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Dear Andy,
Each time I cross the border into Ukraine, as I did yesterday with a group of JDC colleagues and leaders of Jewish Federations across North America, I am reminded of the first time I visited the small Polish village of Medyka, opposite the border.
It was shortly after the start of the crisis, and I stood there in the cold, witnessing profound human misery — mostly mothers crossing the border with young children, or elderly people, all of them clutching their belongings in small suitcases or plastic bags and wearing looks of exhaustion, grief, or blank determination on their faces.
JDC was there to greet our brothers and sisters in need. We provided food, warmth, a place to stay, and a new start where it is safer. And for those who have now been displaced for years, we are helping them to thrive. By providing access to Jewish resources like JCCs, leadership development initiatives, and teen programming, we are able to offer these brave survivors tools to craft a brighter next chapter.
Yesterday, I met 17-year-old Alex K., an internally displaced Jew who has been living in western Ukraine with his mother since fleeing hard-hit Kharkiv in 2022. In their early days in Lviv, JDC provided them with food, humanitarian aid, and more, but Alex told me that it’s his participation in Active Jewish Teens (AJT) — the JDC youth program across the former Soviet Union in partnership with BBYO — that has been a lifeboat and a way to find a sense of home in a new city.
Once a shy tween afraid to put himself out there, Alex now serves in a leadership role at his AJT chapter and is a dedicated volunteer, visiting elderly Jews and cleaning rundown Jewish cemeteries.
“I hate what’s brought me here,” Alex said of these brutal years of chaos and uncertainty in Ukraine, “but I love who I’ve become.”
That’s what Jewish resilience looks like today. We Jews are not immune to the turbulent times we live in, but we can shape what comes next for those who have suffered.
It is an honor to do this meaningful and essential work in partnership with you, with Jewish Federations across North America, and with JDC’s heroes in every corner of the world.
Shabbat Shalom,
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