for your faith in us as well.

Jewish Camping Builds Community across Europe and FSU

2011-10-07T12:47:00.000-04:00

To view the full slideshow of photos from JDC sponsored summer activities in Europe and the FSU, please check out this link.

Svetlana is raising her little girl Natalia, age 5, alone in a tiny two-room home that has no running water or indoor plumbing, and nothing but an oven to keep them warm in the cold Belarussian winters. Supporting her daughter on a cleaner’s monthly salary of $88 would be excruciatingly difficult under any circumstances; but Natalia’s needs as an epileptic, who also suffers from frequent sinus trouble and adenoid infections, make it impossible.

JDC provides the family with vital help such as heating wood for the winter, and clothing, shoes, and school supplies for Natalia in the fall. But what they both look forward to most of all is summertime, when they can take a break from the harsh reality of their daily lives to attend a JDC Shabbaton for families with children with special needs.

Like thousands of children and parents across Europe and the former Soviet Union, Svetlana and Natalia are thrilled to participate in one of the myriad JDC Jewish camping programs that have been bringing together Jews throughout the region for over 20 years. Active in every season and for every age group—whether regional summer “sleepaways” or day camps for kids; year-round family shabbatons, weekend retreats, or intergenerational camps; madrichim (counselor) training sessions for young leaders; or golden age camps for seniors—these experiences often serve as a powerful entree into Jewish life and a welcome reprieve for those with challenging personal situations like Natalia and Svetlana’s.

This year nearly 15,000 children and adults will participate in JDC’s camp programs, which will include over 130 camps in 20 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

“Thank you for the well organized event, the attention you gave to our children, the rest for us parents, and the great meals,” wrote Svetlana after participating in a recent Minsk Shabbaton. “We are grateful for the opportunity to participate in such an experience and wish JDC prosperity, success, and the possibility to organize such events in the future.”

Innovative Employment Program Empowers Haredi Families

2011-10-03T15:44:00.000-04:00

Find out how David, one of the 55% of Israel’s Haredim living below the poverty line, took a leap of faith with JDC and attained the job skills to support his wife and six children.

Shanah Tova U'Metuka

2011-10-03T15:43:00.000-04:00

Click on the above or HERE for more holiday stories

and download holiday recipes from around the Jewish world

JDC Expeditions: Adventure in the Far East

2011-09-21T08:57:00.001-04:00

Only a few spots left. For more information, please contact Sam Amiel at sama@jdc.org.il

Learn more at the JDC website.

In Argentina, Building First-Rate Jewish Leaders through Learning Fest

2011-09-19T11:34:00.000-04:00

People of all ages come to Limmud Argentina
bursting with creativity and enthusiasm; they
leave inspired to continue their Jewish journey
by deepening their study in their home communities
Photo: JDC Website

Fernando R. is not a typical bank general manager. Nor was he a typical psychoanalyst, or human resources professional, or business consultant before that. That’s because in addition to the tremendous passion he brings to every endeavor, he also applies the unique skills he acquired through participating in JDC’s leadership and professional training programs in Argentina’s Jewish community.

Fernando recalls fondly his first Jewish experience: the special feeling of watching the lighting of Shabbat candles at the Hebraica JCC in Buenos Aires. “To me, during my youth, to be a Jew meant participating in Jewish youth group, celebrating Kabbalat Shabbat, and spending Jewish holidays with my family.” He trained as a madrich (counselor) and then became a teacher at the madrich school. But his true “aha moment” as a Jewish leader came after he took part in the Program for Directors of Jewish Organizations at Leatid, JDC’s educational and professional training hub for Jewish professionals and community leaders in Latin America.

“Many of the subjects I learned at Leatid—strategy development and planning, setting goals and benchmarks—together with Jewish education, helped me not only in my career as a Jewish community professional, but also in my later life as a businessman.” At the graduation of the two-year program, he made a pledge to maintain and recreate Jewish life for others. “Everyday I try to make sure my actions honor that commitment.”

His promise took him from serving as a community director to becoming Leatid’s president, and then led him to join the founding group for Limmud Argentina, which he chairs today.

Limmud, meaning learning in Hebrew, is a pluralistic grassroots initiative; a conference and event series that brings Jews of all ages together to learn, often in an “unconventional” venue (i.e., not a synagogue or Jewish Community Center). Since it’s inception in the UK in 1980, this completely volunteer-organized program has spread to 50 countries around the globe with thousands of people participating in hundreds of events. They are all bound by a singular philosophy: “everyone is a student and everyone can be a teacher.”

Fernando was excited by the volunteer-driven, team-oriented nature of Limmud, which he hoped would diversify the engagement opportunities available for young people in his Jewish community. “Building something from the start was very exciting,” he recalls.

In the four years he’s been involved in the event, Fernando has seen Limmud blossom. He’s watched Jewish learning take myriad forms as participants engaged in vigorous biblical text study alongside lively discussions about history, the state of their community, and Judaism’s relevance to problems of everyday life. People of all ages come bursting with creativity and enthusiasm; they leave inspired to continue their Jewish journey by deepening their study in their home communities.

The June 26 Limmud Argentina event welcomed participants from throughout the country, as well as Chile and Uruguay. Its success has inspired the creation of new offshoots in the region, which is exciting because while all Limmuds worldwide are connected to each other, each also reflects its own community.

Fernando remains passionate about the Limmud model: “We are building a space of prestige that encourages participants to replicate it in other places based on the same values.” In creating this very special learning initiative, Fernando has made good on his promise of many years ago. He has helped craft a special Jewish learning environment that will continue to play an important part in shaping his community’s Jewish leaders of tomorrow.

Helping the Helpers: Assisting Primary Caregivers Program

2011-09-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

Family members of elderly patients in hospitals are often overwhelmed as they suddenly become the primary caregiver for their previously independent loved ones. As Shlomo and Sara's story reveals, they are often unaware of existing services that can help them. JDC's Assisting Primary Caregivers program provides support, information and assistance from the very start.

Shlomo, married and the father of two children, was functioning independently in his elderly years. Recently, his health condition deteriorated, leading to a prolonged hospitalization. Today, although cognitively well, he needs a great deal of assistance for all basic tasks. Sara, his wife spent many hours at his bedside and struggles to care for him. She was told how to hire a caretaker by hospital staff. But given the stress of the moment she was unable to digest this information. Ultimately she felt confused rather than assisted.

Fortunately Sara had the opportunity to attend an Assisting Primary Caregivers support group. During the session, she shared her great difficulty in dealing with her new situation, both on a practical level, and on an emotional level – the difficulty in accepting her new role as caregiver. She expressed these emotions to the group. The other participants expressed their empathy, and the facilitators helped legitimize the anger she felt, helping her see that much of it stemmed from a sense of helplessness and lack of control.

After the group Sara received detailed information and a full explanation about getting a license for a foreign caregiver - information that she was now ready to absorb and act upon.

The Assisting Primary Caregivers program aims to lighten the burden that falls on family members caring for elderly patients, and provide them with resources and support to cope with and care for their elderly family member. The program trains staff at Sheba Hospital to provide primary caregivers with support and information at the critical junction of hospitalization through regular support groups in the hospital. It also provides primary caregivers with online information and resources via a website.

Community Gives Hungry Brothers in Tashkent Aid and Hope

2011-09-09T10:32:00.000-04:00

Andrey and Artom battle hunger daily, but they
“look forward to the holidays when the food package
we receive from the Jewish community for Rosh
Hashanah arrives. It’s the only time all year we
eat dates and cookies.”
Photo: JDC Website

For many children, chewing gum is a common, sweet treat. For the Samaras boys, Andrey, 11, and Artyom, 9, it’s what fastens sheets of plastic to their window to protect them from Tashkent’s howling winter winds or 110 degree heatwave temperatures.

They live on the edge of town, at the end of a long dirt road where wild donkeys, geese, and mule carts drawn by elderly women dodge gaping potholes and large rocks. Andrey and Artyom share a two-room shack with their mother, Lyudmila, a recovering alcoholic. The boys’ stepfather occasionally stops by unannounced; when he’s in a good mood, he leaves a few hundred Uzbeks—less than 20 cents—for food.

The foundation of the Samaras’ mud and straw hut is eroding; the walls are crumbling and in complete decay. The makeshift roof is held on by rocks, bricks, and plastic. There is no electricity or running water.

“We’re too busy taking care of the daily chores and trying to stay alive to think about doing kid stuff,” says Artyom. “We never notice that we don’t have a television, a bathroom, an outhouse, a refrigerator, heat, or enough food in the cupboard.”

The only help these brothers have in the world comes from JDC’s partnership with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). The Samaras family relies on the supermarket food card from the IFCJ-JDC Partnership for Children in the Former Soviet Union to purchase groceries each month and is provided otherwise unaffordable basic necessities—sets of toiletries, sheets, school uniforms and supplies. The free medical consultations made possible by the Partnership are especially critical for Artyom, a 4th-grader who is battling failing eyesight, abdominal pains from a developmental defect, as well as an anxiety disorder.

Though the family’s most immediate challenge is surviving day to day, the IFCJ-JDC Partnership also ensures through JDC’s Jewish Family Service model of case management that the Samaras receive assistance that goes beyond the material and engages them in local Jewish activities. The boys’ haven 15 kilometers from home is the JDC supported Tashkent Jewish Community Center, where Andrey and Artyom visit for help with their homework, to celebrate Jewish holidays, and to participate with their mom in Jewish family retreats—a rare opportunity for them to learn and share Jewish experiences with other families.

JDC’s Israeli Children’s Post-Trauma Program Expanded to Japan

2011-09-07T09:32:00.000-04:00

Tokyo, September 6, 2011 ― For “Yuriko,” a Japanese mother struggling to help her child overcome fears about another tsunami like the one that hit the island in March, solutions seem hard to come by. But now, through an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) post-trauma program using a huggable plush dog named “Hibuki,” Japanese children and their families will take a step toward healing. Pioneered during the Second Lebanon War to help Israeli children overcome stress and anxiety from rocket attacks, the Hibuki program has recently been expanded to Japan by JDC experts who visited tsunami-affected regions and trained Japanese teachers, nurses and other professionals to use the sad eyed, long armed stuffed animal to “hug” children and talk through their worries.

“Our work in Israel and in places like Haiti and South Asia has demonstrated that treating trauma, especially in children affected by war or natural disaster, is a vital step towards recovery,” said Judy Amit, Global Director of JDC’s International Development Program and a clinical psychologist. “By utilizing Japan’s history of doll-play and by helping our Japanese partners tweak the Hibuki program to mesh with local cultural norms, we are working together to ensure that children here find solace in the wake of tragedy.”

The Hibuki program — whose training in Japan was carried out by JDC’s Dr. Flora Mor and Dr. Shai Hen-Gal— is based on the principle that children who actively face their stress can alleviate fears and better adapt to life after a trauma. The child is told that his/her Hibuki is scared and suffering. By working with the stuffed animal, the child transfers his/her own fears onto the doll and in fact, through the doll, helps "treat" him/herself.

To date, 50,000 Israeli children have been treated using this method and Tel Aviv University professor Avi Sadeh, in a study on the program, has noted the high rates of reduction in post-traumatic responses and distress in children. The Hibuki treatment method was developed by JDC, the Israeli Ministry of Education - Psychological Counseling Service, and the Department of Psychology at Tel Aviv University.

“There is no doubt that the Israeli presence and their experience is echoing loudly and powerfully, especially highlighting the need to implement this method in kindergartens in Japan. The JDC team showed professionalism, creativity and extraordinary adaptability, harnessing the experience gained in Israel for coping with stress and trauma to help us, here on the other side of the world. I'm full of respect and appreciation,” said Dr. Michiko Hara, founder of the Japanese Puppet Therapy Association, whose conference the JDC experts attended and participated in while in Japan.

In addition to the Hibuki program, JDC and the Jewish Community of Japan’s comprehensive and immediate response to the earthquake/tsunami has included the provision of critical emergency assistance, such as food, water, medical aid, hygiene products, blankets and tents. JDC has also furnished two schools and provided school supplies to children in the most-devastated prefectures. JDC also supported the establishment of Israel Defense Force (IDF) field hospital in Minamisanriko. To learn more, visit JDC’s Japan Relief page.

JDC’s long history of working in and with Japan includes: the rebuilding of a school in Kosovo with Japan after the 1999 conflict; working in Kobe until 1941 supporting Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Europe; and supporting Jewish refugees in Yokohama between 1918-20, most of whom were fleeing Russia.

JDC's non-sectarian disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its disaster relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Interaction, the Israel Foreign Ministry, MASHAV, Israeli relief agencies, and the United Nations. JDC gained substantial disaster expertise in Haiti in 2010 as well as in Sri Lanka, Chile, Thailand, Turkey, Indonesia, India, New Zealand and Maldives following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004

Happy Birthday Ralph Goldman!

2011-09-01T14:25:00.000-04:00

Check out this wonderful birthday tribute to Ralph in celebration of his 97th birthday.

Learn about the Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship here: http://jdc.org/ralph

Happy Birthday JDC!!!

2011-08-31T09:27:00.000-04:00

Today JDC celebrates 97 years of rescue, relief and renewal of Jewish communities in Israel and around the world.

On August 31, 1914, Henry Morgenthau Sr., then U.S. ambassador to Turkey, cabled New York philanthropist Jacob Schiff, asking for $50,000 to help sustain the Jews of Ottoman Palestine, who were cut off from their normal sources of support by the outbreak of World War I. The money was raised within a month and led to the founding of the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief ...of Jewish War Sufferers. It became known as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee or more popularly as the “Joint” or JDC.

For 97 years, JDC has exemplified globally the principle that all Jewish people are responsible for one another. Active today in more than 70 countries, JDC and its partners work to rescue Jewish lives at risk, bring relief to Jews in need, renew lost bonds to Jewish identity and Jewish culture, and help Israel overcome the social challenges of its most vulnerable citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish. JDC reach extends beyond the global Jewish community by providing non-sectarian disaster relief and long-term development assistance worldwide.

A Community of Support: All in the Family

2011-08-29T11:41:00.000-04:00

Families of children with special needs have little support or community: the majority of available services focus on the child. There’s little help for other family members who face social isolation and constant deferral of their own needs. JDC's All in the Family Program strengthens families by offering guidance, community and leadership skills.

Lena, an Arab-Israeli woman from Acco, is a mother to five children. Her eldest child, 18-year old Raya, is mentally retarded, with ongoing medical needs that require frequent hospitalizations. Until recently, Raya was a source of shame to her family. Lena describes the difficulty she had in holding her head high in Arab society. Moreover, she did not know how to access information regarding social benefits and services that could help Raya. Distressed by the lack of support from her husband in helping with child care, Lena was on the verge of divorce.

"All in the Family" turned Lena's family around. Lena describes the support and empowerment that she’s received just in the last half year as "a warm home that took us in." In a mothers’ group, she learns from the experience and tips shared by other Arab and Jewish mothers coping with special needs children. It helps her to be more accepting and supportive of Raya.

Lena sees that her other children are following her example, improving the entire family dynamic. For example, one of Raya's sisters stood up in front of her class and spoke about Raya, her disabilities and the importance of accepting her and her special needs. Another younger sister comes with Lena and Raya to attend weekly "family playroom" activities, a positive shared experience that has enhanced the relationship between the sisters. "Family fun days" have fostered enjoyable experiences for the entire family.

All in the Family is designed to be a "home" for families of physically, developmentally, and mentally challenged children and youth (from birth to 21), offering them knowledge, positive experiences and a supportive peer community. The program serves 150 Jewish and Arab-Israeli families in and around the city of Akko, with plans to expand to three additional locations.

Reviving Baltic Jewish Communities One Camper at a Time

2011-08-25T09:18:00.000-04:00

Irina with eleven-year-old Agata from Latvia,
who has been attending Olameinu summer camp
since age five with assistance from JDC's children
in need program
Photo: JDC website

The great history of the Baltic region as a center of Jewish learning and culture – nearly destroyed by the Holocaust and decades of communist repression – is finding expression once again, with JDC support, in the reemerging Jewish communities of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the thriving Olameinu regional Baltic summer camp, where hundreds of Jewish children of all ages eagerly embrace Jewish knowledge and tradition each year.

The personal journey of Irina O., the camp’s 26-year-old director, mirrors the renewal of Jewish life in the Baltics over the past 20 years. Today all Olameinu camps are staffed completely by directors, teachers, and madrichim (counselors) from the local Jewish community. Here’s what Irina had to share about the camp – and about building the new Jewish generation in the Baltics.

Q: Olameinu, now in its 10th year, connects young Jews with one another and with their heritage, building a strong community foundation. When does camp start and how many kids will participate?

A: So far we have 180 registered for Olameinu’s end of July session for kids ages 7-12 in Estonia. In August we expect 180 teens (ages 13-17) for the session in Lithuania and 160 students, ages 18-35, in Latvia.

Also, we have a group of 55 kids from the Baltics leaving for the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation/JDC International Summer Camp at Szarvas, Hungary.

Q: That’s a lot of children getting involved in Jewish life through camping. What was your first exposure to Judaism?

A: My Jewish journey began when I was 12 years old and my parents enrolled me in the Jewish school in Riga, where I completed 6th through 12th grade. Prior to that I knew was that I was Jewish and my mother’s parents lived in Israel (they moved there in 1995) but I didn’t grow up with Jewish traditions in my home because I was from a mixed family – a Jewish mother and Ukrainian father.

Starting Jewish school was really inspiring and changed my life! I started bringing my parents to school for all the Jewish holidays and to synagogue. My parents were happy to go because they figured if it brings the family together, why not?

Q: When did you first get involved in your Jewish community?

A: While still in school I started to volunteer as a leader and was quite successful. I’d never had the experience of being a kid at camp so when I turned 18 I went to Szarvas. I was so impressed that I sought out additional development, including the JDC-supported Kadima (Baltic madrich trainings at the Kadima School for Counselors), then Szarvas madrich training, and the regional Baltics madrich seminars.

Nine years ago I started as a madricha and then became an Olameinu coordinator. Today I’m the Olameinu camp Director and the Youth Program Director in Riga, Latvia.

Q: Your growth as a leader seems to reflect the expansion of programs for youth throughout the Baltics and even the maturity of the Jewish community in the region. What is Riga’s Jewish community like today?

A: I’ve been involved in the Jewish community professionally for eight years and I’ve seen it progress from a variety of disconnected programs to a united organization with common goals and bright leadership. I’ve seen it grow from a small community to a big, vibrant one.

For example, five years ago we had youth programs, elderly programs, programs for children, etc. Now we are all together and it is very nice to be part of something bigger, all under one roof.

Q: What is the balance between JDC’s stewardship and your community’s input into the programs you work on?

A: My team and I work all year long, creating programs for different ages. I coordinate all the youth programs (which covers a big age range, from two to 45!) We have weekly and monthly Jewish cultural programs … for small kids, families, teenagers ... and all are supported by JDC.

Both the community and JDC support our program development. They support our ideas, we jointly come up with the program goals, and then our local staff implements the programs. It’s a very good balance.

Q: With members of the community like you taking the leading role in driving the programs, is there a strong emphasis on developing young leadership to carry the torch in the future?

A: Yes, leadership development is very critical for our community.

When it comes to camping, we have many madrichim that start out in local clubs and local communities and then go on to Olameinu and Szarvas. (We also have kids that go to Szarvas and come back to be madrichim at our camp.) What’s great is that the youngsters feel that they can really contribute, participate, and fully express their ideas at our local camp. This is where they shine and I want to encourage that in every way. I see developing young Jewish leaders as a very important part of the camp that I am running.

Q: What are some of the programs that you are excited about this summer?

A: I’m excited about all of the programs because every single year I try to bring something new into the camps. This time, for example, it will be special for the kids to sing real Israeli songs with our singer from Israel and to learn Israeli rikudim from a dancer we’ve invited from Bulgaria.

This is also the first year that I am leading two of the sessions, so it is a new personal challenge for me. I am very excited about the theme that we chose: the Ten Commandments. Throughout the sessions kids will have a chance to learn about this theme and explore it through arts and crafts, workshops, games, and study sessions with their madrichim.

All in all, I feel very lucky because I get real pleasure from my work, especially when I see the kids smiling, feeling Jewish and joyous. That’s better for me than anything.

'Visiting Khabarovsk: To the edge of the world'

2011-08-22T11:47:00.001-04:00

JTNews.net: The Voice of Jewish Washington, featured a great article last week about the recent JDC Short Terms Service trip to Khabarovsk, Russia, in partnership with the Hillel at University of Washtington's JConnect program.

Read about this Visiting Khabarovsk: To the edge of the world.

Basketball Fun Keeps Israeli Kids Off Streets

2011-08-17T09:12:00.000-04:00

At 13, Dror was the kind of teenager who made his parents worry about what was going on in his mind. A middle child of three, he was withdrawn and introverted, unlikely to participate in school and unwilling to confide in his family. His hardworking parents were busy balancing jobs and family; they didn’t know how to get their son to come out of his shell or ensure that he didn’t veer off on the wrong path at such a critical juncture.

When Dror’s dad, Shmuel, learned about JDC’s Fathers and Sons Basketball Program, he was excited to engage with his son in a constructive activity. He felt the team experience could strengthen their family connection, which he learned was especially critical for boys who lack strong male role models and might otherwise turn to self-destructive or violent behavior. Dror, who initially didn’t even want to hang around his dad, reluctantly agreed to sign up together for their local team in Hatikva, TelAviv.

Part of JDC’s Ashalim partnership with the Government of Israel and UJA-Federation of New York to improve services for Israel’s children and youth at risk and their families, the Fathers and Sons initiative aims to strengthen relationships between adolescent boys and their fathers during the period when teens are defining their identity and transitioning towards adulthood.

Healthy parent-child relationships, which kids living in troubled neighborhoods and families disproportionately lack, are a proven factor in building resilience among teenagers. Research also shows that a teenage boy’s perceptions of his relationship with his father are directly related to depression, his performance in school, and his feelings of self-worth. For teenagers like Dror, who come from areas with few opportunities for positive recreational activities or facing difficult social or financial circumstances, this basketball league is an outlet that helps curb potentially risky behaviors like substance abuse.

These teams pick up more than just basketball techniques on the court. “Before we start playing I meet with the fathers and make sure they understand what the program is about,” says Dror and Shmuel’s coach. “We all practice together every two weeks and in between I meet with the dads to discuss issues relating to the team as well as their sons’ progress.”

Dror, now 15, successfully completed the program with his dad, and today he continues to play on the Bnei Yehuda boys' basketball team. He spends time with Shmuel in group practices and they often train together outside, too. He has opened up, begun to excel at school, and has his first girlfriend—all of which he attributes to the support and confidence that he has received from his dad and being part of the team.

“I am delighted to see my son’s confidence grow,” says Shmuel, now team manager. All 35 father and son pairs who have participated have improved relationships, begun to do better in school, and have stopped loitering and vandalizing in their neighborhoods.

All the boys are now proud to spend time with their dads, while the fathers have learned just how important their role is in their teens’ healthy development.

Ariana, the program coordinator, describes the progress she’s seen over the past two years: “The difference today with the fathers from the group is incredible. When they first joined, many of the fathers did not realize how absent they were from their kids’ lives. Today, all of them are ‘there’ for their sons. They are providing support, warmth, and personal attention. This program is truly a chance to do a mitzvah and save a child.”

'Babushkas Just Want To Have Fun'

2011-08-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

In a wonderful post on his blog The Wolf and the Ostrich, JDC Ralph I. Goldman Fellow Zev Nagel writes about his recent visit to Kiev and a very common sight in Ukraine, the Babushka (an old woman, in Russian).

According to Zev, a "babushka is more than a reference to your grandmother; it is a term of endearment for the ubiquitous old ladies who gossip, drink tea together, offer obvious but sagacious advice, or sell their homegrown vegetables on the side of the road (“Babushka vegetables are the most tasty,” claims a local colleague). And there are – of course – Jewish babushkas too, some of which are clients of JDC welfare programs."

During his visit, Zev spent some time at a JDC sponsored Warm Home with a group of Babushkas and shares his experience there.

Read the post at "Babushkas Just Want to Have Fun".

The Latest from JDC CEO, Steve Schwager

2011-08-10T13:25:00.000-04:00

As most of you already know, the Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship in International Jewish Service is JDC’s premier opportunity to engage young Jewish leaders. It is an unparalleled experience, providing an inside look at JDC’s global operations while enabling Fellows to craft individualized field assignments in multiple locations around the world.

This year we are fortunate to have two stand-outs as Ralph I. Goldman Fellows, Alejandro Okret and Zev Nagel. Back in April, I shared with you some reflections from Zev, who at the time was based in Budapest, Hungary. He has since been in various parts of East Asia, mapping ex-pat Jewish communities in the region, and he participated in Limmud Oz in Australia. He is currently finishing up his fellowship in Israel, working with our Africa/Asia team.

In this column, I would like to continue to update you on the very meaningful and enriching experiences that the Ralph I. Goldman Fellowship brings to the Fellows and to Jewish communities overseas by sharing some words from Alejandro.

Alejandro was first based in Jerusalem, working with TEVET employment initiatives and JDC’s Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI). He then spent a few months working with the Jewish community in Minsk, Belarus, and recently began his final post in Budapest, Hungary.

Looking back at my experience as a JDC Ralph I. Goldman Fellow in International Jewish Service, I can say that the Alejandro I was before setting foot in JDC-HQ in New York is not the Alejandro writing these words today. And how much more meaningful it is to write these words while working at Camp Szarvas in Hungary with young Jewish campers from all around the world.

The Fellowship has allowed me to live—and to feel. In Israel, I worked with the Ministry of Economy on food security and developed financial literacy programs for foreign workers. In Europe and the former Soviet Union (FSU), I was involved with community development, which included visits to the Gesher international gathering in Bulgaria for over 300 young European Jews and JDC’s incredible Metsuda young leadership program in Ukraine. These placements truly allowed me to gain a level of understanding and admiration for the global future of Jewish life.

Belarus was home to one of my most personal and meaningful projects. In Minsk, I had the privilege of spending time with those individuals who have been designated the “Righteous Among the Nations” (also translated as Righteous Gentiles), as well as ghetto survivors. As you know, the Righteous Among the Nations is a term of honor used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their own lives during the Holocaust and gave shelter and protection to Jews.

The Righteous Among the Nations are supported by JDC. They are considered non-Nazi victims and receive assistance according to established criteria. Hesed prepares "warm homes" for them; they are always invited to community celebrations and are honored guests of the JCC at every event. Hesed also celebrates their birthdays. Yad Vashem lists 555 Righteous Among the Nations from Belarus; today only 23 of these distinguished individuals are still alive.

I wanted to learn from these Righteous Gentiles and from the Holocaust survivors, but I also wanted other people, especially the younger members of the Minsk community, to be moved by their courage and commitment. I spent time with them and listened to their stories. I was truly inspired by our interaction, and so I photographed a number of these individuals and developed poster-size prints that were displayed at Minsk’s JCC.

The goal of my project was to connect different generations to these incredible people and the remarkable bravery reflected in their stories. They enthusiastically participated in this endeavor and chose to pose for their photographs with a funny face. A blurb with their personal story is attached to each poster. I encourage you to view the unique online gallery of my project and get to know these incredible people by going to JDC’s website and clicking on JDC Next Gen’s blog.

I admit to you that I was profoundly affected by my time in Belarus. The dignity and the respect JDC pays to a community that survived oppression and has now blossomed is remarkable; and that reality has changed me forever.

In closing, I could not write something about the Fellowship without mentioning Ralph Goldman. I was privileged to sit in an office next to Ralph’s in Jerusalem, often sharing lunch with him, constantly learning from him. When it was time to leave Israel and travel to the FSU, I felt the power and energy of a teenager; I was ready for my adventure and thankful for the experience of a lifetime.

Alejandro
Writing from Szarvas, Hungary
July, 2011

Year-after-year, Ralph and I grow increasingly more inspired by our RIG Fellows. Alejandro and Zev have been no exception. As they wrap up their year of service, Irv and I thank them for their dedication and commitment to JDC’s mission; we know they will stay connected to JDC for years to come.

A visit to Odessa & Beit Grand

2011-08-08T09:40:00.000-04:00

Alan Gill, Executive Director, International Relations at JDC, recently spent a day in the field in Odessa and shared his experience on 'Global Impact', THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore's overseas blog.

Read about Alan's day in the field at A Visit to Odessa and Beit Grand.

Video: JDC Summer Camp in Szarvas, Hungary

2011-08-03T11:21:00.000-04:00

Playing host each summer to approximately 1,350 Jewish campers and counselors from more than 20 countries, the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation-JDC International Summer Camp at Szarvas, Hungary has secured its reputation as a premier and much sought-after informal Jewish educational venue for children from all parts of the Jewish world.

Since its opening in 1990, Szarvas has also succeeded in nurturing a generation of potential Jewish community leaders comfortable with the idea of working together across national borders. Now a year-round facility, the camp has become the venue for Machol Hungaria and for many of the training seminars for madrichim (youth leaders) organized by JDC’s international community development team, and different segments of the Hungarian community have also begun to avail themselves of the legendary “Szarvas experience.”

You Are Cordially Invited...

2011-07-29T13:08:00.000-04:00

MISSION TO ISRAEL

June 3-7, 2012

We are delighted to offer this exclusive opportunity to members of the JDC Ambassadors Circle to join JDC's Board of Directors on this unique Israel experience.

Through exclusive visits to JDC programs, you will have the opportunity to gain new insight into JDC's cutting-edge work empowering Israel's most vulnerable citizens.

Mission highlights: (subject to change)

See JDC's work firsthand and meet participants whose lives have been changed because of JDC and your support
Meetings with senior government officials, security experts and key business people to discuss the most pressing challenges facing Israel today
Join Nir Barkat, Mayor of Jerusalem for a walk along the walls of the Old City at sunset
Dinner with the US Ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro

For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Sussan Khozouri at sussan.khozouri@jdcny.org or 212-885-0841.

We hope you will join us.

Survivors Garner Strength from Each Other and New Generation

2011-07-27T15:17:00.000-04:00

Modi’in Café Europa members engaged in artistic
activities and holiday celebrations with local youth.
Photo: JDC Website

Tzvi W. is haunted by visions from Dr. Joseph Mengele’s torture chambers, where he and his twin were sent at age 14. “From the minute I entered the camp and had a number tattooed on my arm until I finally made it out of there, I lost my humanity,” says Tzvi. There aren’t many people he can share this trauma with, and as he gets older and his coping mechanisms decline, the grief and pain of what he witnessed during his time in Auschwitz can be overwhelming.

That’s why Tzvi’s participation in Café Europa is so critical. He is one of over 2,200 elderly Holocaust survivors in Israel who find social and emotional support through this unique JDC program that also preserves their legacy for future generations.

The Café Europa activities in each location are driven by the participants themselves, reflecting their unique interests and sensibilities. For example, one group that meets regularly in Modi’in is comprised of Russian-born survivors who savor the intimate, social group environment at their sessions. As new immigrants to Israel, these Russian-speakers especially enjoy social activities in their native language, which include excursions with Russian-speaking guides, workshops on Jewish holidays and traditions, and a lecture series in Yiddish on Jewish and Israeli art. What’s universal is that Café Europa brings survivors warmth and community, and empowers them to create fulfilling experiences to share together. Together they form touring choirs; establish libraries with books in their native languages; organize lectures, workshops, and literary evenings; celebrate Kabbalat Shabbats, holidays, and birthdays; create musical performances; and plan field trips throughout Israel, giving Café Europa myriad forms throughout its 30-plus locations.

In each location, the program provides a critical forum for aging elderly survivors to share their experiences not only with each other but also with the youth in their communities. Local high school students join the seniors as volunteers and take part in joint activities like arts and crafts, hikes, and excursions. This next generation learns the survivors’ stories and together they forge an intergenerational community and contribute to the collective memory of this important historical era.

Tzipora, a 77-year-old Café Europa participant in Karmiel, has shared her recollections of walking through deep snow from Romania to Ukraine when she was seven, living for three years in near starvation in a labor camp, and overcoming Typhoid fever on a loaf of moldy bread. After the war her family moved to Israel and she worked for 25 years at a health clinic and raised three children. She is now a proud grandmother of five.

“The feeling of a common destiny unites me with the other survivors I’ve met here,” she says of Café Europa. “It allowed me to open up emotionally and to become socially active for the first time. I sincerely hope it will continue to provide a home and a social network for survivors.”

'What Does It Mean To Give?'

2011-07-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

JDC Jewish Service Corps Fellow, Elizabeth Fine, who is based in Moscow, has written a wonderful piece on her blog about the recent visit to Moscow by participants on the Jewish Federations of North America Campaign Chairs and Directors mission.

Read her post at 'What Does It Mean To Give?'

In Blessed Memory: Myra Kraft, z"l

2011-07-21T16:29:00.000-04:00

To: JDC Board of Directors

From: Irv Smokler, President

Steve Schwager, CEO

Re: A Loss in the JDC Family

Date: July 20, 2011

It is with sadness and a deep sense of loss that we share the news that JDC Board member Myra Hiatt Kraft passed away early this morning after a long battle with cancer. She was 68 years old.

Myra came onto the Board in 1994. She chaired JDC’s Rescue Committee from December 2002 through December 2007. Then she focused on needs in the country that she loved: Israel. She was the Vice Chair of the Israel Committee from January through December 2007 and then stepped up as Chair of the Committee from December 2007 through December 2010.

But as most of you know, JDC was just one piece of Myra’s remarkable world of caring and philanthropy, a world she embraced even as a young girl. She inherited her passion for philanthropy from her late father, Jacob Hiatt, who escaped the rise of Nazism when he emigrated from Lithuania in the mid-1930’s.

Aside from JDC, she supported a myriad number of foundations, organizations, charities, and programs – always with a simple philosophy that she described in the following way: “I’m not looking for earth-shattering ideas, but good programs that you know whatever you give them is going to be used well and that it’s needed.”

Barry Shrage, in his announcement of her death to the Boston Federation, commented that “her acts of gimilat chasadim (individual, anonymous, personal acts of loving kindness) were an essential part of who she was as a person. No one in need was turned away.”

Both the Jewish and secular global families have lost a remarkable and loving friend and benefactor. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Myra’s beloved husband, Bob, to her four sons – Jonathan, Daniel, Josh, and David – and to her eight grandchildren. May her memory be for a blessing; we will remember her always and know without a doubt that the world is surely a better place because of her.

Woman of Valor Brings Hope to Struggling Jewish Families in Uruguay

2011-07-19T09:10:00.000-04:00

Miriam has been a dedicated volunteer with Montevideo’s Jewish community for years because, she says, “our people should know that there is always a heart and hand to help each other in our time of need.” She spends hours each week giving dignity back to hundreds of poor Jewish families through the Tzedaká Uruguay Foundation (a Jewish social services organization established with help from JDC) where her husband is currently president.

“I am very honored and thankful to have the
chance to restore dignity to so many Jewish
families and to show them that there is always a
Jewish heart and hand to help,” says Miriam,
one of the founding members of the Tzedaka
women’s commission in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Photo: JDC Website

In fact, Miriam is one of the founding members of a Tzedaká women’s commission that supports programs for children and families struggling to rebuild their lives since the country’s economic crisis earlier this decade. These are families like the Grinbergs, whose financial situation became so desperate that the five of them were sleeping between washing machines in the back of their laundromat business.

Poor and vulnerable Jewish children like the Grinbergs receive food, health care, and educational support thanks to the work of Miriam and her commission. The Jewish daycare center she helped launch offers a nurturing place for these kids to spend after-school hours so their parents can search for work and earn a living to support them. Beyond the financial help, youth at risk of dropping out of school or hanging out on the streets participate in Jewish activities that integrate them into their caring community.

But for Miriam and others, the transformation into an effective women’s volunteer group required overcoming obstacles—challenges that JDC’s Leatid training experts are uniquely qualified to help them tackle. A leadership training program pioneered by JDC, Leatid works to develop Jewish lay and professional leaders to better serve the needs and challenges of their communities.

According to Miriam, Leatid has been no less than transcendent in raising the professionalism and coordination of her group. With coaching over the course of a few months, the women reconnected with the Jewish values of mutual responsibility and compassion that inspire their work and began collaborating with other community groups.

Since the commission began working with Leatid, it has grown significantly— both in spirit and numbers. “Hundreds more women have joined us because we are successfully and meaningfully addressing needs in our community,” Miriam shares. She and this team of committed volunteers have assumed responsibility not only for delivering the programs, but fundraising for them as well. Today these women of valor are giving struggling Jewish families in Uruguay the opportunity to thrive, reinforcing the strength and viability of the entire community.

STRIVE: Support and Training Result in Valuable Employment

2011-07-13T10:24:00.000-04:00

JDC'S STRIVE program helps chronically unemployed young adults find gainful employment – their only path to self-reliance and financial security.

At 23, Yael found herself divorced, unemployed and caring for her two small children alone. She was unable to hold down a job. Having moved back into her parents' home with her children, she was ready to give up.

Yael learned about STRIVE when she became a client of the local welfare office. She'd sat with the social worker for two hours going through every possible job opening to which the welfare office could refer her, but she did not seem to fit any opportunity. Most of all, she was afraid of failing.

That is when the social worker gave her a STRIVE Jerusalem brochure and told her that if she "survived" the program’s intensive, month-long "boot camp" the program’s staff would find her gainful work and help her develop new skills towards a career path. They would guide her the whole way.

Yael agreed to the terms and decided that she would stick out the course no matter what. She recalls it now as one of the most challenging periods of her life. But Yael completed the course and the program quickly helped her find work in customer service at Pelephone, one of Israel's largest cell phone companies.

She has been working at Pelephone for the last two years and now heads up a team in customer service. "STRIVE taught me that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to—fulltime work, children and childcare, even studying part time to finish a degree in Business Management! "

With centers in Jerusalem, Haifa and Tel-Aviv, STRIVE begins by focusing on attitudinal training and "soft skills" for workplace success, as well as technical skills, such as resume writing and computer use. This is followed by a closely guided job search process. Once they have begun working, STRIVE graduates continue to receive guidance and support, as well as advanced training options that help ensure long-term employment success.

Connecting to Jewish Roots, Young Leader Builds Peer Network

2011-07-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

Knafaim participants benefit from a program
encompassing personal development, Jewish
education, and project management and are
empowered to design and implement their own Jewish
-themed projects that benefit the larger community

Tanya Kirzner was born in Bashkriya, Central Russia, and grew up in a small town of 50,000 in Siberia. But it wasn’t until she moved to Moscow at age 17 that her personal story really began to unfold.

When she arrived at Moscow State University of Lomonosov to pursue a degree in English and Italian, many of her new acquaintances inquired about her family and background, and some inquired whether she was German, based on her surname. She became interested in uncovering her family heritage and started digging. She learned from her grandfather that he originally came from western Ukraine, but he left when the war started, after he lost both of his parents. And then her mother revealed that she was Jewish. “I’d never been to the Jewish community before. I knew nothing about this part of my life.” She was now on a journey of self-discovery and it wasn’t long before she found JDC’s Knafaim program. “Knafaim helped me open the door to the Jewish community,” she beams.

Based in Moscow, the Knafaim program cultivates young, local Jewish leadership. The year-long program provides young adults (ages 20-30) with education and training to enhance their management abilities, improve their professional skills, and broaden their Jewish knowledge, all in order to deepen their connection to the Jewish community and nurture constant and continuous involvement in Jewish life in Moscow.

Tanya learned of the program through a friend and decided to apply, thinking it might be a good way to meet other young Jews. She joined the program’s first class, consisting of 21 of her peers who demonstrate the creativity, drive, and ability to become community leaders. The program encompasses components of personal development, Jewish education, and project management and empowers the participants to design and implement their own ecological, educational, or social Jewish-themed projects that benefit the larger community as a whole and the Jewish community in particular.

Tanya’s project—a Yeda seminar—was inspired by her own success in Russia’s booming energy sector and her desire to create educational and networking opportunities for young Jews in the business world. Because Knafaim participants take ownership of the development, funding, and implementation of their project, Tanya worked hard to get Jewish experts, sponsors, and participants onboard; in turn, she began to feel that she was becoming a part of an expansive community herself.

Following great feedback from attendees of her first session—who felt the program gave them access to valuable networking opportunities and job prospects for the future—Tanya is already at work designing the program for the next session.

“It’s difficult to attract the right people because there are a lot of different ways young people can spend their time in Moscow,” said Tanya, reflecting on the competitive nature of conducting successful programs in her city. But with the vision and commitment of young leaders like herself, it looks like JDC and Knafaim are on the right track.

“I’m very grateful to Knafaim because this program has enriched my life with a new understanding of who I am and helped me connect to my roots,” said Tanya. “It is hard to overestimate the importance of this connection.”

Jewish Renewal Goes Live

2011-07-07T09:12:00.000-04:00

With help from JDC's new online educational

resource, Russian-speaking Jews of all ages

and knowledge levels can teach and learn

about Jewish tradition and customs in new,

creative, and innovative ways.

Photo: JDC Website

Anton, a Jewish youth group leader, lives in an Eastern Ukrainian city with few knowledgeable Jews, no Jewish school or library, and a community life that is more enthusiastic than substantive. Despite his eagerness to help local teenagers grappling with what being Jewish means to them personally, Anton struggled with his own rudimentary religious education to put together a program on Jewish identity that would “speak” to young people and involve them personally in the dialogue.

That was some months ago.

Now, with the click of an icon, a world of Jewish information and creative programming—including lessons, games, and activities for all age groups—is open to him. JDC’s Activi, a new 14-volume Russian-language anthology of Jewish knowledge and informal educational materials available online (http://activi.jdc.org.il/) and in print, is an invaluable resource for informal Jewish educators like Anton who are working today in hundreds of cities throughout the FSU, and in Russian-speaking communities worldwide.

Recently unveiled at a three-day JDC educators’ conference in Moscow, the comprehensive series provides the methodology to transmit information about Jewish culture and tradition in ways that are stimulating, engaging, and appropriate for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. It covers a wide range of Jewish topics, from Judaism in the modern world to Jewish holidays to the State of Israel, among many other themes. Articles are written in simple, accessible Russian and aimed at those who have only very basic Jewish knowledge.

The launch conference put Activi’s innovativeness into action. Using an exhibit stand to represent each of the anthology’s 14 volumes, JDC organizers showcased card games about Jewish shtetls, puppet shows on Jewish family life, holiday cooking demonstrations, a workshop recreating a traditional Jewish study hall, a Jewish literary coffee house, theatrical performances, comic strips on Jewish topics, and other creative ideas.

Almost four years in the making, Activi was authored primarily by the Chais Center at Hebrew University, Machanaim, and the Institute of Informal Education headed by Dima and Natasha Zicer. The website is the internet companion to the published 14-volume, 3,000-page compilation, which JDC is distributing to Jewish institutions throughout the former Soviet Union. Publication was supported by the Charles Hoffman Endowment Fund, among others.

Activi is part of JDC’s “Judaism without Walls” initiative, which aims to bring Jewish tradition and culture to people where they are, often in alternative spaces outside of conventional centers of Jewish life. Today, Activi is giving community activists in cities far from the FSU’s major centers of Jewish life the resources to educate, entertain, and inspire their fellow Jews.

Coming of Age: Hesed Helps Three Generations in Ukraine

2011-07-01T09:51:00.006-04:00

Boris learns to play the recorder at Beitenu
social service center in Zhitomir, Ukraine.

Boris D. has not yet reached his bar mitzvah, but he has faced hardship that belies his age.

He and his mom Inna live in Zhitomir, Ukraine, in a 12 sq meter room in an overcrowded, rundown high-rise tenement building where they share their utilities with eight other families. Inna supports them on her nurse’s salary (only $160/month) from the city children’s hospital, where she often works extra long hours to bring home a little more money. When food prices soar and inflation doesn’t allow her to stretch her salary any further, Inna turns to JDC’s local Hesed social welfare center to get Boris clothing, shoes, and medications. He is one of more than 30,000 children who receive this and other critical support through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ)-JDC Partnership for Children in the Former Soviet Union.

Boris has been coming to the Hesed since he was a baby when his mother joined the center's family club. His mom later enrolled him in the JDC-supported Beitenu program which, in addition to supplementing his food, medical, and clothing, helped care for his and his mom's emotional needs as they struggled to make a life for themselves on minimal income. Boris attended after-school activities where he received professional counseling and help with his studies, and participated in Jewish educational activities. Though he doesn’t connect to any of his neighbors or family members, Boris breaks out of his shell at Beitenu. “I love my computer class. I find refuge there,” he says.

Growing up in the reviving Jewish community in Zhitomir, Boris feels he has a bigger family to care for him. This feeling is reinforced by his grandmother, Beshiva, who has taught him that he is part of the Jewish people.

Beshiva is the family matriarch and attends the elderly day care center program at the same Hesed. Struggling to survive on a meager pension of barely $100 per month, Beshiva turns to the Hesed to avoid having to make the tough choice between buying food and medicine. Not only can she get medication and special winter relief here, she also regularly receives a JDC food card that she can use to purchase groceries at her local supermarket.

Beshiva teaches Boris about Jewish traditions and the importance of doing mitzvot (good deeds) and performing acts of Hesed (acts of loving kindness), which are all reinforced by his experiences at the Jewish community hub where he has found a second home. There Boris has even begun to perform in Jewish plays and show signs of leadership and becoming a young man.

“Thanks to Hesed, we know we will survive!” says Boris's mom. She is hopeful that despite the family's ongoing challenges, her son has the support and guidance to truly become a bar mitzvah.

Teach First Israel Shapes the Leaders of Tomorrow

2011-06-27T09:47:00.001-04:00

Steve Schwager, JDC CEO, with four TFI
teachers in Jerusalem

Shmuel B., an elementary school teacher in Or Yehuda, Israel, recently got the kind of affirmation that inner-city educators dream of. “Teacher Shmuel, Teacher Shmuel, I am already on Chapter 5 of the book you gave me.” Marmit had never read a book before but now she sits on the playground and reads during recess.

Shmuel is one of the 66 teachers who comprise the first cohort of Teach First Israel (TFI). This innovative program—a joint venture of JDC, Israel’s Ministry of Education, and others—places top Israeli graduates in schools serving disadvantaged pupils across the country.

TFI’s mission is to provide children with top-quality education and the opportunity to choose their future, regardless of their socioeconomic background. By recruiting Israel's best and brightest to educate and inspire students, the program aims to make a profound and much-needed impact on both the country's education system and social fabric.

As a new teacher, Shmuel sees himself as a “generator of initiatives” and works hard to develop close relationships with students to better understand what motivates each one of them. One of his first initiatives at the school was cleaning up and restoring the library, which was in complete disarray when he arrived. He recruited student and teacher volunteers and has utilized the project to connect disparate stakeholders to a common mission. “These students are the future of society," says Shmuel, "Adults have the skills and vision to guide them to make good in this world and spread the light.”

Shmuel is representative of the kinds of exceptional and committed young leaders TFI believes can transform Israel’s troubled education sector which, among other challenges, is turning out a generation of kids whose poor levels of achievement are correlated to their socioeconomic status. In addition to its efforts to buck this trend, TFI tackles the stigma that teaching is an unglamorous profession.

Based on the well-reputed Teach For America and Teach First (UK) programs, and a member of Teach For All (the global network of independent social enterprises working to expand educational opportunities in their countries), TFI is a scalable model that recruits and selects top candidates, trains and places them in classrooms in socially and economically depressed areas of the country, and provides them ongoing support throughout their two–year commitment to the program. During this time the teachers will gain the conviction that children from all backgrounds can achieve at high-levels and become alumni committed to TFI’s mission. Many will make the important decision to remain as teachers or become principals while others will continue working toward this goal from other sectors such as policy, social work, business and media.

Since TFI has ambitious aims of impacting thousands of students, the program seeks out applicants who demonstrate the traits to be highly-effective teachers. Many are putting off opportunities to earn high salaries in hi-tech, finance, law, and other sectors. In turn TFI offers its applicants an innovative training program to develop their leadership skills and hone their commitment to bringing about social change, as well as a full scholarship for their teaching certificate and scholarships for advanced studies. While TFI recruits for applicants with various academic backgrounds, there is a special emphasis on subjects where there is a shortage of teachers – Hebrew, English, math, and sciences. Teach First Israel received more than 700 applicants in its first year and will reach over 1200 in its second (and only a 10% acceptance rate), demonstrating that it is possible to incentivize Israel’s best and brightest to enter the teaching profession.

Currently 23 participating middle schools and high schools are benefiting from TFI, all of which are either state-schools or state-religious schools located in the social or geographic periphery. "Through Teach First Israel, children from low socio-economic backgrounds have an opportunity to meet excellent and inspiring young teachers," says Shlomit Amichai, a TFI Chairperson.

TFI Co-Founder and CEO Asaf Banner sees a bright future for the schools that are touched by the program. “No system can be better than the people who are in it,” he says on behalf of JDC. "That is why we are infusing the system with new leaders today capable of becoming the leaders of tomorrow.”

Find out more about Teach First Israel

WE NEED YOUR HELP

2011-06-23T15:07:00.002-04:00

We are trying to get an idea how effective and informative the various Ambassadors Circle social media outlets are for our friends and readers.

What do you think of our blog?

Have you checked out our Facebook profile?
http://www.facebook.com/jdcambassadorscircle

Have you Friended us?

Have you Liked our Facebook status updates?

Been on a mission?

Attended an event or Symposium?

What works? What needs more work? We’d love to hear from you.

You can comment here or email us at ambassadors@jdc.org.

Cuban Jewish Community and JDC Featured in Hadassah Magazine

2011-06-22T13:41:00.000-04:00

Hadassah Magazine published a feature article on the Jewish community of Cuba, prominently highlighting the work of JDC and interviews with Will Recant, JDC Assistant Executive Vice President.

You can read the full article here:
Cuba Through a Half-Open Door

A Young Filmmaker's Journey Inside Jewish Morocco

2011-06-16T10:48:00.001-04:00

Dina Kadisha, a young LA-based filmmaker who has produced and directed over a dozen films, including the documentary “Operation Promise: Exodus from Ethiopia,” traveled with a JDC Young Professionals group to Morocco in February 2010. She chronicled the trip and the group’s experiences in “Inside Jewish Morocco with Dina Kadisha,” which was recently screened as a documentary at Festival de Cannes in the Short Film Corner.

The film is the first in the “Inside…” documentary series she is creating with JDC to capture the unique stories of isolated and relatively unknown Jewish communities around the world.
To read an interview with Dina, please visit the JDC Website.

JDC's Efforts in Haiti Highlighted in the Press

2011-06-13T14:36:00.001-04:00

JDC's efforts in Haiti are featured prominently in an article that was published recently in the Jerusalem Report.

Rubble and Repair
By EETTA PRINCE GIBSON, PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI
01/06/2011

Photo by: REUTERS

Israeli and Jewish organizations continue to give aid to Haiti. The 'tikkun olam' efforts are an opportunity to repay a debt to the Haitians - a nation that took in Jews during the Holocaust.

DIAPERLESS CHILDREN crawl between the densely, erratically pitched tents. The heat is heavy and dank, the fetid stench of human waste and misery blows strong. The tent flaps are open, but the residents of this squalid camp seem not to notice the intrusion; there is no privacy here to invade. Women wash laundry in dirty basins or fry over open fires in rancid-smelling oil.

Some 60,000 people subsist here. And somewhere in the midst of the warrens is the large statue of the Neg Marron, the unknown slave, blowing a conch shell and holding a machete, broken chains at his feet.

This is the symbol of Haiti’s independence, a representation of the slaves who claimed their freedom in 1801, making Haiti the second country in the Americas to declare its independence.

The Neg Marron is located in what was once a series of green parks and wide boulevards that formed Haiti’s national mall, with the iconic “White House” presidential palace in the background. But since January 12, 2010, when the 7.0 magnitude earthquake, regarded by many as one of the 10 worst natural disasters in history, struck the island, the mall, like every other available open space in Port-au-Prince, has been a tent camp. The White House, still an absurdly pristine white, lies in crumpled wreckage, an unmistakable reminder that little has improved since those horrible moments when the earth moved, and that the Haitian government is almost completely non-functional.

Tents donated by the People’s Republic of China have been tethered to the Neg Marron’s outstretched arm. A makeshift antenna sprouts from the conch.

“Human beings deserve better,” says Gideon Herscher, field representative of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC).

According to official Haitian government figures, 316,000 people died in the earthquake and nearly 1.5 million were left homeless. A cholera outbreak followed in the fall and in early 2011. The world, including foreign governments, the International Red Cross, the UN and the Clinton Global Initiative, promised massive aid. But according to data from several relief organizations, of the $5.8 billion pledged, less than half has actually been dispersed – and much of that has been in the form of debt relief to the corrupt Haitian government.

Several Jewish and Israeli organizations are actively providing aid to the Haitian people. JDC, whose disaster relief and development programs constitute the primary overseas efforts of the Jewish federation system, has made a three-year commitment of $7.7 m., contributed by some 10,000 North American Jewish donors, according to Michael Geller, AJDC communications director. Almost all of that money is disbursed to partner organizations, especially Jewish and Israeli ones. The American Jewish World Service (AJWS), an international development organization that was involved in Haiti for 10 years prior to the earthquake, has, according to President Ruth Messinger, already spent more than $1.19 m. and will spend a total of at least $6 m. by December 2013, almost all of it in direct grants to Haitian grassroots organizations.

Within 72 hours of the quake, the Israeli military had already set up the first, and for weeks the only, operational field hospital in Haiti. IsraAID, the coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish development and relief organizations that are based in Israel, set up an additional medical unit within days and continues to sponsor several projects, among them Tevel B’tzedek/IsraAID, an Israelibased, grassroots community organization.

Shahar Shtrikman, 23, from Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava desert in Israel’s south, at the time a conscript medic, was part of the 220- person IDF team. Not knowing what they would find when it arrived, or even where they would be able to set up, Shtrikman recalls, the team had to improvise and adapt, eventually setting up in the soccer stadium that had remained relatively unscathed.

“At the time, I didn’t think about why we were going, I just knew we should go,” he recalls, talking with The Report through Skype from Bolivia, where he is on a postarmy trek. “In retrospect, I do know why we had to go. We had to go because we could help. If you can help, then you have to help.”

ABUSED BY COLONIAL occupiers, raped by its own dictators, ravaged by poor planning and exploited by richer countries, including the US through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Haiti has never lived up to the Neg Marron’s promise. Freed of the shackles of slavery, it never freed itself enough to develop.

Only a one-hour plane ride from Miami, Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. According to UN figures, even before the earthquake more than 70 percent of the population was living on less than $2 a day, and 86% of the people in Port-au- Prince were living in slum conditions in tightly-packed, poorly-built, concrete buildings.

Half of the residents of the city had no access to latrines and only one-third had access to tap water.

For decades, the country has been regularly disrupted by political and social violence; in 1993, the UN Stabilization Mission for Haiti (now referred to as MINUSTAH) was dispatched to quell riots and has remained there, but has done little to help the country move forward.

The epicenter of the earthquake wasn’t in Port-au-Prince, but the city was built so poorly that most of it collapsed. Experts estimate that if 1,000 bulldozers were working 24/7, it would take three years to remove enough rubble to start rebuilding Haiti. But there are hardly any bulldozers working at all. There isn’t even regular garbage collection; the few municipal services that were available before the earthquake no longer function. There are no public schools or other educational facilities.

Never built according to any clear pattern, Port-au-Prince’s twisting roads are still blocked with debris, gushing water from broken mains, running sewage, and makeshift markets where people hock whatever wares are available that day. There are no sidewalks, and masses of people walk in the streets. Tap-taps, the ubiquitous, forcefully decorated vans that serve as public transportation, honk and lurch their way through the crowds. Tents are everywhere, even on the median strips along the few wide boulevards. Port-au-Prince has always been marred by street violence, but now the crowded camps are sites of gang warfare, rape, theft and random murder.

Jerry Jean Baptiste, 26, formerly a customer service agent for a mobile phone company and a student of business management, is now employed as a local organizer by the AJDC. As the organization’s leased, battered pick-up truck struggles over the roads, he reveals that Haitians refer to the earthquake as goodogoodo. “It’s a sound more than a word,” he explains to The Report. “It marks time, before and after.”

Baptiste says he doesn’t want to talk about what happened to him, only that he is thankful that he and his family are safe and sound.

It is a year and a half after the quake and people tell their stories slowly and painfully – the long seconds of terror, the people crushed under concrete next to the dead bodies of their friends and families, the fear that is always there, the struggle to survive.

His tone easing, Baptiste continues. “We began to realize that we have been lacking too much for too long. And if, with all this international help, we can shake ourselves into action, then at least we can have hope for the future.”

Like so many Haitians, Baptiste is critical of much of the international aid organizations operating in Haiti. “International relief people come here and they tell us what we should do, how we should do things. And then nothing happens. They bring their own people to work here instead of giving us work. With all the people who are here, and with all the money they’ve promised, the situation should be better.” But he is quick to praise his employer. “I’m proud that I work for AJDC. I see where the money goes – it’s used smart. Israel and the Jewish people, they understand us. Their help is worthwhile.”

PETIONVILLE, A WEALTHY SUBurb in the hills above Port-au-Prince, was spared most of the earthquake’s damage. Better-built and higher up than Port-au-Prince, the mansions decorated with fancy wooden latticework known as gingerbread, the expensive restaurants and the well-stocked supermarkets with wide aisles selling luxury-brand foods flown in from Miami and Paris are largely intact.

Salsa dancing is all the rage here, and in his classy club, behind heavy gates, Gheorges “The Gladiator” Exantus, 30, is performing, his moves long, slinky and sexy.

Dr. Yitzchak (Tzaki) Ziv-Ner, deputy chairman of the Israel Medical Association and head of the Association of Government Physicians, leans back and watches the performance. He bets a round of drinks if anyone can tell which of Exantus’s legs was amputated. He wins the bet easily.

Until the earthquake, Exantus had been a national championship salsa dancer and a computer programming student. He had had a strong career and a solid future. But the earthquake trapped him for three days under the rubble of his home, his feet and hand pinned under cement blocks. His right leg had to be amputated below the knee and his left hand remained severely twisted.

Exantus was referred to the Haiti State University Hospital (HUEH) in Port-au- Prince, where Ziv-Ner runs a JDC-sponsored rehabilitation clinic in cooperation with Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) and the Haitian Red Cross. From there Exantus was sent to Sheba-Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv, where Ziv-Ner’s team performed micro-surgery to restore full use of his hand, and fitted him with a state-of-the-art multi-axle ankle and storedenergy foot.

“Rehabilitation,” says Ziv-Ner, “means that the person can go back to doing what he used to do before he was injured. If Gheorges could dance before the earthquake, then rehabilitation should bring him back to being able to dance.” Ziv-Ner is clearly enjoying himself and gets up to dance, to the delight of the performers. He and Gheorges embrace.

The next day Ziv-Ner is in his clinic.HUEH is composed of a large number of small whitewashed buildings, once surrounded by grass and trees. Now there is rubble everywhere and some of the structures are in danger of collapsing. The open spaces are crowded with people, some begging for money to buy medication or food, others seeming to have little purpose. The hospital is poorly developed, understaffed and ill-equipped; most of the staff has not received a salary in months.

The JDC clinic, consisting of two small examination rooms and a corridor filled with rehabilitation equipment, is located in a small building on the HUEH grounds. It is staffed by physicians and physical therapists from Sheba-Tel Hashomer Hospital who come to Port-au-Prince as volunteers for three-week rotations.

The walls have been freshly painted white with green trim, but the rooms are dingy. Records are kept by hand and on a particularly hot day, the air conditioning – a noisy unit in the window – doesn’t work very well.

By March 2011, the clinic had treated some 1,200 patients and the lines are still long. Ziv-Ner examines the patients with competence and a respectful yet smiling, easy manner that inspires confidence, even across the language barrier. Collegially, he mentors a new orthopedic surgeon who will in the future, he hopes, take over as director of the rehab clinic.

“We came here not knowing what to expect,” Ziv-Ner tells The Report. “We came with sleeping bags and whatever we could carry. We learned that rehabilitation and physiotherapy simply don’t exist here. So while we’re treating patients, we’re also teaching local physicians and training professional personnel.”

JDC has managed, in partnership with other international and local organizations, to create a full-service rehabilitation program, albeit scattered throughout the city and its environs. In addition to the clinic, they have established a state-of-the-art workshop to create prostheses with the help of donations from a German foundation.

With almost childlike glee, the AJDC’s Herscher relates that when the sophisticated, delicate equipment was finally delivered from the port – after “no small struggle to convince the customs authorities,” he says pointedly – the staff was unable to find a forklift to move it in. “So we actually lifted it, a bunch of us. It was great,” he says, obviously enjoying the “just-do-it” and rakish attitude that it takes to make things happen in Haiti.

In one of the camps, JDC, in partnership with Afiya, an American-based medical relief foundation (afiya means “good health” in Swahili), is training Haitian carpenters to become adaptive builders and produce individualized solutions for amputees, such as a harnessed walker-on-wheels for a two-yearold amputee too young to manage crutches, or a vegetable cutting board for a mother with only one arm.

Antoine Yves, 32, used to be an electrical and plumbing technician, but the company he worked for no longer exists and he now works for Afiya. “I am lucky that I can help people and not need the help,” he tells The Report in perfect English. “I’m lucky because no one in my family died. But I know that none of us will ever be the same.

We all have a symptom now – even when I don’t realize it, I’m always thinking about the earthquake. I’m worried that my world might shake again.” He stops for a moment, as if reconsidering.“Haiti has always been in a bad state. And even with all the help, we’ll still have all the problems we always had. But at least I have the same chances I had before, too. At least I don’t have less of a future than I had before.”

Says Ziv-Ner, “I know that we are not going to save Haiti. As Jews we are told that saving one life is equal to saving the whole world. So maybe we are trying to save the world, one leg, one arm, one life at a time.”

“FONDWA,” SAYS HERSCHER, “is a place that really can’t exist in Haiti. But it does.” Fondwa is a small village about 80 km (50 miles) and a good two-and-a-half-hour drive on difficult roads west of Port-au-Prince.Until 1988, it had no potable water, no health care, no schools, no roads and no access to communication. But then Fr. Joseph Philippe established Asosyasyon Peyizan Fondwa (the Association of the Peasants of Fondwa, or APF). Over the years, through APF, he created schools, a credit union, a radio station, Internet service, paved roads, an orphanage and an order of religious women, the Sisters of St. Anthony. In 2004 he opened the University of Fondwa, based on a “workingcollege” model in which students work in jobs in agronomy, veterinary medicine and management to cover their educational fees and gain experience.

Illiteracy rates are now down, health standards have improved, and agriculture is more profitable. No less important, the residents have a sense that they have taken control of their lives and that they may be able to find a way out of poverty.

More than 80% of the 8,000 residents of Fondwa are peasant farmers and more than half of the population is less than 20 years old. Twenty-five people died in the earthquake and over 100 were seriously injured. Most of the buildings, including all institutions, collapsed; none escaped damage.

Both the JDC and AJWS are working with the APF and supporting Father Joseph’s efforts, many of which are based on liberation theology and the best principles of community organization. Through Heart to Heart, an international faith-based organization dedicated to services for children, the JDC is financing the construction of a new school in place of the one that collapsed.

Through Partners in Health, (known in Haiti as Zanmi Lasante), the international health organization founded by Paul Farmer, they have brought a “clinic in a can,” a fullyequipped medical facility set up in a container to provide services to Fondwa and its environs. In the period immediately after the quake, when the roads were still completely impassible, the AJDC improvised and procured a boat to ply medical services along the coast; since Haiti is a narrow island, most of the people in the area were able to access health care only by moving north or south.

AJWS has worked with Father Joseph, as he is known to all, to develop a master plan for the Fondwa region. It also helps to support Fonkoze, the micro-finance bank he founded in 1994 with no capital and few investors.

Today, according to Anne Hastings, an American ex-pat in Haiti who is an advisor to AJWS, Fonkoze holds more than $20 m., employs more than 900 people and provides loans to some 70,000 recipients.

Father Joseph combines faith, knowledge, devotion and practicality with a robust sense of humor. “As a priest, I am also a teacher,” he explains. “A teacher has to give grades. I give God the difficult projects and if God doesn’t get them done, He deserves an ‘I’ for incomplete. Now how can I give God an incomplete? After all, God has no sense of time. But we humans do. And we know that if after 200 years Haiti still isn’t independent, then we have to get to work. God isn’t going to do it all for us.”

Committed to sustainability, Father Joseph rejects a plan that calls for using non-indigenous building materials for construction in Fondwa. Respectful of his demands, Herscher nevertheless tries to prod him to make decisions, because the grant money must be dispersed. They clearly enjoy each other’s company, discussing everything from liberation theology to sustainable development.

“When you [yourself] have suffered, it is natural to be in solidarity with those who have suffered,” Father Joseph says. Pointing to Herscher he says, “You call it tikkun olam [repairing the world].” He laughs. “See, I’m learning Hebrew from you.”

THE PETIONVILLE CLUB, Port-au- Prince’s golf and tennis club, located near the well-guarded American ambassador’s residence, is now a tent camp for an estimated 50,000 people. But even within the squalor of the camps there’s a hierarchy of luck, and this camp has been taken over by the J/P Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO), headed by actor Sean Penn. The tents are layed out according to a plan, and Penn’s group has organized the residents in pay-for-work programs to dig drainage trenches and clear rubble.

Thanks to the grassroots organizing that Penn funds, local teams guard the solar panels that light up the areas around the showers and latrines, so there are fewer gang rapes here than in the other camps.

Tevel B’tzedek/IsraAID, a non-profit, Israel-based organization for social and environmental justice that also sends volunteers to Nepal, was one of the first such groups to arrive in Port-au-Prince after the quake.

Initially, the dozen or so Israeli volunteers lived in tents, but they eventually moved into the large, ramshackle building that was once part of the golf course complex. Later joined by the volunteers from J/P HRO, they worked with the residents to set up schools, clinics, afternoon programs for children and literacy programs for adults, and even helped some of the entrepreneurially-minded residents to set up makeshift cafeterias and beauty salons between the tents.

Feeling that they were no longer needed at the Petionville Club, most of the Tevel B’tzedek/IsraAID group moved on to the Leoganne district, some 28 km (15 miles) southeast of Port-au-Prince and the area of the epicenter of the earthquake. Ira Polak, 32, an MA student in social work from Haifa, has stayed in the camp, helping her “dream team” to develop.The dream team, she explains, is what the 35 or so teenagers in the camp call themselves.

With guidance from Polak, they have become a leading organizing force in the camp, maintaining order, representing the residents to officials, and organizing social and educational activities for children, adults and themselves.

Speaking thoughtfully, Polak recalls that as a child, she was brought out from Moldavia by the AJDC, and she remembers the Israeli volunteers who made her feel safe in the refugee camp. “We’re not building homes here,” she tells The Report. “We’re building psychological and emotional space – something that each one of these youths can take home to his crowded, awful tent, so he can believe that the future will be better.”

Polak says she is proud of what Tevel B’tzedek/IsraAID has accomplished in the camp, and she is clearly delighted with the dream team’s accomplishments. “I don’t know why we Israelis are so good at helping people when we’re outside of Israel, when we are not so great at building our own society. But I do know that here, we’re doing good and we’re doing it right. We’re not wasting money and we’re not creating dependency.”

She uses the term “very Jewish” when describing what they do. “We pitch in, we’re informal. I know that throughout Jewish history, Judaism has emphasized difference, but we also have a real ability to connect, to feel other people’s pain and hopes.”

There are smaller Jewish and Israeli groups volunteering in Haiti, too. Jewish Healthcare International (JHI), an organization headed by Dr. Stephen Kutner from Atlanta that recovers, restores and rebuilds medical infrastructure in communities in need worldwide, is planning to provide a mobile eye unit to serve the northeastern plateau area of Haiti. The Israel Trauma Coalition (ICT), an umbrella group created in 2002 at the initiative of the UJAFederation of New York, provides direct psychological care to trauma victims as well as professional training.

Since sending the IDF field hospital immediately after the quake, the Israeli government has not been directly involved in aid or development work in Haiti. Yoel Barnea of Israel’s Agency for International Cooperation (MASHAV) at the Foreign Ministry, tells The Report that Israel may soon be sending Israeli agricultural experts to Haiti to volunteer as advisors in connection with Tevel B’Tzedek/IsraAID.

ALTHOUGH THEY ARE involved in some of the same projects, the AJDC and AJWS operate according to different strategies and objectives.

The AJDC, Herscher explains to The Report, always remains “one degree removed,” working through local or international programs and emphasizing Israeli and Jewish involvement whenever possible.

AJWS, Messinger emphasizes, funds local grassroots initiatives. Neither organization maintains offices or infrastructure in Haiti.

Back in Israel and in North America, the organizations distrust each other as they compete for the same funds from the North American Jewish community. But in Haiti, cooperation among the Israel- and North American-based Jewish organizations is fluid and smooth, thanks largely to Herscher, who regularly flies in from Israel, where he is based, for a week or two to coordinate and monitor the AJDC’s activities and acts as coordinator and mediator, and occasionally, referee.

Wiry, athletic, intense and talented, Herscher is always at the center of the goings-on. He seems to know everyone, Haitians and international aid workers alike, and know everything, from the location of a semi-secretive orphanage in a church where children were abandoned after the quake, to how to find a flatbed truck to transport building equipment to the countryside, and even where the better restaurants in Petionville are.

Herscher, who was born and raised in California and has lived in Israel for most of his adult life, manages to be both spontaneous and carefully analytic at the same time.

Articulate, thoughtful and well-read, he debates philosophy with Father Joseph, who wants him to teach a course on Jewish philosophy at Fondwa University (Herscher demurs), and later stops the car to play guitar on the street with a young Haitian man he’s never met. (“He looked like he wanted to jam,” Herscher tries lamely to explain.) He is the contact person for every Israeli and Jew in Haiti, whether taking care of lost passports or guiding a UN worker who has become increasingly observant of kashrut and Shabbat. For a Friday night, he persuades a very willing Sharona Natan, daughter of the late Israeli peace activist Abbie Natan and a resident of Haiti for more than 20 years, to help cook a Shabbat dinner for all the Jewish volunteers in Port-au-Prince, complete with Kiddush and a Torah lesson. Somehow, he locates close to two dozen people.

WRITING IN “THE CHRONICLE of Philanthropy” in March 2011, development expert Suandra Schimmelpfennig says there are between 1,000 and 10,000 aid organizations currently working in Haiti – no one knows the exact number. Most of them, she contends, raise money in a vacuum, without coordination and without consulting the locals. But the Jewish organizations seem to coordinate efficiently among themselves and with their partner organizations, thanks to an informal round table that Herscher convenes. In Israel, most of the organizations meet together regularly. And the Jewish Coalition for Disaster Relief is a worldwide round table composed of all Jewish aid organizations, coordinated by the AJDC.

Like the other aid workers, the Israeli and North American Jewish volunteers stay at hotels in Port-au-Prince that, because they were constructed more solidly, withstood the quake. And like all the other internationals, they wear T-shirts emblazoned with the logos of their organization and hang signs with their group’s name in huge letters over the projects they sponsor.

Yet they are not part of what many derisively call the “aid parade” of workers hanging out in the hotel lobbies and bars. And they are widely admired. Says a worker representing a large multinational aid company who asks to remain anonymous, “The Israelis are different. They are more serious about what they are doing. They get things done. They’re smart and fast and they know how to improvise.

Our large organizations have huge bureaucracies, and many of us are jaded. But the Israelis try real hard; they care, and they work really well with the locals.”

Adds Contave Jean Baptiste, coordinator for AJWS in Haiti, “Some groups come and try to implement the strategies they used in other countries. They don’t understand that each country is different and that it takes time to learn. AJWS respects our culture; they listen to us and they’re helping us get out of the passivity that has been eating away at Haiti for so many years.”

In numerous publications, Steven Schwager, AJDC executive vice president and CEO, has emphasized that the Jewish world is indebted to the Haitians because they were willing to take in Jews during the Holocaust. Although there is currently no indigenous Jewish community there and few strategic reasons to remain, the AJDC has committed to a three-year plan. Yet asked if the work in Haiti is, if only somewhat, “Jewish,” Herscher first retorts, “Just asking that question is a quintessentially Jewish moment.” Then he sums up simply. “This really is tikkun olam, repairing the world. It makes sense; it’s what we should be doing. I see what Haiti could become instead of merely going back to what it always has been. That is our faith.”

MAZAL TOV!

2011-06-10T15:16:00.000-04:00

Mazal tov to Sarah Eisenman, JDC's Director of Next Generation and Service Initiatives on being named a Jewish leader of the future who is "doing interesting things in the Jewish sphere" by The Jerusalem Post.

From the Jerusalem Post

The Jewish leaders of the future?

By GIL SHEFLER
07/06/2011

The rising stars of the Jewish galaxy will be better educated, fluent speakers of both English and Hebrew (at least) and include more women, if the following list is any indication.

We chose 10 people – media moguls, political activists, diplomats, artists and speechwriters – under the age of 32 who are doing interesting things in the Jewish sphere. While we believe these individuals are certainly among the best and the brightest, the list could have easily been expanded to include another 10, 20 or 30 equally gifted candidates. The good news is that despite often-heard complaints about the dearth of good, young Jewish leaders, there seems to be no shortage of talent to take over at the helm once the baby boomers retire; one just has to look in the right places. Ten years from now, or even sooner, we expect some of our selections to have risen to powerful positions, and when that happens, we’ll take all the credit for having found them first.

SARAH EISENMAN
Director of Next Generation at the JDC

As one of the world’s top experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, Prof. Robert Eisenman has dedicated his career to conduct research into the past of the Jewish people. His 32-year-old daughter, Sarah Eisenman, however, is more interested in exploring its future. As the head of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Next Generation she is tasked with introducing young Jews to the 93-year-old relief group and involving them in Jewish activism in a global context.

“We started involving young people into the service and putting together a young corps where people can go serve eight days, 10 days, a month or a year – just let them get out there,” she says.

Today, about 400 Jewish volunteers join her program every year and are shipped off to faraway destinations such as Peru and Rwanda to provide relief and aid work.

“I see this as being much bigger than the JDC. It’s about creating a generation that can contribute to the Jewish world,” she says. “In 2008 one million Americans volunteered abroad so you can see people are being more global oriented, and we in the Jewish community are trying to prepare people for dealing with 21st-century global challenges.”

For her efforts the Californian native has won the praise of JDC’s most senior leadership, and one official even said she could head the organization 20 years from now. Perhaps that’s why Eisenman is so concerned with revitalizing JDC – she wants to make sure it’s still a vibrant institution if she gets hold of the reins.

To read the full article, please go to the Jerusalem Post website.

JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium - Photos of the Day

2011-06-07T13:41:00.000-04:00

JDC Board Member and

JDC Ambassadors Circle Chair
Steven Price welcomes everyone.

Alan Gill, Executive Director of International Relations talks about
Areivut: Responsibility and its Challenges

JDC Ambassadors Circle Steering Committee Member
Zachary Fasman introduces a session Israel's greatest challenges.

Dan Ben-David
Executive Director, Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel
discusses the challenges facing Israel today and looking to the future.

Yossi Tamir, Director of TEVET
JDC's Employment Initiative in Israel talks about
programs aimed at addressing some of those challenges.

Aleksandar Oscar
President, Sofia, Bulgaria Jewish Community
Vice President, Bulgaria Jewish Community
speaks about the European Jewish community today.

Jennifer Kraft, Director of Community Relations
discusses opportunities for outreach and engagement in today's
American Jewish community.

Mazi Melesa, who came to Israel during Operation Solomon shares her
personal story; with Amir Shaviv, Assistant Executive Vice President
for Special Operations.

Judy Amit
Global Director, International Development Program
discusses disaster preparedness and international cooperation
during times of crisis.

Daniel Sahalo
National Coordinator, JDC-Eshel programs for
Ethiopian Elderly in Israel, who emigrated to Israel during Operation Moses
tells his own personal story of integration in Israeli society.

Etta Gross Zimmerman of the JDC Board of Directors
introduces the session on Post-Soviet Jewry,
The Greatest Challenges.

Asher Ostrin
Director of Former Soviet Union Department
speaks about the issues facing Jewish communities in the
Former Soviet Union today.

Fabian Triskier
Associate Director, JDC Latin America Office discusses
Latin America's Jewish communities.

Sigal Shelach, Director of Programs for Minorities and Immigrants,
JDC-Israel TEVET
and Sam Amiel, Senior International Relations Executive
talk about the challenges of employment for Arab-Israelis.

Anne Heyman speaking about the
Agahozo Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda

Employment Center in Latvia Saves Struggling Family

2011-05-31T12:43:00.000-04:00

Ariel Job Center professionals helped Oleg
build his resume, skill set, and self-confidence
to interview successfully.
Photo: JDC website

When Oleg was told that the warehouse where he’d been working for 13 years was bankrupt and closing its doors, he felt the air being wrenched from his chest. He had seen many people lose their jobs in Latvia’s economic crisis, but never thought that it would happen to him; his company had been stable for decades. No matter how desperately Oleg tried to remain calm about his future, all he could picture was the disappointment he’d see in his son Eitan’s eyes. For the first time since the boy was born in 1997, Oleg would not be able to support him. “This was the most demoralizing experience of my life,” shares the 42-year-old father.

Oleg immediately started searching for new employment, but interview after interview yielded no job. He became increasingly depressed and lay awake at night worrying about providing for his family.

Then Oleg learned about JDC’s Ariel Job Center, housed in the same Riga Jewish Community Center where his son participated in JDC’s Children in Need program. Oleg’s family was already receiving subsidies from that program to pay for food, clothing, and utilities as they struggled to live solely on his wife’s recently slashed income. And now he discovered another JDCsupported Jewish community resource, right down the hall.

The Ariel Job Center's relevant and professional services often yield fringe benefit of bringing families closer to their local Jewish community.

Everything changed for Oleg and his family once he began his professional training courses at the Ariel Job Center—a model JDC program to retrain and place young professionals whose jobs had been eliminated in Latvia’s financial crisis.

The Ariel Job Center's relevant and professional
services often yield fringe benefit of bringing
families closer to their local Jewish community.
Photo: JDC Website

For nearly three months, Russian speaking Oleg studied Latvian and learned data- and word-processing programs as well as how to utilize email and online resources to search for jobs. Ariel professionals also gave Oleg personal help to improve his resume and boost his job interview skills—especially his confidence and communication.

Bolstered by this new knowledge, Oleg successfully landed a job overseeing retail distribution at Latvia’s leading home electronics warehouse. Now he studies English and is continuing to grow professionally through Ariel. At the same time, Oleg’s “refreshing” experience with caring and skilled staff at Ariel inspired him to see the Jewish community as a resource not only for Jewish cultural programs for his son, but for practical and critical guidance for his family’s everyday survival.

Today Oleg puts this renewed appreciation for his community into action by volunteering with JDC’s welfare programs to distribute food, medicine, and other assistance to the neediest Jews in the city—and now more than ever he encourages his son to engage in Jewish activities.

DID YOU KNOW?
JDC launched its first Ariel Job Center to combat crisis-related unemployment in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2001 and has since exported the model to Porto Alegre, Brazil; Sofia, Bulgaria; Santiago, Chile; Tallinn, Estonia; Budapest, Hungary; Riga, Latvia; Bucharest, Romania; and Caracas, Venezuela.

FAST FACT
The three Baltic countries had the world's steepest economic declines last year, with GDP (Gross Domestic Product) plunging 17.8 percent in Latvia, 15 percent in Lithuania, and 14.1 percent in Estonia.

20 YEAR AFTER OPERATION SOLOMON, JDC HELPS IMPROVE ETHIOPIAN-ISRAELI LIVES

2011-05-23T10:52:00.000-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New York, May 22, 2011 – Twenty years after the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) took a leading role in the miraculous airlift of more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, the humanitarian aid organization continues to support and help integrate Ethiopian Israelis into Israeli society. With dozens of nation-wide programs strengthening the lives of Ethiopian Israelis of all ages, JDC - through the support of the Jewish Federations of North America - helps ensure advancements in early childhood education, employment, and national service.

"Two decades after we helped bring this ancient Jewish community to safety, we're proudly working everyday to fulfill the promise of the startup nation for this and future generations of Ethiopian Israelis," said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. "Just as we praise the many individual successes from this vibrant community, JDC also addresses the challenges it faces in partnership the Government of Israel and together with the laudable efforts of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ethiopian National Project."

One of JDC's flagship programs, Parents and Children Together (PACT) works to enhance Ethiopian-Israeli children's literacy skills and educational performance to improve their academic success by addressing the unique cultural and language barriers they face. Today, 11,000 children and their families benefit from PACT. Additionally, JDC helps Ethiopian-Israeli high school students overcome language and other academic disadvantage so they can successfully graduate and earn their matriculation certificates.

JDC also helps Ethiopian-Israelis successfully serve in the Israel Defense Forces by guiding these youth and their parents before, during, and after their enrollment. JDC has developed numerous employment services to help Ethiopian-Israelis obtain the skills needed to thrive in a modern workforce. JDC also helps restore dignity and pride among elderly Ethiopian Israelis through a program where they restore run-down communal gardens and transform them into vibrant centers of neighborhood life.

View a slideshow of JDC's work with Ethiopian Israelis - from pre-Operation Solomon to today - and watch a video on JDC's role in the historic airlift celebrated on May 24.

Shabbat in Addis

2011-05-06T09:26:00.001-04:00

By Naomi Van Dinter

Naomi is an international development worker currently working on a large project that brings HIV care to over 500,000 people and treatment to over 200,000 people in ten countries while training and empowering local organizations to gradually assume management of the project. The central funding for the project is ending in an effort to bring the management and funding to the country level, and directly to the local partners when possible. Naomi traveled to Ethiopia to help the country program apply for direct, continued funding.

I arrived into Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the day. I had transited through Addis previously, but only saw the city in the late evening and the early morning. I have traveled through most of Eastern and Southern Africa, yet I was especially eager to take in the sights and sounds of Ethiopia. The country has maintained a private, homogeneous culture with great pride in its traditions and roots.

I was greeted by a welcoming people that were enthusiastic in sharing their unique culture. Every person with whom I spoke wanted to talk about my impressions of Ethiopia and explain a different piece of how their heritage fit into the modern way of life. The cultural restaurants showcasing traditional music and dance, usually reserved for tourists in other African countries, were dominated by the locals – proudly enjoying their country’s food and distinctive dance while relishing the incense from the coffee ceremony at the conclusion of each meal. Along with their deep cultural roots, many of the Ethiopians are deeply religious people who choose to live their religions without judgment or evangelism.

My purpose in visiting Ethiopia was to write a proposal to continue funding for an HIV care and treatment project, however my additional personal interest lay in connecting with Ethiopian Jewish population. Prior to departing, through a contact at the Associated [Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore], I was linked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) who recommended I contact their Country Director, Dr. Rick Hodes. I learned that unfortunately I could not visit the remaining Ethiopian Jewish population as it was too far from Addis, however I received a lovely invitation to spend Shabbat with Dr. Hodes.

Dr. Hodes has become well-known for his work with the local population through the Missionaries of Charity, as well as for caring the Ethiopian Jewish population (through JDC). However, it wasn’t until I arrived at his house did I realize that he truly lived his work.

I arrived at Dr. Hodes house at 6:30PM with a dozen roses in hand, braced for an elegant dinner in one of the large mansions in which high level expats usually live in Africa. Instead of a guard answering the door at the gate, a sweet teenage boy with a severe spinal irregularity welcomed me into the courtyard of Dr. Hodes’ modest home. There, I met a young man who had lost a leg to cancer, another girl who some physical difficulties, and the list went on. There were about 15 children who were all patients of Dr. Hodes, and I presume also orphans, as Dr. Hodes had taken them all in.

The younger ones were attending school and living in small dormitories in the back of the house, while the older children who had graduated were living in another house off-site. Despite the challenges they faced , the children had a warmth and sense a peace around them that I have only experienced in an ashram that I visited many years ago. I imagine that this came from the nurturing of a stable home and a parental figure, and security about their next meal -- all assets that had previously eluded them.

In addition to the children, a group of physical therapy graduate students from the US were socializing in the living room while waiting for Dr. Hodes to arrive. A few Jewish stragglers living in Addis were also in attendance. At around 8PM Dr. Hodes came in and quickly began Shabbat. He asked all of us to form a large circle around the living room and threw “kippot” to all of the men. These kippot were hats of all kinds: jester hats, skull caps, hats with Hanukah lights and such. Dr. Hodes and his children led the group in a rendition of the ‘The Hammer Song.’ He then said a blessing over the bread (skipped the lights), dipped each piece in salt and through it at each person to catch. To honor the Ethiopian Orthodox (Christian) fasting season that many of his children were observing, we all enjoyed a vegan Ethiopian meal.

The evening included a blend of people from different cultures, religions and socio-economic strata that were brought together in respect for a person who was living in solidarity with those he served. I was humbled by the warmth and inclusive atmosphere that I experienced during the Shabbat in Addis. To me, it personified what the core of religion is about: recognizing and honoring the piece of G-d that is living within each of us.

JDC RELEASES OVER 500,000 SEARCHABLE HOLOCAUST-ERA NAMES AND HISTORIC PHOTO COLLECTIONS

2011-05-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

Visit the Website - http://www.jdc.org/sharedlegacy

New York, May 2, 2011 ― For the first time in its history, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is making a collection of its historic records and photographs from the Holocaust period available online. The website – www.jdc.org/sharedlegacy – enables the public, especially Holocaust survivors and their families, to perform searches for themselves or others they know on a database of more than 500,000 names and to view and identify photos from 14 countries where JDC operated during and after the war. This will help JDC — known to millions as "The Joint" — fill in the blanks about its impact during this tumultuous time in Jewish history.

"I cannot express the profoundly deep connection I felt to my past and now to JDC when out of nowhere my young face popped up on the screen," said Claus Hirsch, a German-born Shanghai Ghetto survivor who found a photo of himself in the Ghetto during his search on the system. Hirsch’s family was helped by JDC in China during the war, and he found two lists on which his family members’ names appear. Hirsch now lives in Manhattan.

The website will allow users to search the names database compiled from historic documents and JDC client lists from operations in Barcelona, Shanghai, Kobe, Vilna, Australia, South America, and the JDC Emigration Service in Vienna and Munich. A group of volunteer genealogists helped the JDC Global Archives create the database, and are adding new names each week. JDC’s website is being launched at a time when a number of leading organizations and museums are making newly-digitized Holocaust era records available online, allowing broad public access for the first time ever.

“For six decades, the vast majority of this data has been available only to professional researchers,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. “Now, thanks to technology, survivors and their descendants can directly engage with our shared history.”

Users can also explore and identify people they know in photo galleries of 1,500 photos from Austria, Belgium, China, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Lithuania, Portugal, and Spain. JDC is also inviting the public to tag photos and to share their JDC stories from this period in history. JDC was responsible for caring for hundreds of thousands of Jews in places from Cuba to Portugal during and after the Second World War.

"Whether you were a little Jewish child we aided in Barcelona or one of the Jews we supported in Displaced Persons camps after the war, by putting faces, names, and stories together, you will benefit generations to come," said Schwager.

With tens of thousands of documents and photographs from the Holocaust era drawn from JDC collections in New York and Jerusalem, this website aims to add personal stories to JDC’s vast international archive. Every year, hundreds of Holocaust survivors, genealogists, academics, filmmakers, and journalists conduct research in the JDC Global Archives. JDC will launch its Global Archives website in spring 2011 and will make available huge collections of newly-digitized documents and its significant photo collection from the organization’s founding in 1914. The JDC Archives website and digitization project were made possible through a lead gift from Dr. Georgette Bennett and Dr. Leonard Polonsky.

JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium - May 17, 2011

2011-04-27T11:09:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM

New York City

Join us for a full day of exclusive briefings on the status of Jewish communities and JDC's work around the world.

This exclusive event will focus on the challenges and opportunities facing JDC today. Meet JDC representatives from around the world, hear insider briefings on JDC's global operations and Israel's strategic landscape, and get updates on thriving and struggling communities from South America to the Middle East, and much more.

We are planning several tracks based on each person’s individual experience with JDC—beginner, advanced, and applied (for Jewish community leaders, campaigners, and volunteers with strong JDC affiliation). So you're sure to get the greatest possible value out of this JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium.

To purchase tickets and register, please go to
http://jdc.org/Temparchives/ambassador.html

For more information, please contact Rachel Rosenthal at ambassadors@jdc.org or 212.885.0876.

JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium - May 17, 2011

2011-04-21T10:04:00.005-04:00

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM

New York City

http://jdc.org/Temparchives/ambassador.html

For more information, please contact Rachel Rosenthal at ambassadors@jdc.org or 212.885.0876.

Argentina's Baby Help Brings Judaism and Joy to Community's Youngest

2011-04-18T09:17:00.023-04:00

Joining Jews around the world in the Passover seder countdown, many struggling young families in Argentina are gearing up for their annual “Baby Pesach” celebration at the JDC-supported Baby Help center in Buenos Aires.

For young Jewish families in Argentina, Baby Help is a household name.

Launched by JDC and the local Jewish community to help struggling pregnant mothers and toddlers plunged into poverty in the wake of Argentina’s 2001-2 economic collapse, today Baby Help continues to be an important source of support for the country’s most vulnerable children.

In addition to providing for basic necessities such as food, milk, vitamins, vaccinations, and diapers, the Baby Help center in Buenos Aires offers critical day care services so that parents can find and maintain jobs, and welcomes dozens of young families for spirited celebrations of Shabbat and Jewish holidays throughout the year.

JDC Staff Member To Be Appointed to US Commission By President Obama

2011-04-12T14:51:00.001-04:00

From:         Irv Smokler
                 Steve Schwager

Re:            Herbert Block

Date:         April 11, 2011

Please find below the JDC Press Release regarding President Obama's intent to appoint Herbert Block to the U.S Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad.

Mazal Tov to Herb on this much-deserved honor. The entire JDC family is very proud of this anticipated appointment.

************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRESIDENT OBAMA ANNOUNCES INTENT TO APPOINT JDC’S HERBERT BLOCK TO U.S. COMMISSION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF AMERICA'S HERITAGE ABROAD

New York, April 10, 2011 - Following the White House announcement that President Obama intends to appoint Herbert Block, an American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Assistant Executive Vice President, to the U.S. Commission for the Preservation Of America’s Heritage Abroad, JDC CEO Steven Schwager lauded Block’s distinguished work in the areas of Holocaust-era property reclamation, Jewish community development, and public policy.

“We are extremely proud that President Obama has chosen to recognize Herbert's outstanding public service, especially his passionate dedication to reclaiming the past and shaping the Jewish future,” said Schwager. “As an organization devoted to rebuilding Jewish life in the farthest corners of Europe and the former Soviet Union, we are truly fortunate to have benefited from Herbert’s longstanding commitment to the Jewish people and the American values we all hold dear.”

The Commission -- an independent federal agency that helps preserve burial places, memorials, and places of worship in Eastern and Central Europe associated with the heritage of Americans -- identifies properties, negotiates U.S. agreements with the governments of the region, and encourages and facilitates private and foreign restoration, preservation, and memorialization efforts.

Block's work at JDC includes government affairs and efforts to restitute Holocaust-era assets. He represents JDC on the Board of the World Jewish Restitution Organization and serves on several European bodies dealing with Jewish heritage. Prior to JDC, Block's career included, among other roles, his service as the Deputy Director for Intergovernmental Relations at the federal Corporation for National Service and as Assistant to the Mayor of the City of New York.

The JDC Haggadah

2011-04-07T11:43:00.000-04:00

As Passover approaches, make sure you have your copy of In Every Generation:The JDC Haggadah. Filled with photographs, letters and documents, many of them never before made public, the JDC Haggadah intertwines the story of Pesach with JDC’s century of work rescuing and relieving Jews in distress and renewing Jewish life.

“This unique edition of this ancient text…communicates in a powerful and authentic voice the journey from degradation to freedom that the Haggadah celebrates and that the Joint Distribution Committee makes possible.”
—Rabbi David Ellenson

“This JDC Hagaddah demonstrates beautifully…the Joint[’s] commitment to a free, vibrant and stable Jewish community.”
—Rabbi Haskell Lookstein

Click Here to Buy Now

JDC's Work in Japan Featured in Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

2011-04-05T09:25:00.000-04:00

JDC's work in Japan was featured in the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle recently. In the piece, Patricia Uhlmann, JDC Board member and Chair of the International Development Program Committee talks about the work of JDC in the affected region and how, with the support and partnership of Jewish Federations across the country, JDC is able to make a difference.

Visit the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle website to read the article.

"Light to the Nation"

2011-03-30T09:33:00.000-04:00

By GIL SHEFLER
March 28, 2011

The Jews of Japan step up in the wake of the disasters and aid their countrymen.

Efrat Edrey sits in her modest kitchen in the Omori neighborhood of this sprawling metropolis, surrounded by her six children, aged two to 10, trying to juggle several jobs at the same time: mother, cook, disciplinarian and caretaker. Add emergency relief efforts coordinator to the list.

Since last Friday she has worked tirelessly alongside her husband, Rabbi Binyamin Edrey, who runs one of two Chabad houses here, to organize desperate deliveries of goods and foodstuffs to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami which battered Japan and has been compounded by the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima power plants.

“On Saturday my husband received a call from Hikata Mitsu,” she said, referring to a Japanese friend of his. “He is originally from Sendai [one of the areas hardest hit by the March 11 tsunami] and said he wanted to help people up north but didn’t know what to do. That minute Binyamin told him that they should go together, take all the food and clothing and gas they can and give it to them.”

The rabbi, his Japanese friend and another Japanese associate, who is in the process of writing a book about him, got in a car and knowingly drove half way across Japan’s central island right into a disaster area to offer their help, repeating this feat three times over the past week.

Back at her house, my interview with Edrey is interrupted every 10 minutes by a phone call related to the ongoing relief work up north. She speaks in turn Japanese, Brooklyn English or perfect Hebrew, depending on the need.

I asked her about the fear of radiation. Wasn’t she worried, like so many expatriates who chose to leave the city, that it should spread from Fukushima to Tokyo? “At a time like this, it’s our duty to remain here and provide support to the people of Japan,” she said. “There’s no doubt there’s been a gap in how it’s been reported here and around the world.”

Edrey said she derived her inspiration from a story about how a gentile saved her grandfather’s life during World War II by helping him escape Austria. Surely, the moral of the tale was to leave while one can, I said.

“No, now is our time to return the favor and help them in their time of need,” she said.

The Edreys, I’ve learned since I arrived in Japan last week, are part of an elaborate Jewish support system for the disaster victims involving disparate members of the community numbering some 2,500 which also receives monetary support from their brethren in the US.

In Sendai, Roi Samekh, an Israeli married to a local woman, who runs an Israeli restaurant, is helping the Jewish community of Japan working in conjunction with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee through the local NGO JEN to care for the needy.

“Right now it’s very hard to get food,” he said over the phone. “You need to wait in line for gas, there’s no running water, no cooking gas and some houses are still without electricity. While the situation within the city is somehow okay, the coast is totally devastated. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. The situation is improving, but at a snail’s pace.”

He said he didn’t follow the news much and wasn’t concerned about the situation in Fukushima.

“Whether there is or isn’t radiation, I’m not scared,” he said.

He compared the situation in Japan at the moment with the way Israel is seen from the outside.

“The same way you go abroad and people ask you whether things are okay in Israel, it’s the same thing here but with radiation,” he said.

To some it might come as a surprise that Japan even has a Jewish community, but according to Larry Greenberg, a member of the board of directors at Tokyo’s Jewish community center, it has been around since at least 1953.

I met him at the sleek center building in the central Shibuya neighborhood that was completed just six months ago with the help of a $6 million donation. “And the donor has remained anonymous,” he told me.

After a tour of the premises which includes a synagogue (Conservative), a kindergarten, a dining room, several classrooms and offices and was designed by renowned architect Maki, Greenberg said the community was in a process of becoming more Japanese.

“The center was established in 1953 but I wouldn’t think of it back then as being the Jewish community of Japan but rather a bunch of Jews in Japan,” he explained. “They came here to play games and drink vodka. Now we have a very international community. We have board members from Israel, the US and Zimbabwe. Most are married to Japanese spouses. There was a bar mitzva recently of a boy who read the haftara in Hebrew and gave speeches in English and Japanese, and that’s wonderful if we don’t want to be transitory.”

On the matter of the troubles that have visited Japan of late he, like many others I’ve spoken to, was angered by the portrayal of the events by Western media.

“The media feeding frenzy is distorted,” he said. “CNN had its reporter in Japan get to Libya so fast, it makes you wonder how many private jets it has.”

Greenberg said that after much deliberation he and his wife had buckled to pressure and decided it best that she and their child sit the crisis out in New York, but that in retrospect it was a mistake.

“When I brought my wife to the airport it was scary,” he said. “I know only a few others who have stayed, but since Saturday noon there’s been progress.”

EARLIER THAT week had I visited Rabbi David Gingold at the synagogue in Kobe, a city adjacent to Osaka, where I met two Israelis who had fled Sendai after the disaster.

Ariel Meirson and Amit Milis, two businessmen who have lived in the city, which was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami and quake, for several years with their families, were telling a captivated audience the story of how they survived.

“Everything shook for minutes and you couldn’t stand up,” Milis said, spreading his hands as if reliving his story. “It was terrifying. All the pictures on the wall fell down except one that had Hebrew words inscribed on it.”

While Milis’s house is located inland, Meirson lives relatively close to the coast, putting him in danger from the massive wave which was by far the deadlier of the two catastrophes.

“After the earthquake, a helicopter appeared over my neighborhood and blared ‘tsunami, tsunami, tsunami’ through loudspeakers,” Meirson recalled.

“I heard the warning and rushed to find my landlord, but he was nowhere to be found. Then I ran outside but nobody was home or on the street either. Finally, I bumped into someone who told me they were all taking cover on the third floor of the local school so that the water wouldn’t reach them.”

Meirson joined his neighbors at the school, where they waited anxiously in the dark, bracing for the tsunami to come. Luckily, it never did. The waters stopped a few hundred meters away from them, but the crushing wave had taken away much of the rest of the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, after hearing about the tsunami on the news, Milis jumped into his car and raced toward his friend’s house.

“I got in and started driving,” he said. “On the way I saw whole neighborhoods gone, cars and houses swept away. When I got to your house,” he said, tapping Meirson on the shoulder, “I couldn’t find you and I thought, who knows? Maybe he hadn’t made it.

But then a neighbor said you were all at the school.”

Milis, Meirson and their families have been taken in by Gingold and are staying above the synagogue in Kobe until they decide what to do.

Gingold said about 500 Jews lived in the Kansai region, where Osaka and Kobe are located.

“The community was established in 1952 and we have a minyan every week,” he said.

Milis and Meirson are now recovering from their ordeal, but how they got to Kobe from Sendai, 100 kilometers to the north is a story, in itself.

For the first few days following the disaster, they remained in Sendai without electricity, living without heat in the bitter cold and growing short of food. They couldn’t leave because the roads were cut off and they had little gasoline.

“They told me to go to the coast and take gas from the wrecked cars, but I couldn’t,” Milis said. “If I went there and saw people lying on the ground, who knows in what condition... there’s no way I’d would go there.”

Nearing the point of despair, they decided to risk it and drive cross country with half a tank of gas. In planning their route, there was a significant obstacle they had to overcome.

“We were told the road north was cut off, but the road south led us too close to Fukushima,” he said, referring to the nuclear power plants. “We didn’t want to die of radiation so we headed onto the back roads of the Miyagi Mountains, which were all covered in snow. It was a beautiful sight. It looked like Switzerland, but all I was thinking about was how one aftershock could set off an avalanche or a boulder and then we’d be done for, either on the spot or buried alive. As much as we wanted to get out of there, instead of driving fast the whole time we were driving 50 kilometers an hour to get the most mileage out of our gas.”

They drove for several hours nonstop, hoping they wouldn’t run out of gas. Down to a few liters in their tank, they arrived at a dam high in the mountains where they asked a crew of construction workers how far they were from the nearest working gas station.

“When a construction worker said we were only a few kilometers away, we started to celebrate,” Milis said. “I almost kissed him.”

Looking back, Meirson’s heart goes out to those who remain there without a roof over their heads.

“People there are fighting for their lives,” he said. “If the earthquake and tsunami didn’t get them, the cold and hunger will.”

Reporters diary: Tempest in a teapot?

My long and tortuous journey began last Monday when matters in Japan, which had been struck by a whopping 9.0 magnitude earthquake followed by an even more devastating tsunami, went from bad to worse. A series of explosions at the battered Fukushima nuclear power plant 190 kilometers north of Tokyo raised deep concerns that a full meltdown was in progress. Despite repeated claims by the Japanese that the situation was under control, blasts rocked the reactors one by one and worrying increases in radiation were detected.

The earthquake and tsunami which hammered the northeast coast were horrific and are estimated to have killed 20,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

But truly tragic as they were, such destruction is unfortunately not unheard of in our disaster- prone world: In 2004 a tsunami killed more than 220,000 people along the shores of the Indian Ocean and last year some 250,000 died in an earthquake in Haiti.

But a nuclear meltdown? With radiation and so on? Not since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster had the world seen anything like this.

Who knows what unthinkable catastrophic effects – the evacuation of Tokyo, the collapse of the world economy – something like that might have? My journalistic curiosity was piqued, so I pitched my editors the idea of covering the story, gave a budget proposal and to my surprise they agreed. I threw a few things into a backpack and less than 20 hours later I was on a Hong Kong-bound flight en route to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Before my departure, friends and family bid me farewell in dark tones.

“Bring your hazmat suit,” a friend wrote on my Facebook wall.

“Look for the closest nuclear fallout shelter,” wrote another.

I was expecting nothing but the worst, a country in total disarray, so I brought with me a stash of energy bars and a bottle of water, and cursed myself for forgetting my flashlight. Come what may, I was ready.

The first sign that I wasn’t about to land in Mogadishu came when I boarded the plane to Osaka in Hong Kong. There was no sign of Australian mercenaries, Dr. Strangelove-type nuclear scientists or Anderson Cooper wanna-bes (with the exception of myself, of course). Instead, it was near capacity with middle-aged Japanese businessmen in gray suits, polite housewives and two brave Westerners.

“I’m not worried about radiation, which is in the north,” said Koki Homma, an academic who lives outside Kyoto, as I listened incredulously. “Osaka is safe. There are no power outages. In Tokyo, however, the situation is different.”

Oh poor, dear Homma, putting on such a brave face for appearance’s sake.

But when I landed in Kansai airport, it turned out he was right. With the exception of my hotel, which was swarming with Westerners and some Japanese who hurriedly fled Tokyo, there were no overt signs the country was experiencing its worst crisis since World War II.

Looking at the scenes of normalcy around me, I came to the conclusion on Friday that writing about the nuclear crisis in Osaka was like trying to cover a war between Israel and Lebanon from Cyprus. If I wanted to know what was happening I’d have to find out for myself, so I bought a train ticket to Tokyo for the next day.

The sleek Shinkansen bullet train to Tokyo with its distinct porpoise-shaped nose whisked past the pleasant Japanese countryside on Saturday morning, taking me toward the capital at speeds of up to 300 kilometers an hour. On the way I caught a glimpse of a snowcapped Mount Fuji, the perfectly coneshaped volcano whose deceptive beauty is a reminder that Japan sits atop a violently active tectonic plate.

A friendly executive named Takeshi Koga sat down beside me, probably with the intent of brushing up his English, and we chatted about the situation.

“My wife asked me to bring a sack of rice,” the bespectacled Koga said, pointing at his bulging suitcase. “She said you have to stand in line if you want to buy some foods in Tokyo, so I have brought with me rice and eggs from Osaka.”

Koga said there were some food shortages, blackouts and disrupted train service in the capital, but he reassured me emphatically waving his hands in the air that there was no danger of radiation.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency said everything is okay,” he insisted and smiled.

Upon arrival I discovered Tokyo was far from its usual self, but it wasn’t a ghost town.

The downtown business district of Shinjuku was shrouded in unusual darkness right after dusk. In an effort to conserve energy, now in great undersupply with the absence of output from the Fukushima nuclear plant, stores opened late and closed early and the famous neon lights and ubiquitous jumbo screens were dimmed. By 9 p.m. the streets were deserted and an informal curfew was in place.

That first night I was greeted by a 6.1 earthquake, which shook the lamp hanging from the ceiling in the apartment where I was staying and rattled the kitchenware for a few seconds.

During the day, however, it was hard to notice anything was amiss. Food was once again in abundance at the supermarkets, which displayed row after row of meat, dairy and vegetable products. The only shortage was of non-perishable foods that one can store in case of emergency.

Furthermore, I learned that the vast majority of the metropolitan area’s 30 million residents had not left and had no plans to. The hysteria at the local airport over the previous few days was mostly of expatriates and some Japanese who had the luxury to leave at will.

Most locals had jobs and the city was still very much a functioning one, albeit at a slower and sadder pace.

Haitian Salsa Champion Gets Second Chance to Dance

2011-03-29T09:58:00.000-04:00

A wonderful story about Gheorghes, a champion salsa dancer from Haiti who had to have his leg amputated below the knee due to injuries sustained during the earthquake. Thanks to the JDC, Tel Hashomer hospital in Israel and Magen David Adom, Gheorghes was given a state of the art prosthesis and is once again dancing.

Read more about Gheorghes on the JDC Website.

JDC PARTNERS WITH IDF FIELD HOSPITAL IN MINAMISANRIKO, JAPAN

2011-03-24T14:32:00.003-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK, NY, March 24, 2011 – As part of its continuous, on-the-ground response in Japan, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is now partnering with the Israel Defense Forces Field Hospital which will be operating in Minamisanriko, one of the many cities decimated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. JDC – which previously supported IDF Field Hospitals in Haiti and Turkey – will be providing equipment such as an infant ventilator and portable ultrasound as well as life-saving antibiotics and other medications.

“JDC's past experience responding to earthquakes and tsunamis has taught us that the kind of unparalleled medical treatment we'll help bring through the IDF Field Hospital is vital to the recovery of the Japanese people,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager. “Even as we quickly provide these services during the emergency phase of our response, JDC is monitoring needs and assessing projects to help improve local lives in the longer-term.”

In the two weeks since Japan was struck, JDC has provided:

food, fuel, blankets, tents, and other emergency supplies to evacuation centers through the International Rescue Committee;
emergency supplies to the hardest-hit Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures through JEN, a Japanese NGO and the Jewish Community of Japan;
learning materials, teaching aids, emergency school supplies, among other services at child-friendly spaces for Japanese children through the U.S. Fund for UNICEF/Japan Committee for UNICEF;
a critically needed water shipment and other emergency relief supplies through JDC’s partner Afya Foundation and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan's aid and development arm;
food and water bottle distribution from Chabad’s bakery in Sendai.

JDC’s long history of working in and with Japan includes: the rebuilding of a school in Kosovo with Japan after the 1999 conflict; working in Kobe until 1941 supporting Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Europe; and supporting Jewish refugees in Yokohama between 1918-20, most of whom were fleeing Russia. JDC gained substantial disaster expertise in Haiti in 2010 as well as in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and Maldives following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004.

JDC's non-sectarian disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its disaster relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Interaction, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israeli relief agencies, and the United Nations. JDC has provided immediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters around the globe and continues to operate programs designed to rebuild infrastructure and community life in disaster-stricken regions.

To Make a Contribution to JDC's Japan Relief Work:
Online: www.jdc.org

By Phone: 212-687-6200

By Mail: check payable to
JDC Japan/Pacific Disaster Relief
P O Box 4124
New York, NY 10163

Celebrating Purim in St. Petersburg

2011-03-21T10:33:00.000-04:00

The St. Petersburg Hillel performing a Purim song and dance.

Photos of Sendai, Japan

2011-03-18T14:46:00.001-04:00

Following the devastating 8.9 earthquake, the most powerful to hit Japan in more than 100 years and the subsequent tsunami that followed, JDC quickly reached out to the Japanese Jewish Community in Tokyo. In partnership with the Community, JDC is distributing emergency supplies, including food and hygiene products, to victims of the disaster through JEN, a local Japanese NGO currently operating in the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures—the areas hardest hit by the tsunami.

Below are two photos from the ground of our work with JEN. They were taken at Takasago Middle School in Sendai where 1,200 people were evacuated.

Both photos are courtesy of JEN.

The black marks on the wall show the point where the tsunami waters reached.

In addition to our partnership with JEN, JDC is now working with the Afya Foundation and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan's international aid and development arm, to provide a critically needed water shipment and other emergency relief supplies to people on the ground. JDC previously partnered with the Afya Foundation in Haiti.

JDC is also funding food and water bottle distribution through Chabad's bakery in Sendai.

To Make a Contribution:

Online: www.jdc.org

By Phone: 212-687-6200

By Mail: check payable to
JDC Japan/Pacific Disaster Relief
P O Box 4124
New York, NY 10163

Japan Update

2011-03-16T09:48:00.003-04:00

From:     Irv Smokler, President
             Patricia Werthan Uhlmann, Chair, International Development Program Committee
             Steve Schwager, CEO

Re:        Crisis in Japan
Date:     March 15, 2011

All of us are following the news regarding the serious and disturbing crisis in Japan. JDC is closely monitoring the situation there. As noted in last Friday’s memo, we have opened a disaster mailbox for donations in response to the earthquake and the tsunami.

JDC quickly reached out to the Japanese Jewish Community in Tokyo. In partnership with the Community, JDC is distributing emergency supplies, including food and hygiene products, to victims of the disaster through JEN, a local Japanese NGO currently operating in the Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures—the areas hardest hit by the tsunami.

"To have a Jewish organization pick up the phone at this time of crisis is wonderful. I was aware of JDC before the earthquake and we even linked out to JDC for relief efforts from my business' website,” said Philip Rosenfeld, treasurer of the Jewish Community of Japan. “But that initial phone call from JDC and the organization's 24-hour turnaround at this time was fantastic."

Based in Tokyo, JEN focuses on, among other things: shelter reconstruction, support of the socially vulnerable, and emergency supply distribution. JEN provided relief in Japan following the 2004 Chuetsu Earthquake in Niigata and the 2007 Chuetsu Oki Earthquake.

JDC’s response to this disaster is clearly distinct from our relief work in Haiti, where little local infrastructure existed even before the earthquake.

Japan is a developed and well-resourced country, and is still assessing damage and needs created by this multi-layered disaster—earthquake, tsunami, and radiation threat.

JDC continues to monitor the situation to determine next steps in our humanitarian effort. We are consulting with potential partners on the ground—including those with whom we collaborated following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. As always, our goal is to help the Japanese people in the most effective way possible.

We will update you as the situation evolves.

Thank you.

JDC RESPONDS TO JAPANESE EARTHQUAKE, PACIFIC OCEAN TSUNAMI

2011-03-11T11:39:00.002-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY, March 11, 2011 – In the wake of the disastrous Japanese earthquake and subsequent Pacific Ocean tsunami, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is collecting funds for relief efforts and has reached out to the Japanese Government to offer its expertise in earthquake and tsunami-related response. JDC acquired substantial experience in post-tsunami and earthquake recovery through its relief and reconstruction projects in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Maldives and India following the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. JDC is now conducting an up-to-the-minute assessment of the situation in Japan and the Pacific Rim and has activated its network of partners to determine critical, immediate needs of the hardest-hit areas.

“Our prayers and sympathies go out to the families of those lost in the earthquake in Japan and as we have before in Haiti and in nations struck by the Indian Ocean Tsunami, JDC will leverage its disaster relief expertise and strong partnerships in the region to react swiftly and sympathetically to the needs of victims,” said Steven Schwager, JDC’s Chief Executive Officer.

The 8.9 earthquake, the most powerful to hit Japan in more than 100 years, has killed hundreds of people and caused untold damage through massive flooding across the island. JDC worked in Japan before the American entrance into World War II when the organization helped support Jewish refugees – including renowned religious leaders and yeshiva scholars – in Kobe, Japan who fled Hitler’s Europe. Today, several thousand Jews live and work in Japan.

JDC's non-sectarian disaster relief programs are funded by special appeals of the Jewish Federations of North America and tens of thousands of individual donors to JDC. JDC coordinates its disaster relief activities with the U.S. Department of State, USAID, Interaction, the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Israeli relief agencies, and the United Nations. JDC has provided immediate relief and long-term assistance to victims of natural and manmade disasters around the globe and continues to operate programs designed to rebuild infrastructure and community life in disaster-stricken regions.

To Make a Contribution:
Online: www.jdc.org

By Phone: 212-687-6200

By Mail: check payable to
JDC Japan/Pacific Disaster Relief
P O Box 4124
New York, NY 10163

JDC AIDS CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

2011-03-03T10:34:00.000-05:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY, March 3, 2011 – The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) is working with the Jewish community of Christchurch, New Zealand to aid survivors of the city’s devastating earthquake. JDC funding will contribute to Christchurch Jewish community efforts to repair a damaged local synagogue and homes, replace household goods, provide financial stipends and temporary relocation costs, and support community-service or children’s programs for the wider community.

“As we extend our deepest sympathies to the families of Christchurch locals and Israelis lost in the earthquake, we’re cooperating with the Jewish community to ensure that people on the ground can start to rebuild their lives. As we have done in the past, JDC is delivering much-needed assistance to Jews and others in the wake of a disaster,” said JDC CEO Steven Schwager.

In addition to lost property, damaged homes, and businesses, the Jewish community’s synagogue was damaged and the Chabad House was destroyed by the 6.3 earthquake that struck on February 22. Christchurch, New Zealand’s second largest city, is located in the Canterbury Province which is home to 600 Jews. Jewish settlement in the region dates back to the early 1860’s.

“It means a lot to us to know that we are not forgotten, even though we are just a small community far away,” said Bettina Wallace, acting president of the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation.

If You are in Washington DC on March 8...

2011-03-02T09:25:00.000-05:00

Reservations are required. To reserve a spot please go to THIS LINK.

About Dr. Rick Hodes

Dr. Rick Hodes, JDC’s Medical Director in Ethiopia, is a graduate of the University of Rochester Medical School and trained in internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University. During more than 20 years with JDC, he has provided and supervised medical care for victims of famine, war, and disease outbreaks in Kosovo, Rwanda, Zaire (Congo), Tanzania, Albania, and Somalia. Dr. Hodes is currently an attending physician at the Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s Mission), concentrating on heart and spine disease as well as cancer. Dr. Hodes was inducted into the Medical Mission Hall of Fame in 2006, and the following year was selected as a “CNN Hero” in the “Championing Children” category. He is the subject of the book, This is a Soul by Marilyn Berger, as well as the Sue Cohn Rockefeller short documentary, Making the Crooked Straight.

About Will Recant, PhD

Will Recant is the Assistant Executive Vice-President of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, specializing in JDC’s international development and disaster relief programs. He has briefed and worked with U.S. Government agencies and Congressional members on issues specific to rescue and relief; and Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) on program coordination, partnership development, and cooperation. Recant has traveled overseas to coordinate and evaluate existing and potential JDC programs in over 30 countries, where he has also acted as JDC’s intermediary to embassies and officials. He has helped provide disaster assistance to the Tsunami-affected countries, Kosovo, Africa, and Haiti. Recant holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from George Washington University.

Marking 20 Years in Cuba

2011-02-23T09:20:00.000-05:00

From Steve Schwager, CEO

This year marks the 20th anniversary of JDC’s work with the Jewish community in Cuba. The Castro government’s 1991 decision to allow greater religious freedom opened the door for JDC to help Cuba’s small Jewish community explore Jewish cultural and religious traditions for the first time in decades. In honor of the anniversary and of JDC’s upcoming Presidential Mission to Cuba in March, I share the thoughts of Fabian Triskier, Associate Director of JDC Latin America, after his most recent trip to the island last month.

My trip coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which commemorates the life of the man who delivered the famous "I have a dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963.

The date of my visit was intentional, for it coincided with another dream. During this mission, I witnessed the dream of 23 people being realized as they were recognized formally as Jews before a rabbinical court.

After a year of intense studies coordinated by Rabbi Shmuel Szteinhendler, a Chilean rabbi who has been the religious leader of Cuba’s Jews, 23 members of the communities of Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus, Guantánamo, Santa Clara, and Havana were formally accepted as Jews by a Beit Din made up of three rabbis who traveled to Cuba for the occasion. This rabbinical panel conducted rigorous evaluations, whose results demonstrated the remarkable commitment of these individuals and the strong ties that bind them to the ancient Jewish tradition and history.

Each shared a piece of history and family memories that expressed their eagerness to be part of the Jewish people. It is difficult to convey the intense emotion with which a young man from Guantánamo remembered stories about Jewish life in Cuba told to him by his grandfather, who had immigrated to Cuba from Turkey.

And then there is Sara, who recalls celebrating the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 with the community in Santa Clara and celebrating Passover by adhering to her father Moses’s instructions to refrain from eating flour (and when it was available, to eat matzot one week every year).

"It was a Passover without the afikoman, as there was no money to buy a gift," Sara told me.

Sara also shared the touching story of how her son-in-law decided to take the Hebrew name Joshua because, he said, “I feel like the heir of grandfather Moses and it will be my responsibility to lead the family along the road to a Jewish life.”

I also admired another young man from Camaguey who shared with me the pain and pride he felt when he was circumcised and remembered Abraham's covenant—a covenant to which he was now forever connected. The reading of the rabbinical certificates confirmed the full incorporation of each individual to the Jewish people and ended in a combination of tears, smiles, and hugs.

Early the next morning, we headed to a nearby beach where the sea served as the "Cuban mikvah,”( a natural pool or body of water used in Jewish religious practice as a part of the conversion process). Nature contributed its special touch, with the scenic beauty of the sun rising after a stormy night that had initially jeopardized the ceremony.

As they entered the sea, I could not help but think about that week's Torah portion, in which God told Moses, "Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments" (Exodus, 19:11). Thousands of years later, on a beach in Cuba, that Tuesday coincided with verse 16: "It happened on the third day, when it was morning, that there was thunder and lightning, and a thick cloud on the mountain.” Nature had also expressed itself in the same manner in biblical times, just prior to the culmination of the Jewish people receiving the Torah in the desert—an event which would define the destiny of the Jewish people. That Tuesday morning in Cuba, 23 Jews chose and committed to a new covenant and destiny with their People.

The celebration continued. In the afternoon, the three rabbis officiated at four weddings in the beautiful Patronato synagogue, rebuilt with the help of JDC. I was honored to be a witness to the Ketubah signing (marriage contract), and I stood proudly next to the chuppah. Adela Dworin, President of the Community, savored this milestone with much emotion and shared her loving appreciation for JDC.

The ceremonies concluded with the traditional breaking of the glass and the newly married couples dancing with Rabbi Szteinhendler and the 150 people who took part in the event. Then we joined in a warm celebration with Israeli dancing and lifted the newlyweds on chairs in the hall of the Patronato. The rabbis were thanked for their participation, devotion and warmth: Gustavo Kraselnik from Panama; Salomon Nussbaum from Argentina; and Shmuel Szteinhendler, who received special recognition in honor of his 100th trip to the island, ongoing work with JDC, and his commitment to keeping the flame of Judaism alive in Cuba.

From a professional perspective, JDC once again allowed me to be part of a historical event that still reverberates in my heart. I am honored to be a part of JDC’s work transforming the dream of the Cuban Jewish community into a reality over these two decades.

Like so many of us who have witnessed JDC’s work first-hand, Fabian’s account illustrates the commitment of the small but vibrant Cuban Jewish community. Irv and I are proud to help foster these experiences and look forward to many more in the future.

JDC Helps Haitian Teenager Rise Above the Rubble

2011-02-16T10:08:00.000-05:00

Jennifer A., a 16-year-old Haitian girl with nine siblings, recently took her first steps—for the second time. On January 12th while Jennifer was studying French literature, the walls of her classroom shook until they collapsed. In her flight for safety, Jennifer’s leg was crushed and she lost consciousness. When she awoke, her leg had been amputated. But Jennifer learned she was one of the lucky ones; many of her classmates had not made it out of the rubble alive. Still, she had little hope of ever standing again until she met a JDC-supported Israeli medical team at Haiti’s University Hospital and received the treatment and encouragement she needed.

JDC’s rehabilitation program is ensuring amputees and others who have suffered severe injuries as a result of the natural disaster are receiving help to allow them to live independent and productive lives. Bringing this relief to the people of Haiti means combing through densely packed tent cities in search of the injured, and once found, providing them with the appropriate treatment.

For those who require assistance to ensure they can fully engage in daily physical and social activities, JDC’s partnership with the Afya Foundation provides top American occupational therapists, who are also training Haitian rehab techs, to help with recovery. Haitians who have undergone amputation surgery are referred to Haiti’s University Hospital, where an Israeli medical team from Magen David Adom/Tel HaShomer Hospital delivers state-of-the-art prosthesis and physical rehabilitation.

After struggling through a series of therapy sessions, Jennifer’s perseverance proved positive. Combatting her physical pain with motivation, and eventual joy, she stood up and took the first few steps toward her new life.

Berlin's Bambinim Families Go Green for Tu B'Shvat

2011-02-10T10:23:00.002-05:00

Young Jewish children and parents in Berlin took

part in a Tu B'Shvat seder celebrating a

"New Year for trees."

Photo: JDC Website

In the year since the Bendini family first came to JDC’s Bambinim early childhood education program in Berlin, it’s become hard to tell who’s been enjoying the club’s activities more, five-year-old Marc or his parents?

Bambinim’s recent Tu B'Shvat seder, an Arbor Day-type event celebrating the “Jewish New Year for Trees,” was typical. Like all Bambinim activities, the seder was an open and inviting event reflecting the diverse backgrounds of Berlin’s multicultural and multilingual Jewish families. Most educational and cultural courses combine the use of German, Russian, English, and Hebrew.

Marc’s parents, who are Italian and Canadian (and speak Italian, English, and German with Marc, who was born in Germany), are drawn to Bambinim events precisely because they are innovative and culturally rich. That says a lot in a city as cosmopolitan as Berlin, where there is a surfeit of quality artistic and cultural events—even for children—and the competition for audiences is stiff.

Bambinim events “are THE place to be for Jewish children's activities in an open, pluralistic setting,” said Marc’s father. “My wife and I enjoy bringing Marc to these activities, and we look forward to participating ourselves.”

The past month’s Tu B’Shvat seder was no exception. Parents helped their children paint their own flower pots before the seder began, so they would be ready to take home later as a reminder of the holiday.

A Jewish story alluding to nature’s remarkable healing powers (how a magical pomegranate saves a king’s son) was read in German. And Bambinim staff members spoke about the symbols of seasonal changes, including the trees and foliage.

Participants were given different mixes of grape juice (instead of wine) to see if they could taste this change in seasons, and they were asked to identify fruits characteristic of the different parts of the year in a playful variation of “show and tell.”

An Israeli intern who works at Bambinim helped explain the appropriate blessings for the wine and fruit, and organized the Israeli dances that brought parents and children enthusiastically to their feet between each seder “course”.

Emphasizing the continuity of nature and the ongoing cycle of life, each child got to take home his or her flowerpot—but only after carefully filling it with soil and planting the seeds they would nurture for next year’s Tu B’shvat celebration.

Read a first-hand account of Bambinim’s Tu B’Shvat celebration from JDC Jewish Service Corps Fellows Molly Fried and Sarah Goldenstein, who are working with Jewish families and young adults in Berlin , Germany.