Hesed (FSU Jewish Community Welfare Centers)

Hesed is a network of nonprofit community welfare centers to serve the Jewish community in former Soviet Union states (FSU's).[1][2] The network provides services to Jews who remained in post-Soviet states after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[3][4][5] Hesed uses its volunteers and charity centers to provide basic necessities and medical services within a physical location in which community members can meet and participate in cultural and religious activities.[6][7][8]

Hesed (FSU Jewish Community Welfare Centers)
Formation1993
FounderAmos Avgar
TypeCharity
Location

History

The first Hesed center opened in 1993 in St. Petersburg.[9] The organization was formed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)[10][11][12] and funded by JDC, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), World Jewish Relief, and other donors.[3] Hesed based its structure and activities on a model developed by Amos Avgar, who was Director of the JDC-FSU Welfare Department.[13] Volunteering, fostering community and Jewish traditions or Yiddishkeit were central to the model.[8] As of 2003, there were 174 Hesed centers operating in 2,800 Jewish communities[5] and serving over a quarter-million people in the FSU.[7] Hesed continued to operate through the war between Russian and the Ukraine in Crimea and the Donbas starting in 2014.[14][2] During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hesed continued providing services[15] to its approximately 37,000 Ukrainian clients.[16] The organization also offered psychological counseling and operated a hotline for those needing assistance and treatment during the hostilities.[15]

Services

In addition to activities in the Hesed centers, volunteers visit the homebound.[17] Hesed's services included food programs and packages,[4] meals-on-wheels, soup kitchens, winter relief, homecare, providing medicine, medical equipment[7] and medical services.[3][8]

Social and community services include day centers, library services, and Jewish holiday celebrations.[4][8]

References
  1. Liphshiz, Cnaan (4 October 2012). "Funds for Ukrainian Survivors Bring High Hopes". Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  2. Sokol, Sam (19 September 2014). "Unable to flee, elderly Jews remain behind in eastern Ukraine". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  3. Tighe, Elizabeth; de Kramer, Raquel Magidin; Bleckman, Dina; Nursahedov, Begli; Saxe, Leonard (2012). Hardship And Needs Of Elderly Hesed Clients: An Analysis Of Clients Served By Hesed Service Centers In Russia & Ukraine. Boston, MA: Brandeis University. pp. 27–34. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  4. Weiner, Anita (2003). Renewal : reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish people ; a decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) activities in the former Soviet Union ; 1988-1998. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. pp. 176, 205. ISBN 9780761824763.
  5. Radler, Melissa (17 October 2003). "Acts of kindness". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  6. ZIieve, Tamara (3 April 2017). "Scores help reach out to elderly, needy Jews in Ukraine". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  7. Shachtman, Tom (2001). I Seek My Brethren: Ralph Goldman and 'the Joint' : Rescue, Relief, and Reconstruction. New York: New Market Press. p. 240. ISBN 1557044953.
  8. Harrison, Andrew (2003). "Book Review: Renewal: Reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Jewish People; A Decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) Activities in the Former Soviet Union, 1988-1998". American Jewish History. 91 (1): 191–193. doi:10.1353/ajh.2004.0029.
  9. Alleson, I. (2006). "[Review of Social Disaster as Opportunity: The Hesed Model, by J. Mirsky, R. Kaufman, & A. Avgar]". Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. 17 (4): 377–378. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  10. Maltz, Judy (1 May 2022). "The Woman Who Oversaw the Rescue of 250 Ukrainian Jews From the Russian Border". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  11. Khanin, Vladimir (2002). "Institutionalization Of The Post-Communist Jewish Movement: Organizational Structures, Ruling Elites, And Political Conflicts". Jewish Political Studies Review. 14 (1/2): 11–12.
  12. "Top Russian Rabbi Says NGO Crackdown Worries Jews". Forward. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  13. Katz, Esther (1 January 2004). Hesed Evaluation Study: Jewish Identity, Community Orientation and Voluntarism: Report Number 5: Findings from an In-depth Study of Hesed Directors and Jewish Community Representatives (PDF). Jerusalem: JDC-Brookdale Institute. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  14. Borschel-Dan, Amanda (6 March 2014). "Crimean Jews Surprised by New Referendum to Join Russia". Times of Israel. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  15. Surkes, Sue (2 March 2022). "Risking Life and Limb, Hesed Network Continues Caring for Ukraine's Neediest Jews". Times of Israel. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
  16. Liphshiz, Cnaan (22 February 2022). "Odessa's Rabbi, Responsible for 250 Kids in 3 Orphanages". Times of Israel. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  17. Avgar, Amos; Mirsky, Julia; Kaufman, Roni (2006). "Chapter Three: From Model to Movement: The Development of Hesed Centers in the Former Soviet Union". In Mirsky, Julia; Kaufman, Roni (eds.). Social Disaster as Opportunity: The Hesed Model. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. p. 198. ISBN 9780761833383.
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