Belarus

When the Soviet Union collapsed, many Belarusian Jews reengaged with  Jewish life. JDC played a major role in this and continues to support initiatives that cultivate Jewish life and community. In Belarus alone, JDC now supports more than five Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) and five Volunteer Centers that reach more than 2400 clients across the country.  Through programs like Active Jewish Teens (AJT), a Jewish youth leadership network that spans 63 cities across the former Soviet Union in partnership with BBYO and the Genesis Philanthropy Group, as well as volunteer centers and the JCC of Minsk, JDC is cultivating the next generation of Jewish life and leadership in Belarus. Many young Belarusian Jews also attend Szarvas, the JDC-Ronald S. Lauder Foundation international  Jewish summer camp in rural Hungary.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and many decades of economic strife  left many Jews in Belarus and throughout the region without financial support. Between rising inflation and meager pensions, many now struggle to survive on just $2 a day. A cornerstone of JDC’s work is to provide aid to the country’s poor and elderly Jews, many of them isolated and without family. JDC serves more than 6,500 vulnerable Jews  throughout Belarus from four Hesed social welfare centers. JDC supports more than four Hesed social welfare centers in Belarus, and programs like Jewish Family Services (JFS) provide food, medicine, and homecare to those who need it most. JDC also coordinates a wide range of in-person and virtual programs, connecting the most vulnerable Jews to a vibrant community that was unimaginable just a generation before. This vital work is made possible by JDC through its many partners — among them, the Jewish Federations of North America, Claims Conference (Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany), and The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.