JDC Voices Blog

As we prepare for Passover, I want to call out some people in the JDC orbit whose actions seem to put into practice so much of what Passover is about.

My mom and I pressed our faces against the large store window as we hid from the freezing cold in Moscow, while my dad stood in line behind the fence that shielded the U.S. Embassy. After hours of waiting, I saw him running down the street waving a piece of paper in the air, as if he had won the lottery. The winning lottery ticket granted us refugee status and permission to leave the USSR. It was my mother's biggest dream to leave for the U.S. as the Soviet Union was falling apart. Her desire grew even more when civil war broke out in Transnistria, a region fighting to gain its independence from Moldova, our home country.

More than 150 Jewish professionals from across the former Soviet Union recently participated in JDC's sixth annual Jewish Educators' Conference, held at the Hesed Eliyahu social welfare center in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Lvov, in Western Ukraine, is just a few hours away from Rovno, the city where I was born and spent the first years of my life. In the early '90s, my mother was always eager to take us to Jewish events there, but the truth is: None of us really had an idea about anything, not about Chanukah, Yom Kippur, or lightning candles on Shabbat. For us, being Jewish was a very abstract thing. It wasn't connected to traditions and religion; rather, the 'J' in our passports indicated a different nationality and meant discrimination, harder access to universities, worse job opportunities.It's been 21 years and now I'm a JDC Entwine Global Jewish Service Corps fellow, back in the same country my parents once felt forced to leave. Loud Israeli pop beats are all around, and wherever I turn my eyes, hundreds of Jewish teens are bustling about, looking for their friends and their assigned hotel rooms. The AJT (Active Jewish Teens) conference in Lvov is on fire and people came from all over: Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, Belarus, and 'my' new country: Georgia, where I am currently serving as a Fellow in the community.It has been less than two years since AJT began as a grassroots initiative, but here in Lvov I encounter a huge and powerful youth movement with self-confidence, agenda, and drive. For almost all my seven Georgian teens, the conference is their first-ever opportunity to meet up with Jewish teens outside of their own national borders. Some cities - like Kharkov or Dnepropetrovsk in Eastern Ukraine - came with huge teen entourages, while others - like us in Tbilisi - brought just a few. I hear how ideas are shared and projects presented. Teens and youth club coordinators from all over discuss their communities.

Szarvas gave me an understanding of how precious Judaism is, what an asset it is to my identity.

Innovation, effectiveness and compassion are hallmarks of JDC's important work caring for Jews and others in need. As JDC enters its second century of work, it is at the vanguard of the movement to foster grassroots innovation - lending its experience and infrastructure to promising social innovators and supporting local leaders as they activate their visions and create lasting social change.

For the fourth year in a row, the Chinese Jewish community met to discuss a vast selection of educational topics -- ranging from Jews living in occupied Shanghai to 'Gematria for Dummies' -- at the Limmud conference in Beijing.