Life and Death

I’m spending the next few days in Israel for JDC’s 100-Year Board meetings, and to run some site visits and briefings. I’m also going to have a chance to see some of my favorite programs in JDC-Israel.

But first – a great lunch with old and new friends here in Jerusalem. And one of the fascinating topics that came up was the subject of graves and burials.

There were Jews in Eastern Europe (and many other places too) who instructed that they should be buried wrapped in the red flag to show their support for socialist ideals. Some of the stories are quite well-known.

But what always fascinated me, and what we discussed today – is that even those who were at the vanguard of the Revolution never gave up on their Jewish identity. Even founders of the Polish Socialists, like Felix Perl, buried in a red flag, grappled with their Jewish identity throughout their lives. And were buried in Jewish cemeteries. Sometimes in separate ‘socialist’ Jewish cemeteries!

It’s a fascinating reminder of how Jewish identity evolved and took on different shapes and formats around the world.
Even in the darkest days of the Soviet empire, of seventy years of religious oppression and the dearth of community life … sparks remained.

You can still see the sparks in the cemeteries. It's a good reminder of the amazing persistence, pluralism and vibrancy in Jewish life. And death.

Golda

I was visiting a school recently in the south of Israel, where we're running a "Better Together" program.

Better Together is one of my favorite programs. It improves services for children and youth in disadvantaged communities. Places like development towns in Israel's periphery. And it works in poor inner-city neighborhoods to create partnerships. Improving the connections, the services, creating programs. Especially the programs that help kids at risk and their families.

There were wise words from various sources.

But I particularly liked this comment, written on the blackboard of the library. It's from Golda Meir, Israel's fourth Prime Minister ...

“It isn't really important to decide when you are very young just exactly what you want to become when you grow up. It's much more important to decide on the way you want to live. If you are going to be honest with yourself and honest with your friends, if you are going to get involved in causes ('struggles') which are good for others, not only for yourselves, then it seems to me that that is sufficient, and maybe 'what you will be' is less important.”

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About last week

I spent a lot of time last week answering questions from colleagues and friends about the situation in Ukraine.

Specifically, the “leaflets” issue in Donetsk. Concerned colleagues in Jewish federations, JDC supporters and donors wanted to know the truth, what could be done, and what was being done to stand up to these awful things.

So … we know a lot more about the truth of these issues. And people closer (geographically) and more politically outspoken than me have and will continue to give their views on what’s been done and what can be done. But I want to make one point, that I don’t think anyone has expressed yet. Gratitude.

Remember that whole phrase, “never again”? How we promised to not let our guard down when Jews were endangered, or suffering? Remember that commitment we share that we leave no one behind?

We saw that commitment this last week.
Vigilance, sensitivity, alert appreciation for the rights of Jews in a far-off place.

Every now and then, people will say to you, Jews today don’t care about Jews in faraway places. They won’t stand up anymore if something bad happens. There’s too much alienation now.

Remind them of last week. It ain't so.


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Three miles of shelves

A wonderful, inspiring report on my colleague Linda and our dedicated archival team. One hundred years of history. Their website is superb, and well-worth checking out too.

The Jewish people’s 911

Local archivist collects a century of JDC photographs

Larry Yudelson • Cover Story NJ Jewish Standard

Published: 18 April 2014

Twenty-six serious men sit around the table.

Two of the men have long beards; half wear mustaches. Scattered between them are two women, one of whom, of course, is the stenographer, known only as Mrs. F. Friedman. The other is the comptroller.

The year is 1918, and the men are leaders of the Jewish community. Most, like the host of the meeting, banker Felix Warburg, and his father-in-law, banker Jacob Schiff, are Reform Jews of German origin. A couple, including those with beards, are Orthodox and from Eastern Europe. Some are rabbis; one is novelist Sholem Asch. The comptroller is Harriet B. Lowenstein.

Meet the founders of the Joint Distribution Committee of American Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers, the organization now known as the American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and variously as JDC or “the Joint” for short.

The men had formed the group four years before the photograph was taken. That was after Henry Morgenthau, the American ambassador to Turkey, who was Jewish, had cabled Mr. Schiff asking for money to aid the Jews in Ottoman-ruled Palestine. The Great War had erupted in Europe a month earlier, and now the Jews of Palestine were cut off from their traditional Eastern European supporters because the Turkish Ottoman empire was at war (alongside Germany and Austro-Hungary) against the Russian (and British and French) allies.

At first, American Jews formed two separate relief organizations in response to Morgenthau’s plea; one by the new Orthodox immigrants, one by the Reform old guard led by the American Jewish Committee. But by November of 1914 they had merged into the joint relief body that would dispense the funds raised by their separate campaigns. (In 1915, a third group joined — the socialist People’s Relief Committee, backed by Workmen’s Circle.) The war hit the Jews of Europe hard. Hundreds of thousands were displaced, many by their own governments.

The (mostly) men of the JDC had reason to pose on that July day in 1918; they had mobilized the Jews of America to aid their overseas relatives. They had led Congress to proclaim a Jewish War Relief day in 1916. And when their wartime contributions would be tallied three years later, it would turn out that by 1921 the Joint had raised $15 million for relief in Europe and Palestine and had facilitated the transmission of $10 million in personal direct aid to the war zone.

In the century of whirlwind Jewish history that followed, the JDC’s work continued around the globe, through the Holocaust and the founding of the State of Israel, to the mass migration of Jews from the Middle East and the Soviet Union, to fragile Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Sarajevo and Argentina and beyond.

Its actual fundraising, however, was put on pause for many years. After competing after the Great War with Zionist fundraisers over whether Jews should be helped in Europe or in Palestine, the two groups joined forces on the eve of the Holocaust in 1938 to form the United Jewish Appeal, whose funds were allocated between the JDC and the Zionist Jewish Agency.

More recently, as the flow of money slowed from the Jewish federations that funded the United Jewish Appeal and its successor organization, the Jewish Federations of North America, the JDC, like the Jewish Agency, began its own independent fundraising again.

The JDC now spends half of its $360 million budget in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, feeding elderly Holocaust survivors and supporting a revival of Jewish communal life for those Jews who remained after the Holocaust and mass emigration to Israel. Another 40 percent of the budget is spent in Israel, where the JDC funds a range of social service projects.

Now, as the JDC marks its centennial, that 1918 photograph of the JDC’s founding leaders fills the first page of a new commemorative book: “I Live. Send Help.” The book is subtitled “100 Years of Jewish History in Images from the JDC Archives.”

It is edited by Linda Levi, who heads the JDC’s archive and lives in Teaneck with her husband. The couple, who have two grown children, are members of Congregation Keter Torah.

Ms. Levi grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts. She went to nearby Brandeis for college, and spent her junior year abroad at Hebrew University. It was in Jerusalem that she took a course with Dr. Michael Rosenak, called “Issues in Contemporary Jewish Life.” In later years Professor Rosenak would become known as the premiere philosopher of Jewish education. In those years, his class already was packed, and Ms. Levi was far from the only student who left the classroom wanting to devote her life to a career helping the Jewish people and the State of Israel.

She went on for a graduate degree in contemporary Jewish studies and Jewish communal service at Brandeis, and then, when she finished, she moved to Israel.

“My dream job was to work for the Joint, which was in my eyes then and still is the premiere organization that was helping Jews in need around the world,” she said.

Her first job was the Jerusalem Y. Then she spent four years with Eshel, a partnership between the Israeli government and the JDC that provided social services for the elderly.

Then, when family concerns brought her back to America, she found a job with New York’s UJA-Federation.
In 1989 she joined JDC as associate director of program planning and budget.

“We were helping large numbers of Soviet Jewish transmigrants who were leaving the Soviet Union and deciding not to go to Israel,” Ms. Levi said. (Transmigrants are people moving from place to place, before they arrive at their final destination.) “Our offices in Vienna and Rome were caring for Soviet transmigrants as they were waiting for paperwork to enter the U.S. We were working in Eastern Europe in countries that were still under communism. We were trying to find those openings that would help us revitalize Jewish life.

“And then, with the end of Communism, the JDC began to operate in the Soviet Union, in a place that was vast, as a community that was cut off from its Jewish heritage for so long, and we had to figure out how to begin.

“Unfortunately, the economic dislocation following glasnost and perestroika led to the end of the safety net that Soviet citizens had been able to depend on. We began addressing the needs of the Jewish elderly. A lot was done with the help of the Claims Conference” — which receives money from German reparation — “to fund those programs for victims of the Nazis. We developed a major welfare program, providing food packages and home care for needy Soviet elderly, and later for children at risk,” she said.

Her role in the budgeting process gave her a top-level view of the JDC’S decisions, and “its funding allocations in response to global needs around the world,” she said. During this time, she traveled around the world, “visiting many, many communities, seeing the needs.”

In 2009, the JDC’s longtime archivist retired and Ms. Levi took over the job. She turned her attention to the JDC’s history, and “how the treasures of our archives could be used for the benefit of the JDC today.”
All told, the JDC’s documents span three miles of shelving, some in Israel and some in a climate-controlled facility in Long Island City. The archive boasts some hundred thousand photographs, about 160 sound recordings, and more than a thousand films.

An oral history project features transcripts of interviews with JDC staff and leaders “who were involved in major historical events of the work of the JDC from the time of the Holocaust and later,” Ms. Levi said. “Many of the oral histories of the Holocaust are of survivors. Ours are of the caregivers. It gives a whole different insight.”

Much of the archives have been digitized and are accessible online at archives.jdc.org, a website that showcases the organization’s photos. A name search provides easy access to records that contain more than a hundred thousand names. It is a great boon for people researching their family history.

“In the archives of the Joint I have found correspondence from my great grandfather, who was a leader in the Jewish community of Vienna in the 1920s,” Ms. Levi said. “He was corresponding with the Joint about the visits he took to see the situation of Jewish refugees from Galicia who were in Lemberg, and about the help the community was extending to the refugees.

“I also found records in our archives of when my grandfather came to America. There are notes about two different times he came to meet with JDC leaders to impress upon them the terrible situation of the Jews in World War II, specifics about particular problems that needed to addressed with and dealt with at the time,” she said.

“We indexed some very historic lists. We have a list of over 9,000 refugees who were being helped by the JDC around 1940 in Vilna, refugees from Poland who had moved to Vilna. That list has the names of many familiar rabbis like Aron Kotler, and Zionist leaders like Menachem Begin,” she said.

After the war, “JDC was very active in the DP camps,” she continued. “We had an emigration service working out of Vienna and Munich. We had an index card of everyone we helped. All those cards, something like 80,000 of them, have been indexed.”

And this reporter discovered that one of his great grandfathers had been a vice president of a national Jewish organization that had corresponded with the JDC and whose letterhead had been digitized into the archives.
“When you delve into our archive system, you get a sense of the enormous length the JDC went through and continues to go through to help Jews, particularly during crises,” Ms. Levi said. “When you read some of the field reports of what was witnessed and done, both in reaction to World War I and World War II, and the number of countries we worked in, the efforts to get papers for people coming from different countries, trying to match people’s backgrounds with countries that had some openings, the array of countries — particularly during World War II — refugees in Casablanca and Tangiers and Shanghai, refugees sent to Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, India, all over the world — it’s really quite astounding.

“It makes me very proud to be part of an organization that has this kind of illustrious history.”

The archives have provided her a window of what Jewish rescue required back in the days of telegraphs and steam ships. “When you read some of the old reports and you understand what it took to get to places and communicate about it — the operation had the same alacrity in trying to respond to problems, but the effort was so much greater and the communication about it was so much slower,” she said. “Today you send an email. Things go so much faster.”

The JDC describes itself as “the 911 of the Jewish people” — a phrase that would have been incomprehensible to the men sitting around that table a century ago. But though the situation has changed, and one of the three Rs in its description has morphed over the years, from “reconstruction” to “rehabilitation” to “renewal,” its core mission “has remained constant: rescue and relief,” Ms. Levi said.

We suspect that Mr. Warburg and Mr. Schiff would have approved.


http://jstandard.com/content/item/the_jewish_peoples_911/30485


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The best joke I heard all week*

Because I was thinking about my colleagues around the world, about the legacy of our history, and because, hey, it's Pesach and I want to write something that makes me smile ....


A Soviet citizen was approached by a new American diplomat in Moscow, who was trying to learn as much as he could about communism.

"Tell me," said the curious diplomat. "As a communist you share everything?"

"Yes," said the local.

"You mean, if you had two houses, you'd give me one?"

"Of course."

"And if you had two cars, you'd let me have one?"

"Absolutely."

"And if you had two stoves, or two TVs, or two fridges, you'd give me one of each?"

"Definitely."

"And if you had two shirts, you'd give me one?"

"No. Not two shirts," said the local.

"Why not?"

"Because I have two shirts."



* It might not be the best joke you'll hear all week. But I didn't get out much.

The first free Pesach

Bakery workers in Berlin worked two shifts a day from February on to produce some 25 tons of Passover matza in 1946, the first to be baked in that city in 10 years. Together with other kosher for Passover items shipped by JDC, it made “this first free Passover a real Passover.” Germany, 1946

There's a beautiful and incredibly moving story about Pesach in Germany in 1946 here.

Chag sameach - a peaceful, happy and healthy Passover to all those celebrating.

Food packages

When I came to the Joint almost ten years ago, the big issue was the transition from food packages to smart cards. Food packages were critical in the first years when the Joint came back to the former Soviet countries. And tens of thousands of elderly Jews were receiving them.

But there was a problem.

In the food packages, the maximum number of items we could give you was 18. And it was really basic stuff, for the most part: oil, pasta, kasha, that kind of thing. Not luxuries. 

So the smart card system came into being ... in Argentina.

We were facing a situation in the winter of 2001-2002 in which tens of thousands of Argentinian Jews were suddenly thrust into poverty and dependent on the Joint for food. Many of these were the 'new poor' – men and women, many in nice middle-class suits and dresses, lining up for food packages at Jewish institutions. 36,000 clients receiving food from the Joint. Because of our Jewish federations and donors.

My colleagues told me that we were receiving reports of anti-Semitic attacks, of Jews being beaten up and attacked for their packages. None of it was true. It turned out that these reports weren't true. But they taught us something very interesting. That the food packages carry a price - and not just a logistic price; a price for overhead and our shipping and handling. They taught us that there's a price for dignity and self-respect.

These "new Poor" Jews didn't like that price. To line up and ask for food can be demeaning. It can take away your self-respect. Which is why rumors – false rumors – were spread about anti-Semitic attacks, because so many people there hated the food package system.

So the food card system - the 'coto' card - began. And as it spread, we noticed some fascinating side effects .... people had more choice, more dignity. It wasn't just about food. It was about hope.

Which is why the last few weeks in Kiev and Crimea have been so interesting. Because, in the name of security for our clients and keeping homebound and less-mobile clients secure, we've had to increase the food package system because so many of the older clients are too scared, or unable, to go shopping with the cards. In other words, we're going back to our history for a slightly less efficient - but more caring - method of taking care of food needs.

So, the other day, I was looking through some archival notes and I came across this photo ...

It's a photo of JDC staff in Munich, Germany, loading matza and food packages for transportation to DP (Displaced Persons) Camps in Europe, 1949. 

Because some things haven't changed: a global commitment to providing food for those in need, backed by our federations and donors.


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Shifting sands and quagmires - the deaths of Nadav and Avihu

My drash this Shabbat at Temple Beth-El Mekor Chaim in Cranford, NJ ...

Shabbat shalom.

It was so nice, last week, looking at the Purim story.

The Jews are saved from destruction. Grief and mourning are turned into happiness and celebration.

And now …. here we are, just one week later in Parashat Shmini, looking at happiness and celebration turn into grief and mourning.

Nadav and Avihu, the oldest and second sons of Aaron, killed for what seems to be a minor transgression.

 וַיִּקְחוּ בְנֵי-אַהֲרֹן נָדָב וַאֲבִיהוּא אִישׁ מַחְתָּתוֹ, וַיִּתְּנוּ בָהֵן אֵשׁ, וַיָּשִׂימוּ עָלֶיהָ, קְטֹרֶת; וַיַּקְרִיבוּ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, אֵשׁ זָרָה--אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּה, אֹתָם

And Nadav and Avihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his firepan, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before God, which He had not commanded them.  

. וַתֵּצֵא אֵשׁ מִלִּפְנֵי יְהוָה, וַתֹּאכַל אוֹתָם; וַיָּמֻתוּ, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה

And there came forth fire from before God, and devoured them, and they died before God.

We don’t even really know why they die.

The only real clue we get in the parasha is the command given to Aaron immediately afterwards.

Moses tells Aaron not to enter the Temple intoxicated.

So maybe Nadav and Avihu died because they approached God in the wrong state of mind?

The Talmud says that they were punished for innovation and because they ignored the authority of Moses.

There’s a good explanation by the Ba’al HaTurim, who says that אֲשֶׁר לֹא צִוָּה (they were not commanded) actually means אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה - לֹא (they were commanded not to). In other words, that they deliberately ignored what they were told not to do.

The deaths of Nadav and Avihu always fascinated me.

It always seemed to me that there was some kind of double standard here.

It’s as if God is holding them up to a different rule than everyone else is expected to follow.

Even if they were guilty of being drunk, or of hubris - were they killed because they didn’t follow the rules?

Because they decided to innovate rather than follow the community?

We don’t usually punish people for these kind of things.

But we do apparently punish leaders for these kind of things.

And what you see here is a clear and precise punishment for leaders because of the positions that they held and their failure to uphold them.

We’re accustomed to this double standard in Jewish life.

Precisely because we’re Jews, we say that we have a greater obligation, a greater commitment. We’re not chosen because we’re better; we’re chosen because we have a special relationship with God.

It’s not an easy standard - because it’s frequently misunderstood.

It means that we have an obligation to repair, to serve and to behave better.

It’s not a license to exploit, or serve ourselves, or get rich at the expense of others. It’s a license to see how the world works and to partner with others where we can, to make things better.

It is the essence of our work at the Joint.

Sixty eight years ago, this month, Winston Churchill stood in Fulton, Missouri and gave his famous “Iron Curtain” speech. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent,” he said.

It’s the classic text about the beginning of the Cold War; maybe one of the most important speeches of the twentieth century. Every student of politics has to read and study it. And if you get the chance to read it, you’ll see why the imagery and language resonate even today.

But the Fulton speech also introduced into common language a phrase that Churchill had started to adopt: the “special relationship.”

The “special relationship” was the exceptionally close political, diplomatic, cultural, economic, military and historical relations between the United Kingdom and the United States.

It was a unique bond that defined everything between the two sides and guided their leaders.

I was no fan, as a child growing up in England, of Margaret Thatcher.

But her dedication to that relationship guided how she saw her role as a leader.

When Thatcher met with (Soviet leader) Mikhail Gorbachev for the first time, he tried to drive a wedge between her and the US.

But “I am an ally of the United States,” she said. “We believe the same things, we believe passionately in the same battle of ideas, we will defend them to the hilt. Never,” she said to Gorbachev, “try to separate me from them.”

Thatcher’s legacy and achievements may be topics of legitimate debate.

But there’s no question about her leadership abilities and her commitment to this belief: that the special relationship was based on shared ideals and values that were worth defending by its leaders.

And more importantly, that the relationship was bigger than the two sides alone. It “stood” for something. It meant something.

And it was the job of the leaders to uphold that relationship and its values.

Special relationships are special because they are held to a different, higher standard.

Leaders uphold them because they symbolize a commitment, not an excuse.

They represent an ideal to strive toward, not a territory to conquer.

They represent an expectation of service, not a demand for privilege.

Churchill and Roosevelt, like those who came after them, built their achievements through decades of trust and dedication. Through service. Through a commitment to greater ideals. What was the point of their Special Relationship? Churchill said in his Fulton speech that the ideal of the British-American understanding was to uphold the idea of Peace and the United Nations.

There are other Special Relationships that we read about every day. In the news, in business, in our daily dealings. Relationships based on power, on greed, or personal gain.

At their core is the very essence of what struck down Nadav and Avihu. Nadav and Avihu had been appointed to serve the People. Their role was to serve a greater good with the public flame but they ignored that ideal. They betrayed the public trust. They failed the test of leadership.

These double standards are important because they are at the heart of what we learn in this week’s Parasha.

Just because you strive for values and ideals in your work doesn’t mean that your stance is morally superior. It means that you need to work harder.

Leadership doesn’t convey more privileges, more rights. It requires more duties, and more humility.

We need to hold our leaders – and ourselves – to a different kind of double standard: upholding the benefit of our people, and working for higher ideals.

All these are, at their core, lessons in leadership.

And these lessons are just as critical to us today – - perhaps even more so  - than during the time of Nadav and Avihu. They are just as focused on issues of life and death, and leadership, and responsibility.

Standing at Fulton, Churchill saw what Nadav and Avihu did not see. He even used the concept of the Temple to explain his vision:

“We must make sure that [the common goal of global responsibility]…  is fruitful, that it is a reality and not a sham, that it is a force for action, and not merely a frothing of words, that it is a true temple of peace in which the shields of many nations can someday be hung up, and not merely a cockpit in a Tower of Babel.

Before we cast away the solid assurances of national armaments for self-preservation we must be certain that our temple is built, not upon shifting sands or quagmires, but upon a rock.

Anyone can see with his eyes open that our path will be difficult and also long, but if we persevere together … I cannot doubt that we shall achieve our common purpose in the end.”

Shabbat shalom

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Cosmonauts and women

I was in Westport the other day, giving a briefing to the Jewish federation on Russia and Ukraine and the work we do together. 

And a random factoid came up, which I want to bring up here. 

We were talking about Saratov, the unofficial second capital of the Volga region of Russia. I made a joke about Yuri Gagarin, Russia’s first cosmonaut, who not only came from Saratov but also landed his Soyuz capsule there (the joke was that he wanted to go home to his mom and dad for dinner*). 

But the other point that lots of Russians have told me was that “Saratov has the most beautiful women in Russia.”

So … I checked with some colleagues and research notes on this issue. And if you ever wanted “proof” (such as it is) for how long-lasting some impressions can be in these areas … here’s a good example. 

The story that beautiful women are from Saratov comes from 1247, when the conquering Tartars (yes, the same ones we’re now talking about in Crimea) ordered all the beautiful women of Russia to go to Saratov.

You could legitimately claim that things may have changed slightly in the last 700 years.
But then you’d be grappling with the weight of history. 

*it was funny. You had to be there.

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Land of the widening bases

Kazakhstan is one of my favorite places. I’ve been there several times, and I find the culture and people fascinating. If you get the chance to come with us on a mission, you’ll see an incredible warm, inviting culture, with a vibrant Jewish community. It’s the largest landlocked country in the world*, with some 130 different ethnic groups living there.

It’s not a long Jewish history – most Jews (or their parents/grandparents) were brought here in the 1930s and 40s in expulsions, migrations and resettlements. So they create their own history on the ground. When Hesed - our welfare distribution center - was set up 15 years ago in what’s now the capital city, Astana, there was a tiny Jewish community. JDC went from door to door and asked if anyone was Jewish. Sometimes they referred us, sometimes we figured it out from last names. We widened the bases.

So it was with particular interest that I’ve been reading about recent suggestions by the Kazakh president Nazarbayev to change the country’s name. His main suggestion is “Kazakh Yeli” (Land of the Kazakhs) – the current name “stan” means “place of” in Persian and “settlement” in Russian.

It’s not, let’s be honest, the most important issue facing the country right now. Or the Jewish community. But it’s another example of the shifting and changing relationships of identity politics of the former Soviet Union.

*but it has a naval force in the Caspian Sea. I love that fact. 

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History doesn't repeat itself, but it occasionally rhymes

For the nerdy-history-minded among us ... this is a particularly auspicious time to be talking about Crimea. 160 years ago, it was during the Crimean War that modern military medicine was created - hygiene, battlefield sanitation and the like - due in no small part to the efforts of Florence Nightingale. It was during that war that modern battlefield logistics (telegraphs and railroads) were introduced. And sixty years ago this week, according to most reports, Khruschev handed over Crimea in a strange fit of drunken exuberance to Ukraine from Russia.

I was discussing several of these points (plus, you know, the actual work we're doing on the ground with the help of our donors and federations) with colleagues at the Jewish Federation of Greater Metrowest, NJ, this morning. But I couldn't help checking my facebook feed during some downtime ... and saw this comment from my inspiring colleague Ofer Glanz, our Director for the Former Soviet Union. "Flying to Odessa. German soldiers doing their way to Odessa; The Russian army is in Crimea. Yes it is 2014"

Below is the photo Ofer took on the plane. History always repeats itself, Marx said, first as tragedy and then as farce. But William Faulkner said it better: "The past isn't dead. In fact, it's not even past."

The best joke you'll see all day*

Just because it's a good joke. And because I've been thinking about my amazing colleagues in the field, in Ukraine and across the former Soviet Union today.


A teacher was quizzing her pupils about the differences between decadent, capitalist America and Socialist Russia.

"Tell us, Ivan," she asked. "What is the United States like?"

"The United States is a capitalist country where millions of people are unemployed, and millions more are starving and miserable," he said.

"Very good, Ivan. Now, Sasha, you tell us what is the goal of the Soviet Union?"

"To catch up with the United States."


*if your standards for humor are as low as mine


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The best question about Ukraine you’re going to see all month …

Is there a single Ukraine?

From the Economist

Is the modern Ukraine one nation?

The question is not meant to be provocative. But it is worth asking, since Ukraine is deeply divided on its international destiny: roughly speaking, does it belong more closely to the European Union or to Russia? Political divides cut Ukraine into eastern and western halves. The last two presidential elections have split neatly along these lines. In both of them, Viktor Yanukovych, the president, won the vast majority of votes in the eastern half of the country. He lost (after a re-vote when the first vote was considered rigged) in 2004, but won in 2010. The maps of the two elections by region look remarkably similar, so it stands to reason that the number of swing voters was relatively small.

It also so happens that the linguistic divisions of Ukraine run along nearly the exact same lines. The west and north are predominantly Ukrianian-speaking, the east and south predominantly Russian-speaking.

In 2012, a new law upgraded Russian to the status of a regional language in those regions where it is most widely spoken. Ukrainian remains the only national language, but Russian now plays a greater role at the local level. As we noted at the time, Ukraine is not simply divided into “Russians” who speak Russian and “Ukrainians” who speak Ukrainian. In the days of the Soviet Union, each Soviet citizen had an official “nationality” in their passport, alongside Soviet citizenship. There are former Russians by nationality who ended up in the borders of the independent Ukraine. But to mess up the picture somewhat, there are also ethnic “Ukrainians” who prefer Russian, whatever that means. (There are no other obvious outer markers of nationality—it’s not as though Russians and Ukrainians differ visibly.)  And complicating the picture further still, many people are happily bilingual: some people speak Ukrainian at home but Russian at work, or speak Ukrainian but mostly read and watch television in Russian (in which there are more options, given Russia’s presence next door).

Inevitably, politicians try to play with language to their own advantage. Mr Yanukovych is from the east, his political power base is there, and despite his efforts to please nationalists by speaking up for the language, he still makes mistakes in Ukrainian. Yulia Timoshenko, his defeated rival in that election (and now in jail), has spent years mastering Ukrainian, and she called the 2012 law upgrading Russian a “crime against the state”. Debate over it started a fistfight in Ukraine’s parliament. 

Language has become a proxy for other battles, not only over Europe versus Russia, but over history. Some Ukrainian nationalists, understandably resentful of Soviet-Russian domination, eagerly joined the 1941 Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. So Ukrainian nationalism—including the linguistic kind—provokes nervousness and resentment among some Russian-speakers. One Russian-Ukrainian professor told me that his family celebrate New Year on Moscow time and feel like strangers in western Ukraine. He predicts either federalism (German- or American-style, with a weakened national government) or partition (hopefully peaceful, like Czechoslovakia’s). He says he can live with federalism—so long as he never has to watch parades honouring the old SS “Halichna” division made up mostly of Ukrainians.

Ukraine’s very name means “borderland”. Its de facto sovereignty has remained contested since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Your columnist will never forget finding himself in Lviv (a heart of nationalism, in western Ukraine) on August 24th 1998: it was Ukraine’s sixth-ever independence day, and locals solemnly gathered in front of the statue of Taras Shevchenko, the national poet. Grey-haired men and women held flags to their hearts and bowed their heads, eyes closed, as they stood in tightly formed groups and sang patriotic hymns. This was not a people who took independence for granted, the holiday an excuse to skip work and barbecue. Independence denied was very much a living memory.

Nonetheless, some Russian-speaking Ukrainians still feel that the symbols of Ukrainian nationalism were hastily contrived, and therefore artificial. The role of Ukrainian as sole national language—a role that it never enjoyed in any political unit until 1991—is Exhibit A in their case against nationalism as a manipulated, divisive force.

In a perfect world, everyone would live in the country they choose. Perhaps a partition would be better for many in the current Ukraine. But in practice, partition is far less often a “velvet divorce” of equals as in Czechoslovakia, and more often like the bloody division of Yugoslavia: mixed towns become battlefields and neighbouring powers intervene in their own interests. In this case, the enormous neighbouring power of Russia is unlikely to be able to avoid meddling in any peaceful Ukrainian split. Sergei Glazyev, an adviser to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has already speculated publicly that Russia might feel honour-bound to support Russian-speakers in a partition—fanning the flames.

There clearly is a genuine Ukrainian nationalism, and Russian attempts to portray it as “fake” are self-serving. But though there is a Ukrainian nation, it does not live cleanly within the borders of the modern state called Ukraine. This is a tragedy for all those whom the status quo does not satisfy, and that is looking like a lot of Ukrainians at the moment. Federalism, including linguistic federalism, is often a better solution. But as the punch-up in parliament over Russian in the eastern regions shows, when times gets tense, people’s thinking becomes zero sum: a gain for Russian must be a loss for Ukrainian. The country, as currently constituted, is probably fated for a lot of mutual misunderstanding yet.

I will be the last one to leave this city

I’m doing research this week for a couple of presentations to highlight our work with post-Soviet Jewry. For some of the depth, I’ve been using our amazing 100-year old archives and our extremely helpful archival researchers.

I’m not exactly sure what I’m looking for. I know that there are so many stories in the archives that sometimes I just send a query through the system because, odds are, I’ll find something just fascinating and worth reading.

This is one of those examples.

A colleague passed on this incredible transcript. It’s part of an oral history project from 1981, interviewing Boris Smolar, who dedicated much of his life to reporting on the situation of Jews, and in many places saw the work of the Joint. He’s being interviewed about JDC’s role in Poland in 1920 … and this piece really struck me …

“In 1920 JDC started to work in Poland after the war, and sent a unit of more than 30 people - Americans, social workers and leaders of various groups - to conduct their work there. They were all in para-military uniform for protection, because the situation in Poland

at that time was so chaotic. The Polish Army, which secured Polish independence from Russia after Poland being Russian for many generations, was so drunk with victory that they celebrated their victory by assaulting Jews in the street and cutting of their beards, like in Hitler's time. They would even throw Jews off of running trains. It was dangerous for

a Jew to travel on a train at that time.

…

Petlura's regime [the independent anti-Bolshevik leader] fell, and the [Poles] simply intended to go all the way to Warsaw. But they didn't succeed long. They remained in the Ukraine for only a short while, several months, until they met the Red Army. They were no longer dealing with bandits, but a regular Soviet Army. So, it was the Polish Army facing the Russian Army, and the Russians gave them such a beating that they began to retreat. They retreated so fast that I saw them running. They had no cars, no trucks, nothing. All they had were horses and wagons. And if a wagon lost a wheel, it ran on three wheels.

During this retreat, they reached Rovno. When they were about to retreat from Rovno, JDC's Abe Shohan put as many Jews as didn't want to, remain under the Bolsheviks or fall under the Soviet regime in trucks with reserves of food, intending to open a JDC office in the next city after we left Rovno. The entire JDC staff was evacuated in trucks with food to Lutsk(?), a city about 60 miles from Rovno, thinking we would be able to open a JDC office there. Before leaving, Shohan said to me - you and I are going to be the last to leave. I am remaining, you can remain here if you want, or you can go to Warsaw, but I am staying here to be the last to leave. As the JDC representative, I want you to go with me as translator to the military commandant in Rovno, to make sure he issues an order that no pogroms take place.

He went to the commandant and said: Look. You are, by military law, the last of the military units to leave the city. You have no automobile, and you will have to leave like all the other retreating soldiers, by horse and wagon. The Russians are driving you back fast. You can never tell, they may surround the city. Then you will be stuck in Russian hands, and you know what that means. Now, I have an automobile with an American flag on it, and I will be the last one to leave this city, watching in my automobile whether Jewish stores and homes have been looted, raided, whether there have been pogroms, and so on. 1 will wire a report to the American Jews as to whether the Polish Army behaves during their last minutes in the city. I don't want to see any pogroms; it wouldn't be good for the reputation of the Polish Army. And frankly, it wouldn't be too good for you either. If you promise to issue an order to the retreating officers of your unit, to see that discipline is maintained, and that there will be no pogroms in the city, I will pick you up in my automobile and we will be the last to leave. The military commandant had no choice anyway so he said sure, we don't like pogroms, and there will be an order issued that there should be no pogroms by the retreating Polish Army.

And there were none.”

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Metaphors and history

I went the other day to the Hungarian National Museum. It’s heavy on the medieval aspects, but still has some excellent 20^th century pieces, so I found it really useful.

There was an interesting section of the exhibit in which they collected the original street signs from the Communist regime-era, which were crossed out and later replaced with new names at the time of the overthrow of communist rule. No more Bela Kun Street. No more Leninvaros or Marx St. Just triumphant red lines through the old names.

It reminded me about the story of Robert Capa, who returned to his native Hungary a few years after the war. So much had been destroyed, and to cover up the rubble and loss, the Rakosi regime put up huge Soviet billboards and renamed the streets and squares. “Budapest,” said Capa, looked like “a beautiful woman with her teeth knocked out.”

You can't say that about Budapest today (ok, you shouldn't really say it anytime) ... but it's a good reminder of the power of metaphors and symbols in Hungary.

This is how you write a thank-you letter

Here I am, in Budapest, with my colleague Taly, who pulls out of our offices one of the most stunning and moving books I’ve ever seen. It’s a collection of acknowledgements from different Jewish communities to celebrate 25 years of the Joint.

So it’s November 1939 … and everything is about to change. Most of those who wrote these letters – certainly those living outside of Budapest – would be killed in the Shoah.

But there is a timeless beauty, an elegance, and a wondrous gratitude in some of these letters. They speak of hope, of help, of relief. They are amazing to read.

“There is no Jew, who would not demand God’s blessing to your work, but thousands and thousands of mothers and children are praying fervently, because they had direct opportunity to enjoy your extreme kindness and nobility.”

“… Where danger was most despairing, [and help] the most urgent, you appeared and brought help. Who would be able to thank you? God sees and has seen all you did…”

“There are many who are preaching humanity. It is easy to proclaim it by words, but difficult to prove in deeds. You have chosen the more difficult and also the most noble way, when you protected and helped our social establishments, giving them possibilities to act.”

I’ve put photos of the documents here, and you can click on them to see them better. But hopefully we’ll get more copies – there are many – and upload them to our archives so they can be accessed and viewed by many more people. It’s a privilege, and a rare opportunity, to see this  aspect of our history.

Philippines, recovering from typhoon, honored by JDC for WWII rescue effort

By Larry Luxner/JNS.org

WASHINGTON—Thanking one Asian country for its kindness towards Jews faced with annihilation 75 years ago and warning another not to even think about harming Israel, top Jewish officials at a Dec. 11 dinner wrapped up three days of meetings that marked the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).

José L. Cuisía, Philippine ambassador to the United States, accepted the JDC’s Or L’Olam Award on behalf of his country for giving refuge to 1,305 Jews fleeing Nazi Germany during World War II. At the same event, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob “Jack” Lew—the highest-ranking Jew in the Obama administration—cautioned any CEO, general counsel or business executives to “think again” before trying to evade international sanctions against Iran or helping the Islamic Republic acquire nuclear weapons.

About 400 guests attended the JDC centennial dinner at Washington’s Ronald Reagan International Trade Center. The evening, emceed by CNN anchorman Wolf Blitzer, also featured short presentations by noted sexologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer and New York businessman Abe Biderman, who was recently elected co-chairman of the World Jewish Restitution Organization. In addition, participants enjoyed a medley of Israeli songs performed by the University of Maryland’s Kol Sasson choir.

“The Philippines was the only Asian country that voted for the creation of Israel in 1947, and we heroically helped save the lives of many Jews at a time when most other doors were shut,” Cuisía said as he accepted Or L’Olam (Light Unto the World) Award from philanthropist Penny Blumenstein, the new president of JDC.

Among those rescued by the Philippines under its wartime president, Manuel Quezón, were the mother and grandparents of Teaneck, NJ, resident Danny Pins—a disaster-relief expert who currently leads the JDC’s humanitarian efforts in that country.

“While we pay tribute to the Philippines for its role in saving 1,305 people, we Filipinos also pay homage to our Jewish friends for helping save the lives of our people just over a month ago, when Typhoon Haiyan tore across the Philippines, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction,” said Cuisía.

In addition to more than 6,000 killed, Typhoon Haiyan injured at least 27,000 people and displaced an estimated 3.9 million Filipinos from their homes.

“During this period, among the first humanitarian organizations on the ground was the JDC, which raised more than $1.6 million for clean water and sanitation to victims in affected areas,” Cuisía said. “JDC also worked with 148 members of the Israel Defense Forces deployed in the Philippines, assisted in search and rescue, and helped reconstruct damaged buildings and restore water supplies. The JDC also supported the Israeli field hospital that treated 2,800 patients, including 900 children.”

In addition, Israeli doctors performed 60 emergency surgeries and delivered 66 babies, one of whom was a boy named “Israel.”

“There is a great sense of loss and grief across the Philippines. However, we are able to draw on our faith in a just and compassionate God,” said the ambassador. “We see His face, and we certainly feel His presence through the work of our Jewish brothers and sisters. I assure you that the Filipino people will always remember the kind gestures you have extended to us.”

Like Cuisía, Lew was honored by the JDC, which bestowed upon him its Morgenthau Award to commemorate the group’s 100 years of partnership with the U.S. government. The son of Polish immigrants, Lew said the U.S. “has a moral obligation” to use all the diplomatic and economic means at its disposal to make Iran give up its nuclear ambitious—while reserving force as a last resort.

The treasury secretary said that in comparison with the cost global sanctions have imposed on Iran’s economy, the relief package Washington offered Tehran under the interim nuclear deal reached last month in Geneva is “quite modest”—amounting to no more than $7 billion. A Dec. 11 report in Haaretz, however, cited security sources in Israel who said the relief could amount to $20 billion. 

Lew said the current Iran sanctions framework immobilizes $100 billion in Iranian foreign-exchange holdings while causing Iran to lose $30 billion in oil revenues during the six months the interim nuclear deal remains in effect.

“This agreement does not prevent us from implementing existing sanctions or imposing new sanctions. All of our targeted sanctions on Iran’s sponsorship of groups like Hezbollah remain at full strength, so any CEO or businessperson who wants to test our resolve better think again,” he said.

The interim nuclear deal allows Iran to continue production of 3.5-percent enriched uranium while the agreement is in force, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders, as well as advocates for new sanctions in Congress, believe a final deal with Iran should halt all enrichment.

Typhoon Haiyan and the Weight of Jewish History

There’s a lovely op-ed by Alan Gill, the Joint’s CEO (pasted below) in today’s JTA about our debt to the Philippines. It particularly moved me because it’s not just about the awful humanitarian tragedy there and our response, but also about our Jewish history … and our gratitude to the Filipino people.

Our relief efforts in the Philippines have already started. We’re working with Afya to bring in a container of much-needed food, shelter, hygiene and medical supplies.  We’ll also be working with Catholic Relief Services, one of JDC's longstanding partners in delivering emergency aid at times of disaster, to help support their emergency response which includes provision of WASH (water and sanitation items) and shelter support.

We’ll be updating further over the next few days.

I saw my colleague Danny Pins this evening here in Jerusalem – he’s about to leave to head up one of our teams there. You can read a bit about him in Alan’s op-ed below.

Danny is a Jewish hero. I’m proud to have him as a partner and friend in the Joint.

Op-Ed: In its time of need, repaying a debt to the Philippines

By Alan H. Gill

November 12, 2013 10:57am

NEW YORK (JTA) — As the extent of the catastrophic damage and tragic death toll continues to grow in the Philippines, a particularly heroic piece of history should be recalled by the global Jewish community, which owes a debt to the island nation.

Seven decades ago, a Philippine president, a globetrotting Jewish family named Frieder and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, my organization, helped save the lives of more than 1,000 Jews who otherwise would have almost certainly died in the Holocaust.

Thanks to their initiative, these refugees were issued rare travel certificates to the Asian country to work as skilled laborers in the Frieders’ cigar factories in Manila — though in reality, few of them had any experience in the industry whatsoever. The audacious operation, seemingly extraordinary today, is the subject of the recently released documentary “Rescue in the Philippines.”

At the time that Manuel Quezon admitted Jews to his country, the Filipino president made what seems today like a remarkably prescient statement.

“The people of the Philippines will have in the future every reason to be glad that when the time of need came, their country was willing to extend a welcome hand,” he was quoted as saying.

We recalled this moment in history last week when we began reading reports and watching coverage of the impending super typhoon Haiyan — the strongest storm in recorded history — as it barreled toward the Philippines. In anticipation of the impact, JDC’s disaster relief and development staff assembled a contingency plan that went into full effect once news emerged of the death and destruction wrought by Haiyan.

As part of our ongoing response to the typhoon, JDC will ship critically important food, shelter, and hygiene and medical supplies — as well as ensure the provision of water and sanitation items and shelter support — through its partners, the Afya Foundation and Catholic Relief Services. JDC’s advance team of disaster relief and development experts will head to the Philippines later this week to assess damage and needs while consulting with our local/international partners and the Filipino Jewish community to ensure maximum impact for storm survivors.

About 30 percent of funds raised will be dedicated to immediate relief for food, water, shelter, medical supplies and care, unless the emergency phase lasts longer because of expanding, critical needs among survivors. The rest will be invested in sustainable local projects that will emerge in the long, slow process of rehabilitation that is sure to come.
It’s a formula JDC, which is celebrating its centennial this year, has developed over decades of efforts in the field, from helping Ukrainians starved by the Bolsheviks in the 1920s to rehabilitating survivors of genocide in Rwanda. And on behalf of the North American Jewish community and with its support, we have over the past decade delivered tens of millions of dollars in aid to victims of natural and manmade disasters in Southeast Asia, Haiti and Japan.

These efforts now come full circle, especially for one member of our team arriving in the Philippines later this week, Danny Pins. In addition to being one of our development and employment experts, Pins’ mother and grandparents were among the German Jews who fled to the Philippines to seek safe haven in 1938. His posting, in many ways a homecoming despite previous trips to the country, is highly symbolic.

Today, in the wake of one of the worst storms in history, with perhaps more than 10,000 dead and hundreds of thousands homeless, we are fully committed to fulfilling President Quezon’s prophecy and returning the favor to the Filipino people. Not just because we are Jews, the heirs to this nation’s life-saving actions, but because we firmly believe in mutual responsibility and the idea that each individual life is valuable beyond measure.

(Alan H. Gill is the CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.)

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