I share with you below this posting from the Board Chair and the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA). Our Federation is a member of JFNA and the posting expresses well the value of coordinated support for our community, whether here in St. Louis, Israel or anywhere the need requires. Indeed, I am off next week with members to Cuba to serve the small Jewish community there. More on that in the weeks ahead.
Shavua tov—have a great week.
Andrew
To: Board of Trustees Members
…………Federation Presidents
…………Campaign Chairs
From: Michael Siegal
………..Chair, Board of Trustees
It started in November with peaceful protests against strengthening political ties between Ukraine and Russia. It snowballed into violent confrontations between police and protestors, dozens of casualties, and scenes of destruction that have gripped the world. And it’s not over.
Although the estimated 300,000 Jewish residents in Kiev and throughout Ukraine are not outright targets of violence, it has touched them like everyone else. Just last night, a Ukrainian synagogue was firebombed, and others in the Jewish community are at risk.
But Federation and our partner agencies, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Agency for Israel, are there. And thanks to core unrestricted funding, we’re ready.
In fact, we’ve been there, and ready, for decades. Because Federation is dedicated to supporting Jewish life and organizations in Ukraine, we were able to step up when the need for help intensified.
In the midst of the violence, JDC’s emergency response network is ensuring continued home deliveries of food, medicine, heating and cooking fuel, and sustained life-saving care at home for the elderly. The Jewish Agency has tapped its Emergency Assistance Fund, started in 2012, to bolster security at Ukraine’s many Jewish institutions, including synagogues, yeshivas and community centers.
“Central Kiev looks like a war zone — you see the actual fighting,” a local JDC worker told one newspaper. “Many are living in an area where there is violence and cannot leave home…I have seen people here supplying food to elderly clients in areas with snipers and Molotov cocktails. It is real avodat kodesh (holy work).”
As we’ve worked together with our colleagues at JDC and the Jewish Agency, as well as World ORT, during the last few weeks, we’ve been vividly reminded that our core unrestricted gifts to our overseas partners matter. They matter in times of crisis, when our immediate support literally means the difference between life and death, and they matter during times of stability, to ensure this historic Jewish community not only survives but continues to thrive.
This is what our core unrestricted Federation dollars invest in every day, in Ukraine and around the globe. This is what your participation in our core funding is about. This is what Jewish Federation is about.
