World ORT Celebrates 130th Anniversary

World ORT, their Board of Trustees and regional delegations, are currently gathered in St. Petesburg, Russia, to celebrate the 130th anniversary of its founding in that city. ORT is the largest Jewish education and training NGO in the world and currently has more than 250,000 students, and other beneficiaries, in their programs. Over its long history, the organization has operated in over 100 countries, spanning five continents. ORT operated in Russia from its inception until 1938 when Stalin closed the country to all foreign NGO’s. They were among the first to return in 1991 following the fall of the former Soviet Union, bringing with them, and leveraging, a ‘community of knowledge’ from their global network. Today, much of ORT’s work is focused around students’ education... Continue Reading

Shanghai Synagogue Reopens for World Expo

In conjunction with the opening of the World Expo in Shanghai, the Chinese government has given permission for the historic Ohel Rachel Synagogue building to be used every Friday evening and Saturday morning during the Expo for Shabbat worship. The ‘opening ceremony’ took place this past Friday. The Synagogue marked the culminating achievement of Shanghai’s First Wave of Jewish immigrants. It was built to accommodate the community of Baghdadi Jews and opened in March 1920. The site also hosted the Shanghai Jewish School (the 1932 building still stands on the left of the courtyard), a playground, library and mikveh. When most of the community left during the 1950s, control of the building reverted to the government. updated: photos from the official reopening [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Learning from Our Neighbors

from Fundraising Success Magazine: What We Can Learn From Our Global Fundraising Neighbors While the U.S. is by far the largest philanthropic market in the world, there are other markets that are growing significantly (i.e., Latin America). These markets have not had the luxury of fundraising best practices or standards, and they often lack an established culture of giving. Many times they do not have a professional fundraising body and lack the capacity that we in developing countries take for granted. What we do see in these markets are organizations that are extremely creative. They innovate. They take risks. With little to lose and almost no resources, they look for new and unique ways to reach their constituents and find great, and often unexpected, success. Perhaps that is something we can learn... Continue Reading

Is JDC Bucking the System?

A Funding Clash Forces Choice: Food or Identity? JDC Weighs Departing From Historic Agreement by Gal Beckerman and Jane Eisner A prolonged standoff over how to direct American Jewish funds overseas has led to a serious conflict over the community’s priorities: sustaining poor Jews around the world, or strengthening Jewish identities and ties to Israel? The debate over which of these two needs is more deserving of the dwindling dollars collected by the large umbrella group representing American Jews, The Jewish Federations of North America, has been slowly building over the past two years. In that time, the organization has struggled to renegotiate its historic arrangement, now over half a century old, with the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The two agencies... Continue Reading

Yemen’s Jews to Immigrate to U.K.

Jewish Agency hopes British decision to take in Jews marks victory over anti-Israel haredi elements interested in absorbing them in US. from YNetnews.com: 200 Yemeni Jews to immigrate to UK The 200 Jews living in Yemen under tight security will immigrate to Britain rather than to the United States as originally planned. The move constitutes a dramatic change in the State of Israel’s battle over the Yemeni Jews against anti-Israeli haredi elements interested in absorbing them in the US. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

TechSoup Global and GuideStar International Combine Operations

TechSoup Global, the U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides technology resources and knowledge to NGOs around the world, and GuideStar International, a U.K.-registered charity that promotes transparency and civil society organization reporting, announced that they will combine operations in order to strengthen their respective capacity-building programs for civil society. The two organizations share a mission to benefit global civil society through the provision of technology, information, and resources. The TechSoup Global Network, which now reaches more than 100,000 civil society organizations in 32 countries, will gain GuideStar International’s deep expertise in making civil society organizations more visible, accountable, and effective, allowing TechSoup Global and its partners... Continue Reading

Oligarch to Donate $40m to Charity

Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, who controls 48% of United Co. Rusal – the world’s largest manufacturer of aluminum – will donate 2/3 of a $62 million stock windfall to Volnoe Delo, his charitable fund, and Rusal’s center for social programs. The stock will be sold after a two-year lock-up and the proceeds spent on local economies in the 20 cities and regions where Rusal operates. While several sources identify Deripaska as Jewish, a review of the Velnoe Delo Website indicates previous support for educational programs of the Russian Orthodox Church but not any Jewish giving. [Translate] Bookmark:  Read More →

Sharansky: Those Who Died Are Not Forgotten

At the March of the Living, Natan Sharansky delivered the following remarks earlier today: We have come here today to remember. But it is easy to forget. The last thing they saw was the gas chambers. We see the blossoming flowers and the lush forest that surrounds us. They heard the sounds of the death trains pulling in to their final station. We hear birds chirping and the voices of spring. They were torn from their families, reduced to a number, stripped of their dignity, and sent to their deaths. We stand here today with loved ones in safety and freedom. I know it is easy to forget. I grew up in the Ukraine, and as a child played in the same killing fields where only a few years earlier, hundreds of thousands of Jews, including many of my relatives, were murdered. My generation knew nothing... Continue Reading

The March of the Living Proceeds

Later today, thirty-seven miles west of Krakow, Poland, ten thousand high school students, representing forty countries, will join adults of all ages and participate in the March of the Living. There, the “marchers” will retrace the steps of the “March of Death,” the actual route which countless numbers of people were forced to take on their way to the gas chambers at Birkenau, the largest concentration camp complex built by the Nazis during World War II. As is tradition, the March begins at the gate of the Auschwitz I site, with its inscription Arbeit macht frei (“work will set you free”), and concludes at the site of the Auschwitz II – Birkenau camp. The March will go on as planned, despite Saturday’s air tragedy that took the lives of the Polish President, Lech Kaczynski,... Continue Reading

Limmud FSU: The Learning Adventure Continues

Nestled in a valley in the Carpathian foothills lies the town of Truskavets, Ukraine. And here, not far from the border with Poland, on a snowy March day, Limmud FSU opened its first conference targeted specifically to the Ukrainian Jewish community. Drawing a cross-section of participants of all ages, 550 individuals gathered for an intensive three days of what Limmud does best: providing a pluralistic ground-up learning experience for the community, by the community. As typical with all Limmud events, there was a diversity of sessions and presenters. The latter ranged from Dr. Yael Blau, a Ben-Gurion University professor who is the granddaughter of S.Y. Agnon to Yuval Rabin, a software engineer and son of the late prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, to Alexander Duchovny, chief Rabbi of the communities... Continue Reading

« Previous Page — Next Page »