Kaplan Leadership Initiative

27/07/2026

More Necessary Now Than Ever!

Kaplan Global Seminar in Berlin — a global united community of professional Jewish leaders 🪬💙

10/07/2026

Shabbat shalom 💙

23/06/2026

Are you a young Jewish professional from the former Soviet Union, Latin America, or Europe?

Apply to the Kaplan Leadership Initiative , which equips emerging Jewish leaders with the knowledge, skills, and global network needed to lead their communities into the future.

Through a unique combination of Jewish learning, leadership development, professional training, and peer connection, participants gain the tools, inspiration, and support to create meaningful impact.

Click the link in our bio to apply today!

07/06/2026

Jewish Peoplehood - How? When? What? Where?

Kaplan Leadership Initiative | Global Seminar | Berlin 2026 ✌️🌎🩵

Beautiful video by

06/06/2026

The Jews of Kyrgyzstan are a small but mighty community — and Marina Karpova is evidence of its strength and vitality.

Marina serves as coordinator at the JDC-supported Hesed Tikva social service center in the country’s capital, Bishkek. And in a reflection originally posted to our JDC Voices blog, she credits JDC’s .leadership.initiative — a year-long global fellowship for talented, creative, mid-career Jewish communal professionals — for strengthening her capacities as a leader.

Here is what Marina had to say about the program:

“There’s a Jewish saying: ‘In every generation, there is mortal danger and miraculous salvation.’ This can be understood literally, as a reminder of tragic periods in Jewish history and moments of miraculous deliverance. But I understand it differently: For me, it’s about the ever-present danger of losing connection to our Jewish identity, people, and traditions.

At the same time, in every generation there are those who become the saving force — people who take responsibility to ensure we don’t suffer again. Maybe I risk sounding too bold, but I truly believe I’m one of those who accepted that sacred mission.

But I can’t do this alone.

That’s what motivated me to apply for JDC’s Kaplan Leadership Initiative. Kaplan helps train and empower Jewish communal professionals across the former Soviet Union, Europe, and Latin America. For someone like me who’s from a far-flung place, Kaplan’s extensive network of Jewish movers and shakers makes me feel included, supported, and inspired.

I also gain perspective. Kaplan has taught me that, though each community faces unique challenges, we also have so much to learn from each other. Kaplan fosters a global dialogue that helps develop not only my professional skills but a deeper sense of belonging to the Jewish world as a whole — a single yet multifaceted family.”

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Click the link in our bio to apply to JDC’s Kaplan Leadership Initiative to become a confident and well-equipped Jewish leader like Marina.

06/06/2026

31/05/2026

The wait is over! ✨
Kaplan Leadership Initiative – Cohort 4 Global Seminar starts NOW! 💼🌐✊🏻

15/05/2026

From .leadership.initiative Alumni Eitan Bergman



Eitan Bergman serves as a city councillor, parliamentary assistant in the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital region, and vice president of the Jewish community of Belgium. He recently attended the 6th Summit of European Jewish Leaders in Athens, Greece — a partnership between JDC and the European Council of Jewish Communities (ECJC).

He reflects on that experience:

You can read stories, watch documentaries, or talk on the phone, but being on the ground, face to face, is the best way to understand Jewish Europe today.

What worries me most is that Jews are more vulnerable than they've ever been in recent decades. We had riots in Amsterdam. Jews in France feel frightened. And in Belgium, where I live, you need to hide your Magen David and other Jewish symbols.

Jews have always needed to adapt in order to survive — and that's exactly what the Summit of European Jewish Leaders helped us to do. On a normal day, Jewish communal leaders can feel siloed in their own work. But in Athens, everyone discussed their challenges and learned from one other.

This is a hallmark of JDC's work. I've been in contact with them since day one of my Jewish journey, and I see them as a bridge builder.

When I was director of the European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), I had the chance to work with Junction — the JDC pan-European initiative that inspires young Jewish adults to take an active role in European Jewish community life. They not only provided expertise and resources, but connected me to other young European changemakers.

In these challenging times, that network is our strength.

Since October 7, 2023, I've been repeatedly shocked. I've thought, "I worked so hard all these years and look what's happened."....