As European Jews continue to face challenges including terror attacks, growing nationalism, rising anti-Semitism, the Syrian refugee crisis, and complex socioeconomic challenges, JDC believes strengthening Jewish community resilience and planning for the future are key to ensuring thriving Jewish life across the continent.
Despite many ongoing challenges in Ukraine today, Jewish life is thriving. Yesterday, Kiev's Jewish community and JDC held a special dedication for the Halom Jewish Community Center (JCC) in a ceremony that highlights the incredible revitalization of Jewish life since the fall of Communism, and even in the face of the current crisis.
'Imagine getting to meet with 400 Jews who we don't get to see every day in a reunion that is positive and energizing,' said Luciana Friedman, President of the Jewish community in Timisoara, Romania.
Penny and Claudio Pincus recently traveled to Israel and visited a school that's part of a JDC program called 'Schools With a Heart,' for which they have been providing vitally important funding.This unique endeavor is testing an approach to identify, diagnose, assist, counsel, and guide children at risk of poor performance given either social, psychological, or cognitive difficulties.Penny and Claudio visited Kadima, a primary school in Kiriat Bialik, an area of Haifa. The school was selected to be a pilot and embraced the opportunity; the major, principal, and teachers personally mobilized the city in support.
As Floridians brace for Hurricane Matthew, and our thoughts and prayers are with them, the people of Haiti are already grappling with the storm's devastating impact.In fact, with Hurricane Matthew, Haiti -- the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and one of the world's most impoverished countries -- has experienced its biggest humanitarian disaster since the 2010 earthquake.
Residents of the Moishe House in Minsk recently partnered with JDC's Hesed social welfare center in the Belarusian capital city for a special Shabbat event. To get a taste of the event, we checked in with 80-year-old Vera to see what made it so extraordinary.
The following is a speech given by Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein at a JDC Schiff Society meeting on September 26, 2016. It is a tremendous honor to be with you this evening and a special joy to again have the opportunity to personally salute you who are involved in and support JDC. I've said before but it is never sufficient enough to thank you for your furthering the mandate of one of the great heroic organizations of Jewish life. I have seen your work in action around much of this world and continue to marvel at the outreach and goodness emanating from the firmest of Jewish values as they are embodied in this organization. I especially thank Phyllis Hattis Rubin for hosting us and Rebecca Neuwirth for her tenacity in getting me here. I also want to recognize though he could not be here this evening your new CEO-designate David Schizer. He is brilliant, eminently decent and wise, and devoted to the best of Jewish life. I congratulate both David and you for your decision to move on together.
I'm walking around Belgrade, it's the summer of 2016, and a global humanitarian catastrophe is unfolding before my eyes.
For the first time, 33 at-risk children and their families, with the youngest child less than a year old, traveled to a retreat center outside of Odessa for a celebratory Shabbaton -- a chance to rejoice and make lifelong memories.
For most people, summer vacation is a chance to organize trips, family outings, and visits to parks and cultural attractions -- in short, some much-needed rest.
