Senior scholars and leaders from Mexico, Argentina, Spain, and Brazil will present the Jewish Peoplehood Latino America seminal research project on Thursday, Mach 9th, 2023 12:00 p.m. NY time/ 7:00 p.m. Israel time (90 minutes) with English/Spanish translation To register: click here Dr. Daniel Fainstein, Jewish Studies Chair, Universidad Hebraica, Mexico City, Marcelo Dimenstein, Director of Research and Evaluation at JDC Europe and Micaela Bursztein, Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator at JDC Latin America will present major findings from a three-year groundbreaking research project that surveyed the beliefs and practices of hundreds of Jewish leaders across the Latin American continent. Followed by responses from Cynthia Cuculiansky, President of Limud Buenos Aires and Gaby Milevskey, CEO, Hebraica Sao Paulo, Brazil. The project was initiated by JCC Global and the Metta Saade Foundation in partnership with Universidad Hebraica in Mexico City, JDC Latin America and the JDC International Center for Community Development (JDC-ICCD) in Europe.
Record numbers of delegates at Berlin Summit, March 26-28, 2023
Four hundred delegates from 30 countries will attend the 5th Summit of European Jewish Leaders sponsored and led by ECJC and JDC and hosted by ZWST. JCC Global is a partner and a sponsor leading an out of Europe delegation with 20 delegates that will also attend a pre-Shabbat program, including visits to the local Jewish community, hosted by our partners at ZWST, Germany.
The Summit will focus on “rethinking the place of the Jews in a tumultuous Europe” and will offer an opportunity to deliberate the major challenges and opportunities of European Jewry today, together with several hundred peers from across Europe and the world. JCC Global will lead a special JCC track focusing on issues pertaining to the work of JCCs in Europe and around the world.
“Your People are My People”- a new IACC initiative
The first cohort of a Jewish Peoplehood training course for directors of Community Centers in Israel is charting a new way. The Israel Association of Community Centers (IACC, a network that supervises hundreds of Community Centers around Israel) identified the weaving of different identities within Israeli society as a major focus of its work.
It is believed that such connectivity increases social resilience, mutual responsibility and pluralism and can also enrich the spiritual and social life of local communities. One of the threads of this colorful tapestry, that is often neglected, is that of world Jewry. While Israel’s Declaration of Independence proclaimed that the State of Israel is a homeland for all Jews, there are widening gaps of understanding and appreciation among these two entities. “Amech, Ami- Your People Are My People” is trying to bridge this gap. Thanks to a grant from the Jewish Agency for Israel, IACC selected a group of Community Center directors that underwent a training course on Jewish Peoplehood. The course culminated with a nine-day study visit to Jewish communities in France and Germany. These talented and committed directors will be charged with bringing Jewish Peoplehood concepts and practices to their local communities and will hopefully be the leading cadre for new and innovative JCC to JCC global partnerships. JCC Global was part of the inception of the program, participated in the training and is looking forward to connecting the participating JCCs with peers and colleagues in meaningful ways.
Year after the onset of the war in Ukraine, Migdal JCC in Odessa will celebrate Purim with the Balint JCC in Budapest
Thanks to another successful matchmaking of JCC Global and the good will of Balint JCC in Budapest, more than 100 family members affiliated with Migdal JCC in Odessa will spend three days in Budapest. They will have a chance to tour the city, interact with the local Jewish community and celebrate Purim together. It will be a much-needed respite after a yearlong dreadful war, including several families in the group who have been internally displaced. The families will receive free accommodation, meals and enjoy a rich program thanks to funds donated to Balint JCC, JCC Global and Migdal, Odessa. The families will then continue to the Szarvasz camp for a weeklong program sponsored and led by JDC. JCC Global would like to thank the Merage JCC of Orange County and Linda Spitzer for their generosity.
We read in the scroll of Esther that on Purim: “The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.” (8:16) לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה וְשִׂמְחָ֑ה וְשָׂשֹׂ֖ן וִיקָֽר׃ Let us hope that Purim will bring light and happiness to all those who are suffering from darkness and despair. Happy Purim! JCC Global Team