Hesed (FSU Jewish Community Welfare Centers) explained

Hesed (FSU Jewish Community Welfare Centers)
Formation:1993
Founder:Amos Avgar
Type:Charity
Location:Post-Soviet states

Hesed is a network of nonprofit community welfare centers to serve the Jewish community in former Soviet Union states (FSU's).[1] [2] The network provides services to Jews who remained in post-Soviet states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[3] [4] [5] Hesed uses its volunteers and charity centers to provide basic necessities and medical services within a physical location in which community members can meet and participate in cultural and religious activities.[6] [7] [8]

History

The first Hesed center opened in 1993 in St. Petersburg.[9] The organization was formed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)[10] [11] [12] and funded by JDC, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), World Jewish Relief, and other donors.[13] Hesed based its structure and activities on a model developed by Amos Avgar, who was Director of the JDC-FSU Welfare Department.[14] Volunteering, fostering community and Jewish traditions or Yiddishkeit were central to the model.As of 2003, there were 174 Hesed centers operating in 2,800 Jewish communities and serving over a quarter-million people in the FSU.Hesed continued to operate through the war between Russian and the Ukraine in Crimea and the Donbas starting in 2014.[15] [16] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hesed continued providing services[17] to its approximately 37,000 Ukrainian clients.[18] The organization also offered psychological counseling and operated a hotline for those needing assistance and treatment during the hostilities.

Services

In addition to activities in the Hesed centers, volunteers visit the homebound.[19] Hesed's services included food programs and packages, meals-on-wheels, soup kitchens, winter relief, homecare, providing medicine, medical equipment and medical services.[20] [21]

Social and community services include day centers, library services, and Jewish holiday celebrations.[22]

Notes and References

  1. News: Liphshiz . Cnaan . Funds for Ukrainian Survivors Bring High Hopes . 15 February 2023 . Times of Israel . 4 October 2012.
  2. News: Sokol . Sam . Unable to flee, elderly Jews remain behind in eastern Ukraine . 17 February 2023 . Jerusalem Post . 19 September 2014.
  3. Book: Tighe . Elizabeth . de Kramer . Raquel Magidin . Bleckman . Dina . Nursahedov . Begli . Saxe . Leonard . Hardship And Needs Of Elderly Hesed Clients: An Analysis Of Clients Served By Hesed Service Centers In Russia & Ukraine . 2012 . Brandeis University . Boston, MA . 27–34 . 16 February 2023.
  4. Book: Weiner . Anita . Renewal : reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish people ; a decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) activities in the former Soviet Union ; 1988-1998 . 2003 . University Press of America . Lanham, MD . 9780761824763 . 176, 205.
  5. News: Radler . Melissa . Acts of kindness . 17 February 2023 . Jerusalem Post . 17 October 2003.
  6. News: ZIieve. Tamara. Scores help reach out to elderly, needy Jews in Ukraine. Jerusalem Post. 3 April 2017 . 23 February 2023.
  7. Book: Shachtman . Tom . I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Goldman and 'the Joint' : Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction . 2001 . New Market Press . New York . 1557044953 . 240.
  8. Harrison . Andrew . Book Review: Renewal: Reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish People; A Decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) Activities in the Former Soviet Union, 1988-1998 . American Jewish History . 2003 . 91 . 1 . 191–193 . 10.1353/ajh.2004.0029.
  9. Alleson . I. . [Review of Social Disaster as Opportunity: The Hesed Model, by J. Mirsky, R. Kaufman, & A. Avgar]. ]. Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations . 2006 . 17 . 4 . 377–378 . 17 February 2023.
  10. News: Maltz . Judy . The Woman Who Oversaw the Rescue of 250 Ukrainian Jews From the Russian Border . 17 February 2023 . Haaretz . 1 May 2022.
  11. Khanin . Vladimir . Institutionalization Of The Post-Communist Jewish Movement: Organizational Structures, Ruling Elites, And Political Conflicts . Jewish Political Studies Review . 2002 . 14 . 1/2 . 11–12 .
  12. News: Top Russian Rabbi Says NGO Crackdown Worries Jews . 15 February 2023 . Forward . 29 September 2015.
  13. Book: Tighe . Elizabeth . de Kramer . Raquel Magidin . Bleckman . Dina . Nursahedov . Begli . Saxe . Leonard . Hardship And Needs Of Elderly Hesed Clients: An Analysis Of Clients Served By Hesed Service Centers In Russia & Ukraine . 2012 . Brandeis University . Boston, MA . 27–34 . 16 February 2023.
  14. Book: Katz, Esther. Hesed Evaluation Study: Jewish Identity, Community Orientation and Voluntarism: Report Number 5: Findings from an In-depth Study of Hesed Directors and Jewish Community Representatives. 1 January 2004. JDC-Brookdale Institute. Jerusalem. 22 March 2023.
  15. News: Borschel-Dan . Amanda . Crimean Jews Surprised by New Referendum to Join Russia . 16 February 2023 . Times of Israel . 6 March 2014.
  16. News: Sokol . Sam . Unable to flee, elderly Jews remain behind in eastern Ukraine . 17 February 2023 . Jerusalem Post . 19 September 2014.
  17. News: Surkes . Sue . Risking Life and Limb, Hesed Network Continues Caring for Ukraine's Neediest Jews . 15 February 2023 . Times of Israel . 2 March 2022.
  18. News: Liphshiz . Cnaan . Odessa's Rabbi, Responsible for 250 Kids in 3 Orphanages . 16 February 2023 . Times of Israel . 22 February 2022.
  19. Book: Avgar . Amos . Mirsky . Julia . Kaufman . Roni . Mirsky . Julia . Kaufman . Roni . Social Disaster as Opportunity: The Hesed Model . 2006 . University Press of America . Lanham, MD . 9780761833383 . 198 . Chapter Three: From Model to Movement: The Development of Hesed Centers in the Former Soviet Union.
  20. Book: Tighe . Elizabeth . de Kramer . Raquel Magidin . Bleckman . Dina . Nursahedov . Begli . Saxe . Leonard . Hardship And Needs Of Elderly Hesed Clients: An Analysis Of Clients Served By Hesed Service Centers In Russia & Ukraine . 2012 . Brandeis University . Boston, MA . 27–34 . 16 February 2023.
  21. Harrison . Andrew . Book Review: Renewal: Reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish People; A Decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) Activities in the Former Soviet Union, 1988-1998 . American Jewish History . 2003 . 91 . 1 . 191–193 . 10.1353/ajh.2004.0029.
  22. Book: Weiner . Anita . Renewal : reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish people ; a decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) activities in the former Soviet Union ; 1988-1998 . 2003 . University Press of America . Lanham, MD . 9780761824763 . 176, 205.

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