Two decades from war, a new fight to save Bosnia

JDC Ambassadors will be holding an important lunch marking 20 years since the start of the siege of Sarajevo, which ironically is April 6, the start of Passover this year.

The discussion centers around an extraordinary Jewish response to the breakdown of ethnic trust and cooperation in this diverse city.

But there are also clear lessons to be learned today, when ethnic strife in Bosnia, the Middle East and virtually across the globe seems to be heating up, not cooling down. We'll feature some very unique and meaningful efforts that the Jewish community has undertaken to lead in the rebuilding of trust and the solving of shared challenges across the globe.

And stay tuned for information about the Ambassadors trip to Sarajevo to participate in this work of rebuilding.

More info? Contact Rebecca At rebeccan@jdcny.org

Two decades from war, a new fight to save Bosnia

Reviving Baltic Jewish Communities One Camper at a Time

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.

Employment Center in Latvia Saves Struggling Family

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.

Biggest Jewish Studies Event in Continental Europe Gives Baltic Jews Reprieve from Crisis

Amidst the backdrop of a global economic crisis and looming political meltdown at home, the Baltic states refused to surrender their 6th Limmud-Keshet conference to circumstance. Instead, with JDC support, local volunteers poured in hours of preparation enabling 1,000 people to gather in Vilnius, Lithuania for a weekend-long study fest of Jewish learning and culture that has become a worldwide phenomenon.

Inspired by Limmud UK, the Baltics Limmud was initiated and is co-sponsored by JDC in partnership with the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles. Since its launch in 2004, the event has resonated with the emerging Baltic communities, who struggled to revive their Jewish identities after the decades-long rule of Communism. With over 150 workshops offering topics as diverse as the Arab-Israeli conflict to the Jewish Kitchen, this year’s conference celebrated the richness and multi-dimensional nature of Judaism. One participant, Alina, age 32, said through Limmud she learned, “Judaism is like a diamond: the more facets it has, the more beautiful it is!”

Not only did the conference celebrate diversity of thought, it touted the accomplishments of a community learning to grow and stand on its own feet. Run entirely by over 100 local volunteers, every participant is encouraged to become a teacher as well as a student, such that sessions are conducted by local talent without famous guest lecturers or keynote speakers.

In the case of the Baltics Limmud, Jews who only recently rediscovered their own Jewish identities help fellow Jews do the same by organizing and leading the workshops and sessions themselves. The volunteers become grassroots leaders in their communities and carry on the ‘spirit of Limmud’ throughout the year—a very important step in self-sustainable community building.

Despite the gloomy atmosphere of job losses, rioting, looting, and growing anti-Semitism, this year’s Limmud managed to bring in new faces to Baltic community life. Over 15 percent of this year’s attendees had never participated in a Jewish community event. As every year, only the lack of a bigger venue prevented the admission of more participants; the event had a waiting list of 300 people.

Whether a first-timer or a six-year veteran of the annual event, this Limmud conference managed to distract all participants from the bitter realities encroaching on the outside world. Sasha, 28, from Riga, said of the event, “Everybody around me either lost his job or is afraid of losing it. I’m so grateful that we can have a respite from all that and feel the warmth of being together.”

And bringing Jews together is one of Limmud’s greatest purposes. Over the years, this initiative has grown to include new sponsors and, most notably, the contributions of the local community despite the economic downturn.

Andres Spokoiny, JDC Area Director for Poland and the Baltic States, emphasized the importance of events like Limmud in the face of such crises. “When people are afraid to lose their jobs, when they feel all around them is collapsing, when there’s so much insecurity around them, Limmud tells them that there’s always solace to be found in the community,” he said. “Here people discover one basic fact about our Jewish tradition—that it can give joy and meaning as well as comfort in tough times.”