The FJC

Throughout 70 harsh years, the Soviet regime brutally crushed Jewish life across the USSR; thousands of Jews were murdered or exiled, while millions more were severed from their roots, heritage and identity. Hundreds of flourishing Jewish communities were reduced to rubble.

Upon the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1991, a new era began, and the dire needs of the remaining Jewish communities in the post-Soviet world led to the formation of an organization uniting an unprecedented amount of Jewish communities – The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS – FJC. This newly-formed organization faced the enormous task of reviving Jewish life in hundreds of communities across 10 time zones and thousands of kilometers, most of which struggled in some of the worst imaginable living conditions and had very little knowledge of the rich Jewish life and culture destroyed by the Soviet regime. Over the course of 25 years, FJC played a prominent role in outreach to grassroots communities in 90 major cities and 290 small towns and villages in 10 countries across the FSU – Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Estonia and Latvia. FJC is leading an inspiring new chapter in the history of the third largest Jewish community in the world: local communities have been revived, synagogues reclaimed and the spirit of the Jewish people restored. FJC is engaged in nurturing every aspect of Jewish life, from the urgently needed humanitarian aid to the renaissance of Jewish education, culture and heritage. Among FJC’s flagship programs are:

• The ‘Or Avner’ Jewish educational network, comprised of 124 schools that serve over 6,823 students and are recognized for their excellence in general and Jewish studies.
• Informal education – youth programs and outreach, including a large summer camps network and the dynamic EnerJew and Stars initiatives that reach out to university students and teenagers to cultivate young Jewish leadership and spur community activism.
• Orphanage network of five children’s homes that shelter over 400 orphans, displaced and abused children.
• Humanitarian Aid that includes medical assistance for families and elderly people, 4,500 monthly food packages and 4,800 clothing packages twice a year. There are 88,000 Passover parcels distributed each spring.
• Refugee crisis relief – over 7,050 refugees in the Eastern Ukraine are being helped with essential needs ranging from shelter and clothing to medical attention and employment.
• Social services and counseling – expert psychiatric and psychological teams in Israel are enlisted to address mental health needs in Jewish communities across the former Soviet Union.

What began as a grassroots initiative, led by the remaining Jews of the FSU, developed into an all-encompassing mechanism that supports the needs of hundreds of communities in a timely and effective manner. With unmatched presence on the ground and minimal overhead costs, FJC has become a lean and effective mechanism to alleviate poverty and lead the revival of Jewish life in the FSU. By keeping its hand on the pulse of the evolving needs of the Jews of the CIS, FJC is in the unique position to carry-out its mission: providing excellent education; reviving post-Soviet Jewry; saving lives and nurturing stability and hope.