With guidance, training and funds, JDC is helping hundreds of Jewish communities in Russia rebuild their communal infrastructures. Since 1988, tens of thousands of Russian Jews have responded to JDC-sponsored Jewish renewal activities and cultural and educational programs, and an ever-growing network of welfare services has taken firm root. Where Jewish life was once systematically and viciously suppressed, Russian Jews have taken up the mantle to revive Jewish community life, and their actions are a testament to the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people.

Today, JDC is expanding its outreach to isolated pockets of Russian Jews around the Volga River and the Ural Mountains regions.

As we stretch our resources to the farthest reaches of this vast country, we depend even more on the increased support of our funding partners.

We cannot abandon young Jewish communities in cities such as St. Petersburg. Committed Jews in these cities have devoted years of their lives to build a strong Jewish communal life. Though they long to be financially self-sufficient, they still are unable to maintain Jewish programs and services without JDC’s continued support.

We will not ignore the ongoing needs of Russia’s impoverished elderly Jews, whose meager pensions fail to cover the cost of basic necessities.

We must not neglect the thousands of Russian Jews who live in remote areas and are still cut off from world Jewry.

2005