Renewal: Reconnecting Soviet Jewry to the Soviet People: A Decade of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) Activities in the Former Sov [Paperback]

Seven decades of severe Soviet cultural-religious suppression and two world wars had isolated and demolished the once flourishing Jewish communities behind the Iron Curtain. When the era of Glasnost and Perestroika presented an opportunity for world Jewry to reestablish its lost ties with the three of four million Jews still living throughout the former Soviet Republics, it was unknown whether there was any hope for some kind of Jewish community renewal. The story of how the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a voluntary, humanitarian organization supported by American Jewry, made its entry into the isolated, poverty-stricken world, is a dramatic one. Beginning with only a few highly motivated and experienced workers, contact was made through music, literature, food packages, and religious holiday celebrations. Local Jewish leadership emerged and was encouraged. Plans for community development through social, religious, educational and welfare services were made and implemented. With the guidance of AJJDC and its dedicated community workers came rehabilitation and renewal.Anita Weineris Retired; Former faculty member, Haifa University School of Social Work.

?Weiner has written a thorough study that will enrich anyone interested in Jewish community development and life in the former Soviet Union. Andrew Harrison, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,American Jewish History

&Weiner has written a thorough study that will enrich anyone interested in Jewish community development and life in the former Soviet Union. Andrew Harrison, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,American Jewish History

Chapter 1 Preface and Acknowledgments
Chapter 2Reconnection to Jewish Culture and Learning:Introduction: The JDC Jewish Library Project; Background: Jewish Education and Culture during the Soviet Era; JDC's Official Re-entry and the Formulation of JDC Strategy in Education and Culture in the So
Chapter 3Jewish Education lÃ(