LONGTIME JDC LEADER RECEIVES HONORARY DOCTORATE

Ralph I. Goldman Established JDC-Israel, Brought JDC Back To Former Soviet Union;
Two JDC Board Members Also Honored

New York---Ralph I. Goldman, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's (JDC) energetic, 91-year-old, executive vice president emeritus, received an honorary doctorate on December 7, from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev.

For more than 60 years, Goldman has offered his dedicated service to the Jewish people and JDC. In the 1960s he was the driving force behind the creation of JDC's Israel operation, which today operates an annual budget of more than $100 million. JDC-Israel's social service programming impacts Israeli society at every level.

Goldman's career in Jewish communal service is uniquely intertwined with the history of the State of Israel and Soviet Jewry. As the executive director of Hagana's New York office, he oversaw the procurement of ships, crews and ammunition that were critical to Israel's gaining independence and winning the 1947-48 war. He later served as a personal advisor and confidant to Israel's founding father David Ben-Gurion.

After the war, Goldman helped create from the ground up Israel's public school system, fine arts establishment and social service infrastructure. Goldman's legacy in Jewish communal service is not limited to Israel, however. Through his leadership and his relationships at the highest echelons of international diplomacy, JDC successfully resumed operations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union (FSU) in the 1980s after decades of communism.

Because of the Hesed, or welfare, infrastructure JDC has established throughout the FSU, tens of thousands of Jewish elderly are now living with a level of basic dignity they deserve. Moreover, JDC has played a significant role in the development of more than 182 Jewish Community Centers, 184 Jewish libraries and 27 Hillels across the FSU.

"Ralph Goldman remains the JDC's heart, soul and conscience," said Judge Ellen M. Heller, JDC's president. "Everything we're able to accomplish today is a result of his tireless leadership, vision and commitment to the Jewish people. And he has done it all with aplomb, kindness and a gentle sense of humor."

JDC Board members Terry Meyerhoff Rubinstein and Jehuda Reinharz also received honorary doctorates from Ben Gurion University in the December 7 ceremony.