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 and, as from the beginning, on providing real-life skills to their beneficiaries in order to assist them in gaining future employment.

For the Board Resolutions at the current meeting, along with a call to the Jewish Federations of North America to talk tachles, see our post, Resolutions of the World ORT Board of Representatives.

For more on ORT’s current work in Russia, see our previous post, Facilitating Technology in Education.

image: Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg