Survival for a Treasured Link to Romanian Jewish Life

Over a decade after the fall of Ceausescu’s dictatorship, Jewish elderly in Romania still live as if time had stood still, struggling day-to-day for their very survival in one of Europe’s poorest nations.   Tragically, many are worse off than they were even under Communism. 

But the expansive basket of JDC-supported welfare services offers two rare commodities –- security and hope -- to an increasingly aged and frail Jewish population trying to cope in an atmosphere of economic uncertainty.

For JDC, ensuring that Holocaust survivors do not go to bed hungry naturally goes hand in hand with fighting the sense of isolation that also plagues them.  From cash relief and a nationwide network of medical clinics to a day care center and a club for the visually impaired, critical programs meet the integrally linked physical and spiritual needs of elderly Romanian Jews while helping them feel connected to the Jewish community.

At the nine community "restaurants" throughout the country, elderly Jews find companionship and a hot kosher meal of borscht and mamaliga, a local specialty.   For homebound survivors, meals-on-wheels deliveries and homecare sessions are often their sole link to the outside world.  And, since so many elderly have no family in Romania, regular visits by Jewish students to residents of Bucharest’s Rosen Old Age Home provide a sense of connection with the younger generations.

Whether one of thousands in Bucharest, the nation’s capital, or the only one remaining in Calarasi, vulnerable Holocaust survivors rely on JDC and the local Jewish community for their basic survival.  At the same time, they are reminded that they are a treasured link to the past and a key to the future of Romanian Jewish life.