Press Releases

Jewish Philanthropist, Dr. Irving Smokler Elected as New President of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

Dr. Irving Smokler of Boca Raton, Florida, has been elected as 15th President of JDC, a 94-year-old overseas humanitarian aid organization. Smokler, an active board member since 1991, has held several principal roles at JDC, including Treasurer of JDC, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, Chair of the Board of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, and a member of JDC’s Executive Committee. He will succeed Judge Ellen M. Heller, of Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Smokler was confirmed at JDC’s recent Board Meeting, attended by over 120 Directors from the Jewish philanthropic community from the U.S. and abroad.
December 9, 2008
Mumbai Update: Confronting the Loss

All eyes were on Moshe, the two-year-old son of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka (z”l) at an homage ceremony organized by the Israeli Consulate in Mumbai, held yesterday. Moshe, who was rescued by his nanny during a siege of the Mumbai’s Chabad House and the subsequent murder of his parents, repeated “Ima, Ima, eifo Ima?” (“Mommy, mommy...where’s mommy?”). Antony Korenstein, JDC’s Country Director for India who attended the ceremony, described the scene as “heartrending.”
December 2, 2008
JDC Mobilizes Following Mumbai Tragedy

Coordinated terrorist assaults in the heart of India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 left many destinations popular with foreign visitors in shock and in flames. The city’s Chabad House was sieged, and Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka—a remarkable couple whose devotion has made the House a haven for Jews visiting the city—were among the hostages taken. As of this report, AP informs that national security commandoes who went in to fight attackers in the house discovered five bodies: the couple was among them. JDC, which has been working in India for over 40 years, has staff on the ground and is monitoring the situation, which to date remains tenuous and horrifying.
November 28, 2008
JDC—Supported Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel Appoints Top Economist and Educator as New Director

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas humanitarian aid organization which works in over 70 countries worldwide, and the Board of Directors of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel (Taub Center), an independent social economic think tank that analyzes and develops macro-level policy alternatives, are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Dan Ben-David as the Taub Center’s new Director. Effective November 1, 2008, Ben-David succeeded Professor Yaakov Kop, who joined the Taub Center at its inception in 1982 and who helped the Center become an internationally renowned institution. Since Kop’s retirement in June 2008, Dr. Tuvia Horev, the Taub Center’s Deputy Director, has served as Acting Director.
November 3, 2008
JDC Accepts Donations to Aid Earthquake Victims in Pakistan

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), an overseas humanitarian aid organization working in over 70 countries, today announced that it is collecting funds on a non-sectarian basis for relief efforts following the 6.5-magnitude earthquake which struck southwest Pakistan yesterday morning. The earthquake has left hundreds dead and thousands homeless and JDC will be working with the International Blue Crescent—a partner in JDC’s efforts following the 2005 Pakistani earthquake—to deliver immediate relief supplies to the hardest-hit areas. The efforts are part of JDC’s International Development Program (IDP), which provides immediate relief and long-term assistance for natural and manmade disasters.
October 30, 2008
JDC Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month with First-Ever Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On October 25, Muslims and Jews, Serbs and Croatians will unite to battle a common enemy which each year kills more than 410,000 women and men around the globe: breast cancer. Organized by the Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP), an innovative overseas public movement that encourages the early detection of breast cancer, people from 13 different cities and guest celebrities, high school students, government officials and NGOs are expected to participate in the first-ever Bosnia and Herzegovina Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, as part of the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world.
October 20, 2008
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Searches Tirelessly for Victims of Ongoing Georgia-Russia Conflict

Immediately following the conflict’s outbreak, JDC mobilized by setting up command posts on the Russian and Georgian sides of the region. JDC relief workers, including senior representatives continue to coordinate and execute relief operations from the ground in Rostov and Vladikavkaz (Russia) and Tbilisi (Georgia), where JDC estimates that 300 Jews who are served by JDC on a regular basis have now fled.
August 21, 2008
JDC and The Jewish Museum of Australia Present New Exhibition: Nationality: Stateless, Destination: Australia, JDC and the Australian Survivor Community

From 1945 through 1961, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), a 94-year-old humanitarian aid organization, collaborated with Australian Jewish welfare organizations—often behind the scenes—to re-settle tens of thousands of Displaced Persons (DP) from the atrocities of the Holocaust in Europe.
July 30, 2008
Russian Children and their Families Celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Program in Siberia’s “Sleeping Land”

As the tundra melts in Siberia this Summer, nearly 70 young people and their families from remote communities in Russia’s Far East will travel as long as 20 hours to Khabarovsk, Russia to reconnect with their lost Jewish heritage at the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)’s week-long Bar/Bat Mitzvah program. Held July 28-August 2, 2008, the celebration includes lectures, games, prayer study, discussions and—of course—a ceremony lead by eight young “madrichim,” or leaders from the region who have participated in past programs and Rabbinical students from the California-based American Jewish University (AJU). For the first time, the program invites families for the week-long celebration.
July 22, 2008
Susan G. Komen For The Cure® Grants Gift To American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) To Assist Rural Hungarian Women

Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, today awarded a USD $100,000 grant to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), a 94-year-old, overseas, humanitarian aid organization which works in more than 60 countries worldwide. The grant, which solidifies the fifth year of partnership between Komen for the Cure® and JDC, will help sustain the critical work of the Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP), an initiative to promote breast cancer awareness and early detection. It also will expand the program’s reach into Hungary’s rural communities, where access to screening facilities and breast health information is extremely limited.
July 10, 2008

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Press Releases

Jewish Philanthropist, Dr. Irving Smokler Elected as New President of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

Mumbai Update: Confronting the Loss

JDC Mobilizes Following Mumbai Tragedy

JDC—Supported Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel Appoints Top Economist and Educator as New Director

JDC Accepts Donations to Aid Earthquake Victims in Pakistan

JDC Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month with First-Ever Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Bosnia and Herzegovina

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Searches Tirelessly for Victims of Ongoing Georgia-Russia Conflict

JDC and The Jewish Museum of Australia Present New Exhibition: Nationality: Stateless, Destination: Australia, JDC and the Australian Survivor Community

Russian Children and their Families Celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Program in Siberia’s “Sleeping Land”

Susan G. Komen For The Cure® Grants Gift To American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) To Assist Rural Hungarian Women

JDC, Cookies, and Your Privacy

Press Releases

Jewish Philanthropist, Dr. Irving Smokler Elected as New President of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)

Mumbai Update: Confronting the Loss

JDC Mobilizes Following Mumbai Tragedy

JDC—Supported Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel Appoints Top Economist and Educator as New Director

JDC Accepts Donations to Aid Earthquake Victims in Pakistan

JDC Recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness Month with First-Ever Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Bosnia and Herzegovina

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Searches Tirelessly for Victims of Ongoing Georgia-Russia Conflict

JDC and The Jewish Museum of Australia Present New Exhibition: Nationality: Stateless, Destination: Australia, JDC and the Australian Survivor Community

Russian Children and their Families Celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs at American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) Program in Siberia’s “Sleeping Land”

Susan G. Komen For The Cure® Grants Gift To American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) To Assist Rural Hungarian Women

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