JDC Voices

JDC’s medical director in Ethiopia Dr. Rick Hodes is making the rounds on national media and being lauded for his work that’s featured in the HBO documentary Making the Crooked Straight (premiering tonight on HBO 2) and the new book This is A Soul (just out this week)!

As communities the world over commemorate the Holocaust, JDC’s 21 Jewish Service Corps (JSC) fellows—currently serving in year-long volunteer positions in Belarus, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Israel, Rwanda, Slovakia, Turkey, and Ukraine—connected in Jerusalem for a week-long seminar to share their overseas experiences. This morning, following a poignant period of silence outside JDC’s Jerusalem office, the fellows memorialized the 6 million murdered Jews by gathering on the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University to recite kaddish and participate in a peer-led discussion on JDC’s renewal work in communities with dark histories.

One of jewels in JDC’s crown, Dr. Rick Hodes, JDC’s Medical Director, has delivered comprehensive medical services in Ethiopia for more than 20 years.

As part of his busy travel schedule, JDC’s CEO Steven Schwager recently visited with the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh.

Sixteen years after the devastating genocide in Rwanda, the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV), a special project of JDC, is creating a supportive educational community for Rwandan youth.

People with disabilities living in Russia are receiving some well-deserved kudos from their nation’s leader. The country’s Paralympics team won 38 medals (the most of any participating country) at the recent games in Canada. JDC provides services to disabled populations in the former Soviet Union helping them live with dignity, rather than on the margins of society.

In Ukraine and Siberia … in Moldova and Kyrgyzstan … across the former Soviet Union (FSU) many of the poorest Jewish children and their families are set to take part in Passover seders this year, supported by the IFCJ-JDC Partnership for Children in the Former Soviet Union.

“The sheer scale of dirty water means more people now die from contaminated and polluted water than from all forms of violence including wars,” the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today in recognition of World Water Day, observed annually on March 22.

As we write, 17 Penn State Hillel students are prepping for an unforgettable Shabbat in Lithuania. This latest group of JDC Short-Term Service participants is experiencing first-hand the community’s economic struggles and the cultural vibrancy of Jewish life in the Baltic states. Share their adventure and learn more about JDC in the region.

It’s not every day women are celebrated for their contributions around the globe—but it is at least once a year. International Women’s Day, celebrated today and every 8th of March since 1911, is the perfect opportunity to showcase JDC’s Eshet Chayil program, one of dozens of JDC projects empowering women worldwide. First piloted in Israel in 1994 and currently part of JDC’s cutting-edge TEVET employment initiative with the Government of Israel, Eshet Chayil orients immigrant women from Ethiopia, the former Soviet Union, and beyond to the Israeli workplace, helps them acquire job readiness, and teaches them to harness the power of networking to successfully enter—and advance in—the working world. Happy International Women’s Day!