Jewish Federations and the Crisis in Ukraine: September 1, 2022

(Note: This week, at the end of summer vacations, we offer a very brief update; and will return to our full reports next week).

 

  • As Ukraine celebrated its independence day this week, under severely difficult conditions, it is now just over six months after Russia invaded, and the war rages on.
  • A total of more than eleven million people have left Ukraine, although close to five million have since returned.
  • As Jews continue to flee Ukraine, and make Aliyah from Russia, Jewish Federations noted the sad death this week of the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who is responsible for freeing Soviet Jewry, resulting in the largest Aliyah in modern times, when some one million Soviet Jews moved to Israel.
  • Jewish Federations and our partners continue to work together to ensure that urgent relief reaches the neediest, including those refugees who have fled, as well as those remaining in Ukraine, given that close to seven million have been displaced from their homes but remain in the country. See this link for a new review of Federations’ relief efforts, that include the $73.5 million raised to date, with $61 million already distributed to Federations’ core partners, The Jewish Agency for Israel, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), and World ORT, along with over 50 other NGO’s.
  • Jewish Federations project an additional $46 million in need among partner organizations before the end of this calendar year.
  • Jewish Federations have also launched a $1 million Ukrainian Resettlement Grant Initiative with matching funds from the Shapiro Foundation and the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston’s Jewish Federation.  


Jewish Federations continue to monitor the situation in Ukraine closely, and, working with our partners, are offering considerable relief efforts to those most in need.


For more information, please contact Dani Wassner.