Poland: 70 Years Later

by Rebecca Neuwirth

In the end, it’s Agatha who makes it impossible not to hope.

I’m with a JDC Ambassadors delegation at the 70th anniversary commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. At midnight on April 19, in the light of two flames that rise from menorahs on either side of the famed Ghetto monument, Cantor Yaakov Lemmer sings in Yiddish about small boys who steal outside to sell cigarettes, and of a searing loss of innocence. Next to me, a member of our delegation sings quietly along—she remembers the tune from childhood.

Children's Memorial in Warsaw Jewish Cemetary

Loss of innocence is an elegant metaphor for the brutal desperation that drove parents to allow their young boys to risk their lives to bring home crumbs. The story of the Warsaw Ghetto is unendingly heinous. At its height, over 400,000 Jews were imprisioned in 1.3 square miles. Starvation and violence killed some 100,000 in the first year, and the Nazis deported almost 300,000 to mass murder in Treblinka. Cruel selections separated mothers and fathers from their children; sadistic and senseless acts were the rule, with human kindness used as a lure for brutality.

But the commemoration of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, unlike other forms of Holocaust remembrance, focuses not on atrocities but on courage.

It draws attention to acts of resistance and stubborn humanity, from the courage of small boys to the sharing of crumbs of food, the caring for orphaned children – embodied by the amazing Janusz Korczak, even the creation of culture that persisted in the Ghetto in the face of inhuman conditions. Above all, it focuses on the final armed resistance waged by a few thousand Jews against the impossibly larger, full force of the Nazis, and that ended one month later in total destruction and with only 13 Jews remaining.

JDC Ambassadors Global Symposium, December 3

The Jewish Future:
New Strategies for Sustaining and Inspiring Jewish Life
New York City

Guest Speakers:
Peter J. Rubinstein, Senior Rabbi of New York's Central Synagogue
Anne Heyman, Founder & Board Chair - Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village
Jack Habib, Director, Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute
and more...

FOR MORE INFORMATION -- go to http://jdc.org/ambassadorssymposium

JDC has worked for almost 100 years in supporting Jewish life around the world. But even as we help individuals and communities deal with crisis and handle extreme poverty on a day-to-day basis, our middle and long-term aims are more elevated and strategic: to ensure robust and inspired Jewish communities that care for one another.

The December 3 Ambassadors Symposium examines the Jewish future. How can we support small, vulnerable Jewish minorities in Muslim countries against the backdrop of the Arab spring and heightened global tensions? And, how can we share successful local Jewish and Israeli program models of care with other communities and the larger world – as a way to build bridges, scale impact, and fulfill our mandate of tikkun olam, or healing the world.

Peter J. Rubinstein, Senior Rabbi of New York's Central Synagogue, will offer a keynote address on what global responsibility really means today.

The Symposium will also introduce a new feature: JDC Think Tank sessions, which will allow key leadership to “roll up their sleeves” with participants to address current open questions on the spectrum of JDC’s work. Roundtable discussions will range from maximizing renewal activities in the increasingly trendy city of St. Petersburg, Russia to inspiring young American Jews to embrace a global and Jewish tikkun olam agenda, and more.

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JDC Ambassadors Symposia provide in-depth opportunities to understand how the latest global events are impacting Jewish communities around the world – and what we can do about it. Symposia are open to JDC Ambassadors, members of our Ambassador Circle and Society, and select guests.

Woman of Valor Brings Hope to Struggling Jewish Families in Uruguay

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

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.

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.

JDC/PRESENTENSE NAMES FIRST MOSCOW FELLOWS

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.

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

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.

Woman of Valor Brings Hope to Struggling Jewish Families in Uruguay

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.

Connecting to Jewish Roots, Young Leader Builds Peer Network

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.”

Expanding Jewish Learning and Leadership Among Indian Jews

Building and maintaining Jewish cultural and educational institutions for India’s small Jewish community—some 5,000 people in a sea of 1.1 billion—can, naturally, be a challenge. There is no Jewish day school in Mumbai, where most of the country’s Jews are concentrated; Jewish education is almost entirely informal and there is a paucity of local teachers to do the work.

Filling this void is a prime objective of JDC in India, and was the impetus for the recent Jewish Educators Seminar and Workshop.

Conducted over four days this past October at the JDC-supported Evelyn Peters Jewish Community Center (EPJCC) in Mumbai, the forum was organized by the Buncher Community Leadership Program and drew educators, volunteers, and individuals representing JDC, including two Jewish Service Corps volunteers currently working in India; ORT India; and the local community—a dynamic group diverse in experience and background, ranging in age from 17 to 70.

Training the Best of the Best

The latest briefing from Steve Schwager, CEO

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

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

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

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

READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP

JDC Leadership Program Helps Locals Shape their Jewish Future in Latin America

More than 700 Jewish leaders, volunteers, and students from nations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean gathered in Cartagena, Columbia, in early May 2009 for this year’s General Assembly (GA). Organized by JDC ever 2-3 years, this most recent gathering provided a welcome opportunity for Jewish professionals and community leaders from all areas of the region to participate in forums exploring relevant topics such as Jewish education, fundraising, programs for youth, and attracting new community members; as well as to share best practices and network.

Among the best and the brightest who attend these regional GAs are participants and graduates of JDC’s Leatid (“toward the future” in Hebrew) Latin America program. In fact, nearly all volunteer and professional Jewish community leaders to emerge as key figures in the region in recent years have benefitted from this JDC-sponsored leadership development initiative. Over the course of two years and approximately six intensive seminars, Leatid provides trainings, workshops, and forums that help communities deal with the challenges—economic, religious, and other—they face. In addition to specialized workshops, seminars, and follow-up coaching conducted in local communities in response to particular needs, Leatid’s core programs include training for institutional directors and for young communal leaders as well as an online forum for leaders of Jewish institutions to learn from one another.

Participants in Leatid’s current Program for Directors of Jewish Communities share their impressions of the value of this experience.

Perla Sananes, age 35 from Venezuela, has worked nearly half her life at the Hebraica Social, Cultural, and Sports Center in Caracas, where she is also the director of the Integrated Child Development Department. She was one of 23 Leatid participants to attend the GA. She talked about feeling grateful for the opportunity to participate in such a relevant and informative training program: “We are learning how to approach and anticipate upcoming challenges,” she said. “As the world’s situation is changing, we as Jewish community leaders have a responsibility to focus on global issues, such as water supply and terrorism. We were taught we should be involved in matters that impact the world at large.”

Perla also highlighted the value of sharing best practices, learning from her peers dealing with community development challenges throughout the whole of Latin America. “As Venezuela prepares to merge institutions due to the decrease in community membership, our colleagues from Argentina who have already gone through the process have provided us with useful advice.”

Juan Michan, also 35, is from Argentina, which is still recovering from the 2001 economic crisis that plunged approximately one-third of the country’s Jewish middle class into poverty. He is executive director of the Macabi Noar, which is transitioning from a local club to a Jewish community center that serves as a hub of social activity for 1,800-plus Argentine Jews.

“[Leatid] provides community professionals a set of skills that are valuable for both the institution and individual participants,” Michan said.

Ilana Lustgarten agreed. The 32-year-old from Uruguay has one year under her belt as executive director of the Montevideo Tzedaka Foundation. ”We are being trained how to lead,” she said. “I’ve received advice on how to make effective presentations and several tips about conveying the message I want to spread, who my target audience is, and whom within that audience I particularly want to reach. Importantly, we were coached in fundraising, and that is a major focus of my daily work,” said Lustgarten.

Fernando Lapiduz of Argentina has, along with his wife, Patricia, been serving as the JDC program coordinators in Cuba since 2007 and was eager to participate in Leatid. The experience, for him, was overwhelming. “Leatid has meant a whole new way of viewing my role as a community leader. It has opened my mind, brought so much information I can apply to my work, so many tools that I can use to enhance local Jewish involvement, and such a great exchange with colleagues. For me, Leatid has made an invaluable contribution.”

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.”