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JDC in the News

The American Jewish World: Beth El Congregants Experience Cuba

The exterior is impressive: a grand staircase leads to doors decorated with symbols of the Twelve Tribes, which, in turn, rest under an enormous Mount Sinai-like arch. Ascending the stairs in the late afternoon sun, it indeed felt like we were approaching holy ground - the famed Patronato Synagogue in Havana, Cuba. And after 40 years in which Judaism was not practiced, it slowly making a comeback. An entire generation of Jews - from 1959 to the 1990s - was lost, but through the heroic efforts of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a beneficiary of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation and the United Jewish Fund and Council of St,. Paul, Cuba Jews are rediscovering their heritage - and they are embracing it.
July 10, 2009
InterAction's Monday Developments: WHEP Draws Attention to Breast Cancer in Russia

For 120 breast cancer survivors and activists, medical professionals, NGO representatives and research scientists, May 18 and 19 in Moscow were an opportunity to turn the tide on breast cancer in Russia. At the Women’s Health Empowerment Program’s Second National Conference, critical issues on early detection and treatment were brought to the fore. The Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP) is a joint partnership between the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.
July 1, 2009
The New York Jewish Week: A Wide Angle On Compassion

The Fortress is a nondescript warehouse building in Long Island City, Queens, where corporations, institutions and individuals store irreplaceable documents and works of art. Inside, past the security check and down a series of spotless corridors, you arrive at the climate-controlled room where for the last five years Peter Goldberg has been digitizing the photographic archives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The Joint has almost 100,000 photographs in its collection, of which 24,126 had been scanned by the day I visited the Fortress early in June. With his present technology Goldberg can scan 7,000 pictures a year, so there is plenty of work yet to be done.
June 29, 2009
Jewish Community Voice: JDC provides local student with hands-on Israel experience

For Jews living anywhere but Israel, we can only imagine what it is like to be whisked away to a dreary bomb shelter when sirens signal that incoming enemy rockets are hitting our town. Many of these shelters, often occupied for several days, are a far cry from the comforts of home. For Cherry Hill native Kate Herron, helping to make a bomb shelter a more pleasant place was truly an invigorating experience. Herron recently participated in a 10-day, groundbreaking mission to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas partner of the Jewish Federation that is supported each year through the Federation Annual Campaign.
June 17, 2009
Jewish Community Voice: Federation leaders hear firsthand how dollars are spent overseas

Rick Goldstein, Federation immediate past president, also addressed the leadership briefing about his experiences at the recent American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Ambassador Circle conference. The JDC's mission focuses on three areas: rescue of Jews at risk; relief of Jews in need and renewal of Jewish life in communities where the Jewish population has been significantly diminished or where residents are in dire need. The JDC often fulfills its mission by establishing partnerships with public organizations to provide programs and services to address these areas. "I had the privilege of seeing first-hand the incredible impact the JDC has on the lives of the small, mostly elderly, Romanian Jewish community," said Goldstein.
June 17, 2009
New Jersey Jewish News: An Uncommon Bond

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is set to dedicate its first youth village in Rwanda. Modeled after Israeli youth villages built to serve children who lost their parents in the Holocaust, the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village will eventually house 500 high school-age students orphaned by the Rwandan genocide. "The village is a place where children can heal, experience renewal, and prepare for the responsibilities of adulthood," said JDC's William Recant. "Agahozo-Shalom is a special project for us based on a shared bond of survival."
June 11, 2009
JTA: Cuban Jews ambivalent about possible thaw in U.S.-Cuba ties

The recent thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States is being greeted with caution by some Jews in Cuba. In April, the Obama administration announced it was moving to ease restrictions on American travel to Cuba and money transfers to the island. Cuba has approximately 1,500 Jews and nine synagogues, three of which are in Havana. The JDC has a permanent office in Cuba that helps runs cultural, educational and religious programs, including religious education for children and youth, bar mitzvah prep courses, Shabbat meal assistance, youth camps and activities for the elderly. It even has a drugstore. JDC's executive vice president, Steve Schwager, said he was not concerned that the personal ties would suffer if travel restrictions were eased."I am confident that Jewish interest and visits with Cuban Jews will not be diminished by political changes," he said.
June 8, 2009
JTA: Ramat Hasharon, Beersheba lead the way in youth volunteers

The recent thaw in relations between Cuba and the United States is being greeted with caution by some Jews in Cuba. In April, the Obama administration announced it was moving to ease restrictions on American travel to Cuba and money transfers to the island. Cuba has approximately 1,500 Jews and nine synagogues, three of which are in Havana. The JDC has a permanent office in Cuba that helps runs cultural, educational and religious programs, including religious education for children and youth, bar mitzvah prep courses, Shabbat meal assistance, youth camps and activities for the elderly. It even has a drugstore. JDC's executive vice president, Steve Schwager, said he was not concerned that the personal ties would suffer if travel restrictions were eased."I am confident that Jewish interest and visits with Cuban Jews will not be diminished by political changes," he said.
June 1, 2009
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix: JDC: Aiding World's Needy Jews

An Interview with Steven Schwager "The critical issue is that as bad as things are here, we are a global people, and we're all responsible one for the other, and if we don't take care of our brethren overseas, we won't be a global people anymore." So says Steve Schwager, the CEO and executive director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (better known as the JDC or "the Joint"). He was in Phoenix recently to press the case that, as tempting as it is to turn the focus inward in these trying times, the American Jewish community should not lose sight of the growing needs of Jews around the world. Schwager, who joined JDC in 1989 as chief operating officer, took on his current role in 2002. The Joint aids poor and struggling Jewish communities in 70 countries around the world. "You can't manage in 70 countries sitting in New York," he says, so he and his staff are generally on the road about 130 days a year.
May 29, 2009
The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Cookies and Camaraderie

Elderly Jews in the former Soviet Union are sometimes known as "double victims," terrorized by the Nazis and persecuted under Communism. But nearly two decades after the Soviet regime's fall, many have reclaimed their faith and are rebuilding their lives around Jewish traditions. A New York charity is helping them do so. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee spends $120-million each year, or roughly 40 percent of its budget, to assist impoverished Jews in Russia, Ukraine, and nearby countries. "These people were lost in the fall of the Soviet Union," says Steven Schwager, the nonprofit group's chief executive. "When Communism ended, state support of people and taking care of the elderly fell off the table."
May 21, 2009

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