JDC

03/11/2026

For the past three years, Jewish Network Netherlands has built a thriving digital network connecting Jewish people across the country. With JDC’s support, the network is expanding its reach and creating new opportunities for members to connect in person. Recently, the community came together for its first-ever in-person event, where Dutch Jewish entrepreneurs and inventors pitched their plans and products to four top Jewish entrepreneurs.

The event was completely sold out, creating a space where participants could not only network and pitch their ideas, but connect with other Jewish people and be their true selves. It’s part of Jewish Network Netherlands’ ongoing work to create relevant spaces of connection for the Netherlands’ diverse Jewish community.

“It’s amazing to feel part of a Dutch Jewish community when we’re from smaller communities outside of Amsterdam,” said one participant.

02/11/2026

Though off-the-beaten-path for many Jewish visitors, Azerbaijan has long been a dynamic crossroads for Jews around the world — and today, JDC is proud to help the country’s Jews write a new chapter in their storied history.

It’s commonly believed that Jews first arrived in what is now Azerbaijan in the 5th century BCE. More than 2,500 years later, JDC is proud to partner with Azerbaijan’s Jews, supporting their most vulnerable community members and helping them build a brighter future.

Though victims of religious persecution in the 18th and 19th centuries, Azerbaijan’s Jews were spared the pogroms that devastated many Eastern European Jewish communities in the early 1900s. Jewish life flourished well into the 20th century, until 1920, when the Soviet Union took control of the country, and Jewish schools were shuttered and restrictions placed on religious life.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, these restrictions were lifted, and Jewish life began to thrive once more, with JDC’s support. Jewish schools reopened and people of all generations rediscovered their traditions through Shabbat celebrations, Jewish holidays, and more. But this monumental change was bittersweet, too — the country’s economy was left in ruins, and many Jews lost their savings overnight.

JDC stepped in, providing humanitarian aid to Azerbaijan’s Jews, as well as spiritual support for a community long unable to embrace its Jewishness. More than three decades later, JDC is proud to continue this work, partnering with local organizations to provide life-saving services to Jewish families and the elderly, educational programs for children and youth, and young leadership initiatives that strengthen the future of Jewish Azerbaijan.

Learn more about JDC's work in Azerbaijan: https://www.jdc.org/learn/countries/azerbaijan/

📷1: Since JDC resumed its work in Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, Jewish education and Jewish life have been a vital part of our efforts there. Oguz, Azerbaijan. 1990s.
📷2: Workers operate machines at a JDC-supported matzah factory in Baku. 1992. Photo: Stanley Abramovitch
📷3: A group of young Jewish dancers in traditional costume pose for a photo. Azerbaijan,1998.
📷4: A homecare worker serves tea to her elderly client — one of the many ways that Hesed Gershon and JDC support elderly Jews across Azerbaijan. Sumgayit, Azerbaijan. Photo: Sarah Levin
📷5: An elderly JDC client (foreground) with her daughter at their shared apartment in Baku. 2010. Photo: Sarah Levin

02/11/2026

Join us on Wednesday, November 11th at 12PM (ET) for a book talk with Joanna Michlic.

Register today: https://bit.ly/4zkuL7d

Join us on Wednesday, November 11th at 12PM (ET) for a book talk with Joanna Michlic.

Register today: https://jdc-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_H3OlELkuT6K9BGQzPhQVbg #/registration

In this book talk, Michlic will introduce her new book "Through the Eyes of Jewish Child Survivors from Poland: Rethinking Rescue and Children's Agency in the Holocaust" (University of Nebraska Press, 2026), which examines children’s agency and the role of child survivors’ testimonies in a historical reconstruction, including self-help among youth, Polish-Jewish relations during and after the war, reconstruction of Jewish families, identity crisis, and medical and mental health concerns in the immediate aftermath.

Drawing on children’s diaries, letters, testimonies, and memoirs, as well as material from the JDC Archives, Michlic illuminates how children experienced and remembered trauma: the destruction of their families, the loss of their prewar worlds, and the struggle to adapt to a new reality, challenging myths that sentimentalize the children’s endurance and portray the Holocaust as neatly concluded. This powerful study shows why the history of Holocaust child survivors remains a vital resource for understanding vulnerability, agency, and the enduring impact of war and genocide.

Prof. Joanna Beata Michlic is an internationally recognized social and cultural historian of the Holocaust and its aftermath whose work focuses on Jewish children and families, memory, antisemitism, and nationalism in East Central Europe, particularly Poland. She is the founder and first director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Project on Families, Children, and the Holocaust at Brandeis University. She is serving as Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Program Director of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Graduate Programs, and Associate Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights Gratz College. She also serves as one of the Editors-in-Chief of Genealogy and as one of the editors of the Journal of Holocaust Research.

02/11/2026

Creating opportunities for children to explore their Jewish identity in a welcoming and engaging environment is an important part of keeping Jewish life vibrant across generations.

That’s why the JDC-supported Hesed Dorot social service center (Турбота поколінь - Хесед Дорот) in Cherkasy, Ukraine, recently welcomed 15 children for a day of fun, interactive activities focused on Jewish history and traditions.

For children, it was a chance to go beyond books and lessons and experience the joy of celebrating together, making friends who share a common identity, and discovering that they are part of a global Jewish family.

01/11/2026

Because this is not an easy time for Jews, we want to highlight the everyday moments that make us smile. What’s bringing you Jewish joy today?

Share your Jewish joy: jdc.org/jewishjoy

30/10/2026

Shabbat Shalom from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine!

Around 40 local Jews gathered at the JDC-supported Hesed Besht social service center for Kabbalat Shabbat.

“For Hesed Besht, preserving Jewish heritage is closely tied to compassion, caring for others, and supporting the community,” one organizer said. “We believe that tradition thrives when people come together, share knowledge, support one another, and instill in children a respect for their roots. That’s why we’re creating a space where Jewish culture is not just something to learn about, but comes to life through shared gatherings, family stories, and heartwarming moments that remain with us for a long time.”

29/10/2026

What makes a community resilient when disaster strikes? Often, it’s what has been built long before the crisis begins.

In an op-ed for Houston’s Jewish Herald-Voice, JDC’s Director of Disaster Response — Avital Sandler-Loeff — and Regional Director for Latin America — Sergio Widder — reflect on this summer’s devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, where strong institutions, deep communal ties, and a commitment to helping others have enabled the Jewish community to come to the aid of both its own members and the wider community.

For decades, JDC has partnered with Venezuela’s Jewish community to strengthen communal life, develop leaders and build networks of mutual support — work that has helped sustain humanitarian efforts in the wake of the earthquakes.

Read the full article: https://bit.ly/3U9gXgJ

28/10/2026

Merle and David Horwitz have a shared understanding: When Jews around the world are under attack, they have a responsibility to step up.

Their dedication has played a vital role in helping us repair the Jewish world, including supporting our work to help the most vulnerable Israelis recover and rebuild after October 7.

We are proud to welcome Merle and David as new members of The Laura Margolis Society, honoring their transformational philanthropy and enduring leadership in strengthening Jewish life around the world.

“The Jewish world is always changing, and there are always needy Jews,” Merle told us. “If we don’t look after our own, who will?”

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JDC’s Laura Margolis Society is named for the organization’s first female country director — a fearless guardian of the Jewish people whose illustrious career spanned three continents and four decades, touching tens of thousands of lives. The Laura Margolis Society recognizes individuals, families, and foundations who demonstrate the same tenacity and generosity of spirit that characterized this remarkable leader.

28/10/2026

Alex, his wife Iryna, and their two young children are among more than 6,500 internally displaced people (IDPs) helped by JDC since the start of the Ukraine crisis.

“You don’t know where you’ll end up tomorrow, but it doesn’t scare me,” Alex told us. “The main thing is not to let it shatter, that fragile sensation that we can hold on not to a place but to each other.”

16/10/2026

Shabbat Shalom from Kyiv, Ukraine!

An internally displaced person (IDP), Maryna Zadova receives rent assistance and other vital humanitarian support from JDC.