world

The Joint

What are the Joint's
pressing concerns?
JDC and its partners are alleviat-
ing hunger and hardship for the
world's most vulnerable Jews
— providing critical services
to nearly 150,000 elderly and
impoverished Jews through-
out the former Soviet Union
(FSU); pioneering programs
that enable Israeli seniors
and people with disabilities
to live independently and
with dignity; and ensur-
ing the well-being, healthy development
and Jewish connection of 33,000-plus
needy Jewish children and their families in
Europe and the FSU.
To promote self-sufficiency, JDC has
developed programs to give all working-
age Israelis the tools to participate in the
country's burgeoning economy. Through
our employment Initiative with the govern-
ment of Israel, some 92,000 chronically
jobless Israelis have been coached, trained
and employed to date; they include hare-
dim [ultra-Orthodox Jews], Israeli Arabs,
people with disabilities, struggling immi-
grants and disadvantaged young adults.
We're also helping combat unemploy-
ment and under-employment in commu-

nities facing financial turmoil
community to help Israel meet
in Europe, Asia and Latin
the needs of massive num-
America.
bers of new immigrants from
At the vanguard of a global
Europe and the Muslim coun-
revitalization of Jewish life, JDC
tries, fewer than half of whom
is creating innovative Jewish
were able-bodied adults.
experiences to help hundreds of
Expanding Israel's capacity
thousands of people rediscover
to integrate successive waves
and explore their heritage and
of immigrants remained a JDC
Rober t Sklar
strengthen their connections
focus in subsequent decades.
Contri buting
to community and Jewish life.
Indeed, our programs for
Edi for
Our Judaism Without Walls
Ethiopian Israelis and for those
programs use public-space
from the Caucasus region of the
Jewish holiday celebrations
FSU continue today.
and cultural fairs to bring Judaism to the
Nevertheless, JDC's work in Israel has
people. Family retreats and grassroots
evolved from that of a direct service pro-
learning programs are making our heritage vider to a developer, in partnership with
accessible to Jews from all types of back-
national and local governments and non-
grounds in cities like Warsaw, Mumbai, St.
governmental organizations, of new and
Petersburg and Shanghai.
more effective ways of addressing national
social issues, with the aim of better serving
Describe the Joint's Israel/
the needs of those least able to participate
diaspora synergy?
fully in society — and thereby bridging the
In Israel today, JDC represents North
country's social and economic gaps.
American Jewry's desire to play an ongoing
role in strengthening Israeli society and
What are the Joint's
its people. At JDC, we always say that we
top challenges?
began our work as an organization in Israel Funding, of course, is an ongoing chal-
and we have never left.
lenge. Just over half of the elderly Jews
Our programs there in our earliest
we aid in the former Soviet Union benefit
decades are a fascinating, largely unex-
from generous funding provided by the
plored aspect of our history, involved as we German government through the Claims
were not just in social welfare support for
Conference for home care and other needs
the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community),
of Holocaust survivors.
but also in economic development activi-
But we must raise the funds to support
ties that included small loan funds and
the needs of equally vulnerable elderly Jews
support for electrification and agricultural
in the FSU who are not entitled to restitu-
projects.
tion-related assistance; this is an ongoing
Later, when the new Jewish state took
challenge that we are absolutely committed
form, JDC, through Malben [a newly
to meet.
formed social welfare initiative], channeled
We also are determined to continue to
the support of the North American Jewish
raise the flexible, undesignated funding we

with disabilities and special needs; elderly
Israelis who needed to have meals delivered
to their homes because they didn't have
access to their daycare centers during the
crisis; and children in Sderot and elsewhere
who required trauma relief while spending
hours in bomb shelters.
Blumenstein's husband, Harold, has been
an integral part of her Joint experience. He
was with her in Israel, for example, during
the November 2012 crisis. "He is always
supportive of my work, as are my children
and 12 grandchildren," she said.
The Bloomfield Township-based Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's 2013-
14 JDC allocation totals $2.3 million. About
$1.93 million goes for general program
operations; most of this funding helps
provide basic living support to desperately
poor elderly Jews living throughout the for-
mer Soviet Union. The remaining $366,000
targets specific projects that Jewish Detroit
is a JDC partner with: New Beginnings
(early childhood support) in Netanya,
Better Together (aid for at-risk children and

disadvantaged families)
in Nazareth Illit and hun-
ger relief in Kiev.
Hannan Lis, former
president of the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit,
joined the JDC board
Hannan Lis
in December 2012. He
became interested in JDC because his par-
ents benefited from JDC support during
their imprisonment at a British detention
camp in Cyprus.
Lis called Blumenstein "focused, inspi-
rational and very strategic in engaging the
board."
"Penny:' he said, "is big on accountability
and results. She has been very effective in
strengthening the lay/professional relation-
ship by engaging board members to be
involved in the areas they are most inter-
ested in and, therefore, most likely to be
effective:'
Howard Neistein, Federation senior
administrative officer, talks shop with

Iconic Jewish humanitarian organization
marks 100 years of global support.

p

enny Blumenstein, the Detroit-
based leader of
the American
111t ACE"
Jewish Joint Distribution
tkt"IE
Committee (JDC), affec-
tionately known as the
Joint, recently shared with
the JN what the internation-
al Jewish rescue, relief and
renewal organization, head-
quartered in New York City, is
and does as it embarks on its
centennial year in 2014.

What is the Joint?
The American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee was established in 1914 to
channel relief from an American Jewish
community united in its desire to aid Jews
in Palestine and Europe caught in the suf-
fering of World War I.
Today, JDC is at work in Israel and more
than 70 other countries, leveraging a
century's experience confronting poverty
and crisis around the globe, including
providing immediate relief and longer-term
support to victims of global emergencies
(such as the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan crisis in
the Philippines, the 2010 Haiti earthquake
and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami).

'Point of Pride' from Cover

2011. She also chairs the JDC executive
committee. She joined the JDC board in
2002. (Related editorial, page 44)
Travel, at her expense, takes up a chunk
of Blumenstein's year. In the past year, she
has been to Russia twice, and to Ukraine,
the Czech Republic, Hungary and Israel.
Plus, she took two trips to London to visit
with selected JDC funders.
Her most memorable moment so far
came last November in Israel, just as the
eight-day Gaza border crisis, dubbed
Pillar of Defense, wound down. Following
Israel's Nov. 14 assassination of Hamas
leader Ahmed Jabari, Hamas, which rules
the Gaza Strip, unleashed an all-out rocket
and mortar assault on Israel, exacerbating
months of such brazen attacks.
"In spite of the personal stress they had
experienced' Blumenstein said, "our pro-
fessionals and volunteers carried on their
responsibilities and made sure many others
normally served by JDC humanitarian pro-
grams were properly cared for:'
Such JDC recipients included people

42

November 14 • 2013

JN

Blumenstein once or twice a year. "Penny
is a point of pride to our community and a
great model for those individuals who are
taking on a greater level of responsibility to
emulate," he said.
Just before her
election as JDC presi-
dent, Blumenstein
chaired Detroit Jewry's
Jewish Fund. She was
Federation president
from 1998 to 2001 and
executive committee
Howard
chair from 2001 to 2004.
Neistein
She remains a governing
board member of both Federation and its
banking/property arm, the United Jewish
Foundation. She earned Federation's pres-
tigious Fred M. Butzel Memorial Award in
2005.
JDC presidential terms are one year. But
Blumenstein clearly likes the job, having
been re-elected once already.
As she put it: "I hope to serve until
December 2015:'

❑

