American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee , also known as Joint or JDC , is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City . Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization is active in more than 70 countries.
121-710: The JDC offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities. The JDC was founded in 1914, initially to provide assistance to Jews living in Palestine in the Ottoman Empire . The JDC began its efforts to save Jews with
242-722: A homeland for the Jewish people . The modern definition of the region follows the boundaries of that entity, which were fixed in the North and East in 1920–23 by the British Mandate for Palestine (including the Transjordan memorandum ) and the Paulet–Newcombe Agreement , and on the South by following the 1906 Turco-Egyptian boundary agreement. The region of Palestine is the eponym for
363-676: A "district of Syria, called Palaistínē " ( Ancient Greek : Συρίη ἡ Παλαιστίνη καλεομένη ) in The Histories , which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley . Approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition for the region in Meteorology , in which he included the Dead Sea . Later Greek writers such as Polemon and Pausanias also used the term to refer to
484-446: A Jewish future for their youth and youth to come. In Israel , JDC responds to crisis-related needs while helping to improve services to the elderly, children and youth, new immigrants, the disabled, and other vulnerable populations. In the spirit of tikkun olam , a Hebrew phrase referring to the moral responsibility to repair the world and alleviate suffering, the JDC has contributed funding and expertise in humanitarian crises such as
605-566: A century, beginning with the Turkish freeman Ahmad ibn Tulun , for whom both Jews and Christians prayed when he lay dying and ending with the Ikhshidid rulers. Reverence for Jerusalem increased during this period, with many of the Egyptian rulers choosing to be buried there. However, the later period became characterized by persecution of Christians as the threat from Byzantium grew. The Fatimids , with
726-805: A crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. In the Bronze Age , it was home to Canaanite city-states; and the later Iron Age saw the emergence of Israel and Judah . It has since come under the sway of various empires, including the Neo-Assyrian Empire , the Neo-Babylonian Empire , the Achaemenid Empire , the Macedonian Empire , and the Seleucid Empire . The brief Hasmonean dynasty ended with its gradual incorporation into
847-514: A donation of $ 50,000 from Jacob Schiff , a wealthy Jewish entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the main funder of the organization and helped raise funds to save and aid Jews around the world. Additionally, the American Jewish Relief Committee helped collect funds for the JDC. Several wealthy, Reform Jews founded the American Jewish Relief Committee on October 25, 1914. Jacob Schiff was one of these men, along with Louis Marshall,
968-462: A few years. The JDC and Israel organized Operation Magic Carpet , the June 1948 airlift of 50,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. In all, more than 300,000 Jews left North Africa for Israel. Thousands more Iraqi and Kurdish Jews were transported through Operation Ezra , also funded by JDC. The influx was so massive—and the capacity of the newborn nation to provide for its burgeoning citizenry so limited—that
1089-548: A field organization that covered Europe and later North Africa and designing a more proactive operational strategy. Supplementing the relief supplied by the army, by UNRRA, and by UNRRA's successor agency—the International Refugee Organization —JDC distributed emergency aid, but also fed the educational and cultural needs of the displaced, providing typewriters , books, Torah scrolls, ritual articles, and holiday provisions. JDC funds were directed at restoring
1210-499: A long and tumultuous history as a crossroads for religion, culture, commerce, and politics. The region has been controlled by numerous peoples, including ancient Egyptians , Canaanites , Israelites , Assyrians , Babylonians , Achaemenids , ancient Greeks , Romans , Parthians , Sasanians , Byzantines , the Arab Rashidun , Umayyad , Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates , Crusaders , Ayyubids , Mamluks , Mongols , Ottomans ,
1331-528: A major regional power, partly fueled by his monopolization of the cotton and olive oil trade from Palestine to Europe. Acre's regional dominance was further elevated under Zahir's successor Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar at the expense of Damascus . In 1830, on the eve of Muhammad Ali 's invasion, the Porte transferred control of the sanjaks of Jerusalem and Nablus to Abdullah Pasha , the governor of Acre. According to Silverburg, in regional and cultural terms this move
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#17328447048581452-670: A name for the geographic area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Under Arab rule, Filastin (or Jund Filastin ) was used administratively to refer to what was under the Byzantines Palaestina Secunda (comprising Judaea and Samaria ), while Palaestina Prima (comprising the Galilee region) was renamed Urdunn ("Jordan" or Jund al-Urdunn ). Nineteenth-century sources refer to Palestine as extending from
1573-608: A predominantly Berber army, conquered the region in 970, a date that marks the beginning of a period of unceasing warfare between numerous enemies, which destroyed Palestine, and in particular, devastating its Jewish population. Between 1071 and 1073, Palestine was captured by the Great Seljuq Empire , only to be recaptured by the Fatimids in 1098. The Fatimids again lost the region to the Crusaders in 1099 . The Crusaders set up
1694-576: A relief program for 15,000 refugees from Central and Eastern Europe. In Europe, JDC directed funds to support 7,000 Jewish children in hiding. The Joint also worked with Œuvre de secours aux enfants (OSE) to support and rescue children. For instance, it helped more than 1,000 children emigrate to Switzerland and Spain . Other children fled to America, with help from the Joint and other organizations, such as HIAS . Many of those children who were able to make it to America came without parents, making them part of
1815-586: A revolt against the latter led to its destruction in 586 BCE. The region became part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from c. 740 BCE, which was itself replaced by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in c. 627 BCE. In 587/6 BCE, Jerusalem was besieged and destroyed by the second Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II , who subsequently exiled the Judeans to Babylon . The Kingdom of Judah
1936-567: A sense of community and normalcy in the camps with new medical facilities, schools, synagogues , and cultural activities. Over the next two years, the influx of refugees from all over Central and Eastern Europe would more than triple the number of Jews in the DP camps. Their number included Polish Jews who had returned from their wartime refuge in the Soviet Union only to flee once again (westward, this time) from renewed anti-Semitism and pogroms . During
2057-630: A term that had previously only referred to the smaller region of the Judaean Mountains . During the same period, the Edomites were converted to Judaism. Between 73 and 63 BCE, the Roman Republic extended its influence into the region in the Third Mithridatic War . Pompey conquered Judea in 63 BCE, splitting the former Hasmonean Kingdom into five districts. In around 40 BCE,
2178-724: Is a geographical area in West Asia . It includes modern-day Israel and the State of Palestine , as well as parts of northwestern Jordan in some definitions. Other names for the region include Canaan , the Promised Land , the Land of Israel , or the Holy Land . The earliest written record referring to Palestine as a geographical region is in the Histories of Herodotus in the 5th century BCE, which calls
2299-637: Is also sometimes used in a limited sense to refer to the parts of the Palestinian territories currently under the administrative control of the Palestinian National Authority , a quasi-governmental entity which governs parts of the State of Palestine under the terms of the Oslo Accords . Estimating the population of Palestine in antiquity relies on two methods – censuses and writings made at
2420-843: Is debated. Between 259 and 272, the region fell under the rule of Odaenathus as King of the Palmyrene Empire . Following the victory of Christian emperor Constantine in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy , the Christianization of the Roman Empire began, and in 326, Constantine's mother Saint Helena visited Jerusalem and began the construction of churches and shrines. Palestine became a center of Christianity, attracting numerous monks and religious scholars. The Samaritan Revolts during this period caused their near extinction. In 614 CE, Palestine
2541-782: Is estimated to have occurred from 28 to 30 CE, although the historicity of Jesus is disputed by a minority of scholars. In the first and second centuries CE, the province of Judea became the site of two large-scale Jewish revolts against Rome . During the First Jewish-Roman War , which lasted from 66 to 73 CE, the Romans razed Jerusalem and destroyed the Second Temple . In Masada , Jewish zealots preferred to commit suicide than endure Roman captivity. In 132 CE, another Jewish rebellion erupted. The Bar Kokhba revolt took three years to put down, incurred massive costs on both
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#17328447048582662-563: Is found in five inscriptions referring to a neighboring people or land starting from c. 1150 BCE during the Twentieth dynasty of Egypt . The first known mention is at the temple at Medinet Habu which refers to the Peleset among those who fought with Egypt in Ramesses III 's reign, and the last known is 300 years later on Padiiset's Statue . Seven known Assyrian inscriptions refer to
2783-529: Is sometimes used as an alternative to the term "Eastern Europe," for more neutral grouping. The term CEE includes the Eastern Bloc ( Warsaw Pact ) countries west of the post- World War II border with the former Soviet Union; the independent states in former Yugoslavia (which were not considered part of the Eastern bloc); and the three Baltic states – Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania (which chose not to join
2904-719: The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami , the Myanmar cyclone of 2008, the genocide in Darfur , the escalating violence in Georgia and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami . In the 1920s, the Soviet government wanted to control the JDC and how it was working with the Jews living in the Soviet Union. The JDC had agreed to work with an organization known as the Jewish Public Committee, which was controlled by
3025-710: The Assassination of Ali , Muawiyah I became the Caliph of the Islamic world after being crowned in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock , completed in 691, was the world's first great work of Islamic architecture. The majority of the population was Christian and was to remain so until the conquest of Saladin in 1187. The Muslim conquest apparently had little impact on social and administrative continuities for several decades. The word 'Arab' at
3146-524: The Balkans ), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc and Warsaw Pact in Europe , as well as from former Yugoslavia . Scholarly literature often uses the abbreviations CEE or CEEC for this term. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also uses the term "Central and Eastern European Countries" (CEECs) for a group comprising some of these countries. This term
3267-468: The British , and modern Israelis and Palestinians . The region was among the earliest in the world to see human habitation, agricultural communities and civilization . During the Bronze Age , independent Canaanite city-states were established, and were influenced by the surrounding civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia , Phoenicia , Minoan Crete, and Syria. Between 1550 and 1400 BCE,
3388-626: The CIS with the other 12 former republics of the USSR). The CEE countries are further subdivided by their accession status to the European Union (EU): the eight first-wave accession countries that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 ( Estonia , Latvia , Lithuania , Czech Republic , Slovakia , Poland , Hungary , and Slovenia ), the two second-wave accession countries that joined on 1 January 2007 ( Romania and Bulgaria ) and
3509-737: The Central Intelligence Agency in 1974 that Jordan had been abducted by Arab agents and died during interrogation by Palestinians at the Egyptian embassy in Prague. The Joint Distribution Committee finances programs to assist impoverished Jews in the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe , providing food, medicine, home care, and other critical aid to elderly Jews and children in need. The JDC also enables small Jewish populations in Latin American , African , and Asian countries to maintain essential social services and help ensure
3630-790: The Crusades , the population of Palestine became predominantly Muslim . In the 13th century, it became part of the Mamluk Sultanate , and after 1516, spent four centuries as part of the Ottoman Empire . During World War I , Palestine was occupied by the United Kingdom as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign . Between 1919 and 1922, the League of Nations created the Mandate for Palestine , which came under British administration as Mandatory Palestine through
3751-562: The Dead Sea and River Jordan ) has at times formed a political and administrative frontier, even within empires that have controlled both territories. At other times, such as during certain periods during the Hasmonean and Crusader states for example, as well as during the biblical period , territories on both sides of the river formed part of the same administrative unit. During the Arab Caliphate period, parts of southern Lebanon and
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3872-628: The Iron Age , the Israelites established two related kingdoms, Israel and Judah . The Kingdom of Israel emerged as an important local power by the 10th century BCE before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE. Israel's southern neighbor, the Kingdom of Judah , emerged in the 8th or 9th century BCE and later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire before
3993-421: The Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099–1291). Their control of Jerusalem and most of Palestine lasted almost a century until their defeat by Saladin 's forces in 1187, after which most of Palestine was controlled by the Ayyubids , except for the years 1229–1244 when Jerusalem and other areas were retaken by the Second Kingdom of Jerusalem , by then ruled from Acre (1191–1291), but, despite seven further crusades,
4114-441: The Mongol raids into Palestine under Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa , and reaching an apex at the pivotal Battle of Ain Jalut , where they were pushed back by the Mamluks. In 1486, hostilities broke out between the Mamluks and the Ottoman Empire in a battle for control over western Asia, and the Ottomans conquered Palestine in 1516. Between the mid-16th and 17th centuries, a close-knit alliance of three local dynasties,
4235-501: The Muslim conquest , place names that were in use by the Byzantine administration generally continued to be used in Arabic. The use of the name "Palestine" became common in Early Modern English , was used in English and Arabic during the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem and was revived as an official place name with the British Mandate for Palestine . Some other terms that have been used to refer to all or part of this land include Canaan , Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael or Ha'aretz),
4356-404: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , "Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is an OECD term for the group of countries comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania." The term Central and Eastern Europe (abbreviated CEE ) has displaced
4477-442: The Palestinian people and the culture of Palestine , both of which are defined as relating to the whole historical region, usually defined as the localities within the border of Mandatory Palestine . The 1968 Palestinian National Covenant described Palestine as the "homeland of the Arab Palestinian people", with "the boundaries it had during the British Mandate". However, since the 1988 Palestinian Declaration of Independence ,
4598-497: The Parthians conquered Palestine, deposed the Roman ally Hyrcanus II , and installed a puppet ruler of the Hasmonean line known as Antigonus II . By 37 BCE, the Parthians withdrew from Palestine. Palestine is generally considered the "Cradle of Christianity ". Christianity, a religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth , arose as a messianic sect from within Second Temple Judaism . The three-year Ministry of Jesus , culminating in his crucifixion ,
4719-408: The Promised Land , the region of Syria , the Holy Land , Iudaea Province , Judea , Coele-Syria , "Israel HaShlema", Kingdom of Israel , Kingdom of Jerusalem , Zion , Retenu (Ancient Egyptian), Southern Syria , Southern Levant and Syria Palaestina . Situated at a strategic location between Egypt , Syria and Arabia , and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , the region has
4840-423: The Ridwans of Gaza , the Turabays of al-Lajjun and the Farrukhs of Nablus , governed Palestine on behalf of the Porte (imperial Ottoman government). In the 18th century, the Zaydani clan under the leadership of Zahir al-Umar ruled large parts of Palestine autonomously until the Ottomans were able to defeat them in their Galilee strongholds in 1775–76. Zahir had turned the port city of Acre into
4961-437: The Second Intifada (also called al-Aqsa Intifada) began, and Israel built a separation barrier . In the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza , Israel withdrew all settlers and military presence from the Gaza Strip, but maintained military control of numerous aspects of the territory including its borders, air space and coast. Israel's ongoing military occupation of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues to be
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5082-440: The Six-Day War in June 1967, Israel captured the rest of Mandate Palestine from Jordan and Egypt, and began a policy of establishing Jewish settlements in those territories . From 1987 to 1993, the First Palestinian Intifada against Israel took place, which included the Declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988 and ended with the 1993 Oslo Peace Accords and the creation of the Palestinian National Authority . In 2000,
5203-404: The Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land , or OZET , was established in the Soviet Union for this purpose; it functioned from 1925 to 1938. There was also a special government committee set up, called Komzet . Its function was to contribute and distribute the land for the Jewish collective farms, and to work jointly with OZET. The United States delivered updated agricultural equipment to
5324-408: The Torah , with undefined boundaries, and almost 200 of the remaining references are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel . The term is rarely used in the Septuagint , which used a transliteration Land of Phylistieim ( Γῆ τῶν Φυλιστιείμ ), different from the contemporary Greek place name Palaistínē ( Παλαιστίνη ). It is also theorized to be the portmanteau of the Greek word for
5445-408: The United Nations General Assembly adopted in November 1947 a Resolution 181(II) recommending partition into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. A civil war began immediately after the Resolution's adoption. The State of Israel was declared in May 1948. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War , Israel captured and incorporated a further 26% of
5566-462: The Yishuv ’s leaders appealed to Henry Morgenthau, Sr. , then the U.S. ambassador to Turkey. Morgenthau was moved and appalled by the misery he witnessed. Soon after seeing what he did, Morgenthau sent an urgent cable to New York-based Jewish philanthropist Jacob Schiff , requesting $ 50,000 of aid to keep the Jews of Palestine from starvation and death. Dated August 31, 1914, the Western Union cablegram read, in part: The plea found concerned ears in
5687-404: The capital from kassa loans help revitalize villages and towns throughout Eastern Europe. With the support of the Soviet government, JDC pushed forward with this bold initiative to settle so-called “nonproductive” Jews as farmers on vast agricultural settlements in Ukraine , Belarus , and Crimea , as well as an attempt to grant Soviet Jews autonomy in Crimea . A special public organization,
5808-446: The famine . JDC fulfills its mission on four fronts: The organisation was led by Moses A. Leavitt until his death in 1965; Leavitt was then succeeded by Charles H. Jordan . Jordan died in Prague in 1967. His death was declared suicide by Czechoslovak government, in the context of communist denouncements of the JDC at the time, The New York Times reported his death as mysterious. In 1974, Czechoslovak defector Josef Frolik advised
5929-452: The " One Thousand Children " (OTC). On May 13, 1939, the ocean liner MS St. Louis left Germany and headed to Havana, Cuba. On the ship, there were 937 passengers, most of which were Jews fleeing Nazi-occupied Germany. Nearly all the Jewish passengers had applied for U.S. visas and planned to stay in Cuba only until they obtained their visas. However, the Cuban government "revoked" the Cuban visas, and only granted entry to Cuba to 28 of
6050-634: The 1940s. Tensions between Jews and Arabs escalated into the 1947–1949 Palestine war , which ended with the establishment of Israel on most of the territory, and neighboring Jordan and Egypt controlling the West Bank and the Gaza Strip respectively. The 1967 Six Day War saw Israel's occupation of both territories , which has been among the core issues of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict . Modern archaeology has identified 12 ancient inscriptions from Egyptian and Assyrian records recording likely cognates of Hebrew Pelesheth . The term "Peleset" ( transliterated from hieroglyphs as P-r-s-t )
6171-669: The 1960s with the founding of Israel's first Child Development and Assessment Center, which put into practice the then-emerging idea that early detection and treatment optimize outcomes for children with disabilities. A success, Child Development Centers soon spread across the country. JDC during this period also worked closely with Israeli voluntary agencies that served children with physical and mental disabilities, helping them set up therapy programs, kindergartens, day centers, counseling services for parents, and summer camps . It also advised these organizations on fundraising strategies to help them become financially independent. In 1969, JDC and
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#17328447048586292-406: The 937 passengers. Furthermore, the U.S. refused to provide entry visas to America. Once this news reached Europe and the United States, an attorney, Lawrence Berenson, who worked with the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee decided to intervene on behalf of the passengers being denied entry to Cuba. During this time, the JDC was striving to help Jewish immigrants find a home, so the goal of Berenson
6413-410: The Agro-Joint initiative would turn tragic just two years later. Joseph Stalin 's government had grown increasingly hostile to foreign organizations. Agro-Joint worker soon became targets for Stalinist purges under the National Operations of the NKVD . Operational Order No. 00439, entitled “On the Arrest of German Subjects Suspected of Espionage against the USSR” was issued on July 25, 1937, and mandated
6534-488: The American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation (Agro-Joint), in 1924. JDC appointed a New York lawyer, James N. Rosenberg , to head its European Executive Council and oversee Agro-Joint operations. He was later named President of the American Society for Jewish Farm Settlements in Russia, Inc. One innovation was the establishment of loan kassas , cooperative credit institutions that issued low interest loans to Jewish craftsmen and small business owners. From 1924 until 1938,
6655-405: The Arab world. North Africa became an especially dangerous place for Jews following World War II. Jews in Libya suffered a devastating pogrom in 1945. The 1948 Arab–Israeli War in Palestine set off a wave of nationalist fervor in the region, leading to anti-Jewish riots in Aden , Morocco , and Tripoli . Nearly the entire Jewish population of Libya, 31,000 persons, immigrated to Israel within
6776-453: The Bolsheviks. By agreeing to do this, the JDC was able to assist Jews, while being supervised by the Bolsheviks, which appeased the Soviet Union. World War I plunged Eastern Europe into chaos and subjected Jewish communities across the region to intense poverty, famine, and inflamed anti-Semitism. The Russian Revolution and other subsequent conflicts fanned the flames further, and pleas for JDC's humanitarian intervention increased. Therefore,
6897-454: The Canaanite cities became vassals to the Egyptian New Kingdom who held power until the 1178 BCE Battle of Djahy (Canaan) during the wider Bronze Age collapse . The Israelites emerged from a dramatic social transformation that took place in the people of the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE, with no signs of violent invasion or even of peaceful infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group from elsewhere. During
7018-409: The Franks were no longer a significant power in the region. The Fourth Crusade , which did not reach Palestine, led directly to the decline of the Byzantine Empire, dramatically reducing Christian influence throughout the region. The Mamluk Sultanate was created in Egypt as an indirect result of the Seventh Crusade . The Mongol Empire reached Palestine for the first time in 1260, beginning with
7139-569: The Holocaust. Due to the JDC active efforts and connections, JDC was able to save most of the Jewish passengers aboard the St. Louis . During the Holocaust , the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was the main financial benefactor towards Jewish emigration from Europe and rescue attempts of Jews from Nazi-controlled territories. From the outbreak of World War II through 1944, JDC made it possible for more than 81,000 Jews to emigrate out of Nazi-occupied Europe to safety. JDC also smuggled aid to Jewish prisoners in labor camps and helped finance
7260-529: The Israeli government and private agencies to identify, evaluate, and address unmet needs in Israeli society. As its record of accomplishment in Israel makes clear, JDC helped Israel develop social welfare methods and policy, with many of its programs having served as models for government and non-governmental agencies around the world. In the 1950s, institutional care for the aged was replaced whenever practicable with JDC initiatives that enabled older people to live at home in their communities. The Ministry of Health
7381-403: The JDC a priority. JDC provided emergency aid for stranded refugees; covered travel expenses and landing fees; and secured travel accommodations and all-important visas for countries of refuge. Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and World War II was declared by England and France two days later. This immediately increased the need for help for Jewish emigration. During the period 1933 to
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#17328447048587502-466: The JDC focused its efforts on the Jews who remained in Germany. In addition to their financial difficulties, Nazis pillaged the JDC European headquarters, which caused them to move their headquarters from Berlin to Paris. Despite the continuing depression in America, American Jews began to donate more money to the JDC as they became more aware of the grave situation and danger that their fellow Jews were in. During these seven years, 1933–1939, in which America
7623-458: The JDC had disbursed over $ 22,000,000 to help in restoration and relief across Europe. By 1914, approximately 59,000 Jews were living in Palestine under Ottoman rule. The settlement—the Yishuv —was largely made up of Jews that had emigrated from Europe and were largely dependent on sources outside of Palestine for their income. The outbreak of World War I destroyed those channels, leaving the community isolated and destitute. With disaster looming,
7744-440: The Jewish colonies in the USSR. The JDC also had agronomists teach the Jewish colonists how to do agricultural work. This helped over 150,00 Jews and improved over 250 settlements. The number of Jewish peasants was greatly reduced because unemployment was down and the colonies were more successful. Agro-Joint was also active, during these years, in helping with the resettlement of refugee Jewish doctors from Germany. The success of
7865-407: The Jewish communities of the Pale of Settlement in Russia became caught up in the fighting along the World War I Eastern Front . Under the leadership of Judah Magnes the Committee was able to raise another five million dollars by the end of the year. In 1921, following the post-revolutionary civil war of Russia, the Committee was one of only two organizations left in America sending aid to combat
7986-442: The Jewish refugee population for new lives in Palestine, soon to be the Jewish state of Israel. Vocational training and hachsharot (agricultural training) centers were established for this purpose. The goal of resettlement carried its own hurdles. Since before the war, Palestine had been under control of Great Britain , which severely restricted the immigration of Europe's Jewish refugees. Clandestine immigration went on in spite of
8107-413: The Jordan valley in 1918 and a campaign by the Entente into northern Palestine led to victory at Megiddo in September . The British were formally awarded the mandate to govern the region in 1922. The Arab Palestinians rioted in 1920 , 1921 , 1929 , and revolted in 1936 . In 1947, following World War II and The Holocaust , the British Government announced its desire to terminate the Mandate, and
8228-403: The Mandate territory, Jordan captured the regions of Judea and Samaria , renaming it the " West Bank ", while the Gaza Strip was captured by Egypt . Following the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight , also known as al-Nakba , the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes were not allowed to return following the Lausanne Conference of 1949 . In the course of
8349-442: The Muslim Arabs not to settle in the villages, "for he who abides in villages it is as if he abides in graves". The Umayyads , who had spurred a strong economic resurgence in the area, were replaced by the Abbasids in 750. Ramla became the administrative centre for the following centuries, while Tiberias became a thriving centre of Muslim scholarship. From 878, Palestine was ruled from Egypt by semi-autonomous rulers for almost
8470-558: The Nazi horrors had crowded into hastily set up displaced person camps throughout Germany, Austria, and Italy . Conditions were abominable. Earl Harrison , dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School , asked Joseph Schwartz, JDC's European director, to accompany him on his official tour of the camps. His landmark report called for separate Jewish camps and for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) participation in administering them—with JDC's help. In response, Schwartz virtually re-created JDC, putting together
8591-409: The Philistines and palaistês , which means "wrestler/rival/adversary". This aligns with the Greek practice of punning place names since the latter is also the etymological meaning for Israel . The Septuagint instead used the term "allophuloi" ( άλλόφυλοι , "other nations") throughout the Books of Judges and Samuel, such that the term "Philistines" has been interpreted to mean "non-Israelites of
8712-775: The Polish Jewish underground in preparations for the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto revolt. In addition, JDC was a major channel keeping American Jewish leaders informed—often in detail—about the holocaust. Allied victory offered no guarantee that the tens of thousands of newly liberated Jews ( Sh'erit ha-Pletah ) would survive to enjoy the fruits of freedom. To stave off mass starvation, JDC marshaled its resources, instituting an ambitious purchasing and shipping program to provide urgent necessities for Holocaust survivors facing critical local shortages. More than 227 million pounds of food, medicine, clothing, and other supplies were shipped to Europe from U.S. ports. By late 1945, 75,000 Jewish survivors of
8833-728: The Promised Land" when used in the context of Samson, Saul and David, and Rabbinic sources explain that these peoples were different from the Philistines of the Book of Genesis . During the Byzantine period , the region of Palestine within Syria Palaestina was subdivided into Palaestina Prima and Secunda , and an area of land including the Negev and Sinai became Palaestina Salutaris . Following
8954-710: The Roman Empire, and later the Byzantine Empire, during which Palestine became a center of Christianity. In the 7th century, Palestine was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate , ending Byzantine rule in the region; Rashidun rule was succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphate , the Abbasid Caliphate , and the Fatimid Caliphate . Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which had been established through
9075-631: The Romans and the Jews, and desolated much of Judea. The center of Jewish life in Palestine moved to the Galilee. During or after the revolt, Hadrian joined the province of Iudaea with Galilee and the Paralia to form the new province of Syria Palaestina , and Jerusalem was renamed " Aelia Capitolina ". Some scholars view these actions as an attempt to disconnect the Jewish people from their homeland, but this theory
9196-705: The Soviet Union allowed the JDC to work with the American Relief Aid (ARA), instead of the Jewish Public Committee, in order to help those living in famine. This went on from 1921 to 1923, and during this time the JDC and ARA were able to use nearly $ 4 million to feed 2 million people in both Belorussia and Ukraine. The JDC went further to improve conditions for the Jews living in Ukraine by bringing 86 tractors from America to Ukraine. They used these tractors to help reconstruct Jewish agricultural colonies. Many of these colonies in which Jews were living had been destroyed during
9317-566: The U.S. In a month, $ 50,000 (the equivalent of $ 1 million in the year 2000) was raised through the efforts of what was intended to be an ad hoc and temporary collective of three existing religious and secular Jewish organizations: the American Jewish Relief Committee, the Central Committee for the Relief of Jews Suffering Through the War, and People's Relief Committee. In 1915, a greater crisis arose when
9438-602: The United Kingdom preceded its spread within the Jewish community. The government of Great Britain publicly supported it during World War I with the Balfour Declaration of 1917. The British began their Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1915. The war reached southern Palestine in 1917 , progressing to Gaza and around Jerusalem by the end of the year . The British secured Jerusalem in December 1917 . They moved into
9559-459: The area Palaistine , referring to the territory previously held by Philistia , a state that existed in that area from the 12th to the 7th century BCE. The Roman Empire conquered the region and in 6 CE established the province known as Judaea , but then in 132 CE in the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt the province was expanded and renamed Syria Palaestina . In 390, during the Byzantine period,
9680-505: The arrest of current and former German citizens who had taken up Soviet citizenship. Later in the year, the order was expanded to include others suspected of collaborating or spying for Germany. Agro-Joint workers, and the doctors it had helped to resettle, became targets. Many of those who assisted in Agro-Joint - including its 17 staff - were arrested, were accused of espionage and counterrevolutionary activities, and were killed. By 1941, all
9801-582: The blockades, largely because of the work of Bricha and Aliyah Bet , two organized movements partially financed and supplied by JDC. When the British began interning illegal Jewish immigrants in detention camps on Cyprus , JDC furnished medical, educational, and social services for the detainees. Britain's eventual withdrawal from Palestine set the stage for the May 15, 1948, birth of the State of Israel, which quickly drew waves of Jews not only from Europe, but from across
9922-879: The coast north of Mount Carmel . Elsewhere, distinguishing the Syrians in Palestine from the Phoenicians, he refers to their land as extending down all the coast from Phoenicia to Egypt. Pliny , writing in Latin in the 1st century CE, describes a region of Syria that was "formerly called Palaestina " among the areas of the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the Byzantine Period, the Byzantine borders of Palaestina ( I and II , also known as Palaestina Prima , "First Palestine", and Palaestina Secunda , "Second Palestine"), have served as
10043-658: The colony. Falk Jr and his wife Katherine were very active in the association, including sponsoring some of the trips, arranging grants from the Falk Foundation and visiting the colony several times. By 1940, JDC was still able to help refugees in transit in more than 40 countries. The Joint opened shelters and soup kitchens for thousands of Jewish refugees in Poland , aiding some 600,000 in 1940. It also subsidized hospitals, child care centers, and educational and cultural programs. Even Passover supplies were shipped in. The goal of this
10164-636: The conference, willing to increase their immigration limits. The Dominican Republic Settlement Association, or DORSA, a project of the JDC, was initiated to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe into an agricultural settlement in Sosua , in the Dominican Republic. Leon Falk Jr. served as president of the association from 1941-1942. The first group of refugees arrived at the 26,000 acre colony in Sosua Bay on May 11, 1940. By January 1941, 300 refugees had immigrated to
10285-444: The disadvantaged, enabling them to contribute to the building of the new country. At the same time, Israel's local and national government agencies were building capacity. With the need for emergency aid receding, by the end of the decade, JDC developed more long-term community-based programs aimed at Israel's most vulnerable citizens. In the coming years, JDC would become a social catalyst by encouraging and guiding collaborations between
10406-619: The dominant Arab tribe; their territory ran from the Hejaz in the south to the Negev in the north through the period of Persian and Hellenistic dominion. In the 330s BCE, Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great conquered the region, which changed hands several times during the wars of the Diadochi and later Syrian Wars . It ultimately fell to the Seleucid Empire between 219 and 200 BCE. During that period,
10527-470: The dream of statehood could have died before it had taken root. Among the new arrivals were 100,000 veterans of Europe's DP camps, less than half able-bodied adults. The remainder included the aged, sick, or disabled survivors of concentration camps. Tuberculosis was rampant. The Israeli government in late 1949 invited JDC to join with the Jewish Agency for Israel to confront these challenges. The outcome
10648-456: The end of 1939, JDC-supported organizations had helped some 110,000 Jews emigrate from Germany; in 1939 alone it helped some 30,000. The Evian Conference was organized in 1938 to find solutions to the growing Jewish refugee crisis in Nazi Germany. The Dominican Republic and its dictatorial leader Rafael Trujillo agreed to accept 100,000 refugees, the only country, of 32 countries attending
10769-577: The fallen kingdom became a Persian province known as Yehud . Except Yehud, at least another four Persian provinces existed in the region: Samaria, Gaza, Ashdod, and Ascalon, in addition to the Phoenician city states in the north and the Arabian tribes in the south. During the same period, the Edomites migrated from Transjordan to the southern parts of Judea , which became known as Idumaea . The Qedarites were
10890-500: The global, and particularly European, economic pattern of growth. The beneficiaries of this process were Arabic-speaking Muslims and Christians who emerged as a new layer within the Arab elite. From 1880 large-scale Jewish immigration began, almost entirely from Europe, based on an explicitly Zionist ideology. There was also a revival of the Hebrew language and culture . Christian Zionism in
11011-561: The government of Israel inaugurated ESHEL—the Association for the Planning and Development of Services for the Aged—to extend a network of coordinated local, regional, and national services to underserved elderly. Still active today, ESHEL is credited with improving the quality of life of Israel's seniors. Palestine (region) The region of Palestine , also known as historic Palestine ,
11132-966: The immediate post-war period, the JDC also worked closely with organizations focused on Jewish cultural property (much of it heirless), such as the Jewish Cultural Reconstruction and the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization . At the same time, JDC was helping sustain tens of thousands of Jews who remained in Eastern Europe, as well as thousands of others living in the West outside the DP camps in Jewish communities also receiving reconstruction assistance from JDC. In 1946, an estimated 120,000 Jews in Hungary , 65,000 in Poland , and more than half of Romania 's 380,000 Jews, depended on JDC for food and other basic needs. By 1947, JDC
11253-449: The northern highland areas of Palestine and Jordan were administered as Jund al-Urdun , while the southern parts of the latter two formed part of Jund Dimashq , which during the 9th century was attached to the administrative unit of Jund Filastin . The boundaries of the area and the ethnic nature of the people referred to by Herodotus in the 5th century BCE as Palaestina vary according to context. Sometimes, he uses it to refer to
11374-461: The organizations assisting it had raised significant funds and were able to make a noteworthy impact. By the end of 1917, the JDC had transferred $ 76,000 to Romania , $ 1,532,300 to Galicia , $ 2,5532,000 to Russia , and $ 3,000,000 to a German-occupied Poland and Lithuania . By 1920, the JDC had set nearly $ 5,000,000 to assist the Jews in Poland. Between 1919 and 1920, during the emergency relief period,
11495-607: The passengers. Morris C. Troper as well as other individuals of the JDC appealed to European governments to secure entry visas for those with nowhere to go. Due to the efforts of the JDC, 288 passengers were admitted to Great Britain, 181 to the Netherlands, 214 to Belgium, and 224 to France. When the Nazis overran the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, those passengers who had been admitted by those countries were at risk. A total of 254 of these St. Louis passengers were killed in
11616-538: The population. Its suppression devastated many of Palestine's villages and major towns. In 1840, Britain intervened and returned control of the Levant to the Ottomans in return for further capitulations . The death of Aqil Agha marked the last local challenge to Ottoman centralization in Palestine, and beginning in the 1860s, Palestine underwent an acceleration in its socio-economic development, due to its incorporation into
11737-456: The president of the committee, and Felix M. Warburg. The Central Relief Committee, founded on October 4, 1914, also helped provide funds to the JDC. Eastern European, Orthodox Jews, such as Leon Kamaiky , founded this organization. Almost one year later, in August 1915, the socialist People's Relief Committee, headed by Meyer London, joined in to provide funds to the JDC. After a few years, the JDC and
11858-541: The province of Judaea " Syria Palaestina ". There is circumstantial evidence linking Hadrian with the name change, but the precise date is not certain. The term is generally accepted to be a cognate of the biblical name Peleshet ( פלשת Pəlésheth , usually transliterated as Philistia ). The term and its derivates are used more than 250 times in Masoretic -derived versions of the Hebrew Bible , of which 10 uses are in
11979-608: The region became heavily hellenized , building tensions between Greeks and locals. In 167 BCE, the Maccabean Revolt erupted, leading to the establishment of an independent Hasmonean Kingdom in Judea. From 110 BCE, the Hasmoneans extended their authority over much of Palestine, including Samaria , Galilee , Iturea , Perea , and Idumea. The Jewish control over the wider region resulted in it also becoming known as Judaea ,
12100-559: The region of "Palashtu" or "Pilistu", beginning with Adad-nirari III in the Nimrud Slab in c. 800 BCE through to a treaty made by Esarhaddon more than a century later. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term. The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BCE ancient Greece , when Herodotus wrote of
12221-499: The region was split into the provinces of Palaestina Prima , Palaestina Secunda , and Palaestina Tertia . Following the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s, the military district of Jund Filastin was established. While Palestine's boundaries have changed throughout history, it has generally comprised the southern portion of regions such as Syria or the Levant. As the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity , Palestine has been
12342-557: The same region, which was followed by Roman writers such as Ovid , Tibullus , Pomponius Mela , Pliny the Elder , Dio Chrysostom , Statius , Plutarch as well as Romano-Jewish writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus . The term was first used to denote an official province in c. 135 CE, when the Roman authorities , following the suppression of the Bar Kokhba Revolt , renamed
12463-754: The sea to the caravan route, presumably the Hejaz-Damascus route east of the Jordan River valley. Others refer to it as extending from the sea to the desert. Prior to the Allied Powers victory in World War I and the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire , which created the British mandate in the Levant , most of the northern area of what is today Jordan formed part of the Ottoman Vilayet of Damascus ( Syria ), while
12584-577: The settlers who had not already fled were killed by the Nazis . The JDC during The Great Depression During October 1929, the Great Depression began in America, and most American citizens began to face a financial hardship. Shortly after, the JDC felt the effect of the Great Depression. Their funding began to dwindle, as people had a hard time donating money to the organization. Due to their lessened resources,
12705-612: The southern part of Jordan was part of the Vilayet of Hejaz . What later became Mandatory Palestine was in late Ottoman times divided between the Vilayet of Beirut ( Lebanon ) and the Sanjak of Jerusalem . The Zionist Organization provided its definition of the boundaries of Palestine in a statement to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 . The British administered Mandatory Palestine after World War I, having promised to establish
12826-474: The survival of the Jews. Channeling funds through local Jewish relief organizations, JDC subsidized medical care, schools, vocational training, welfare programs, and early emigration efforts. JDC support would eventually be extended to Jewish communities in Nazi-annexed Austria and occupied Czechoslovakia . It was not long before the escalation of Hitler's persecution of the Jews made emigration aid from
12947-646: The term State of Palestine refers only to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This discrepancy was described by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas as a negotiated concession in a September 2011 speech to the United Nations: "... we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967." The term Palestine
13068-567: The third-wave accession country that joined on 1 July 2013 ( Croatia ). According to the World Bank 2008 analysis, the transition to advanced market economies is over for all 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The CEE countries include the former socialist states, which extend east of Austria , Germany ( western part ), and Italy ; north of Greece and Turkey ( European part ); south of Finland and Sweden ; and west of Belarus , Moldova , Russia , and Ukraine : According to
13189-473: The time referred predominantly to Bedouin nomads, though Arab settlement is attested in the Judean highlands and near Jerusalem by the 5th century, and some tribes had converted to Christianity. The local population engaged in farming, which was considered demeaning, and were called Nabaț , referring to Aramaic -speaking villagers. A ḥadīth , brought in the name of a Muslim freedman who settled in Palestine, ordered
13310-548: The times, and the scientific method based on excavations and statistical methods that consider the number of settlements at the particular age, area of each settlement, density factor for each settlement. Central and Eastern Europe Central and Eastern Europe is a geopolitical term encompassing the countries in Northeast Europe (primarily the Baltics ), Central Europe , Eastern Europe , and Southeast Europe (primarily
13431-462: The war, and were not of optimal living conditions. Furthermore, Dr Joseph Rosen , the director of the Russian branch of the JDC, devised a plan to further assist Jews living in shtetls , Jewish towns where the majority of the population speaks Yiddish. The communist leadership outlawed businesses upon which Jews were largely dependent, forcing families into poverty. All of these acts lead the creation of
13552-573: The world's longest military occupation in modern times. In 2008 Palestinian hikaye was inscribed to UNESCO's list of intangible cultural heritage ; the first of four listings reflecting the significance of Palestinian culture globally. In November 2012, the status of Palestinian delegation in the United Nations was upgraded to non-member observer state as the State of Palestine . The boundaries of Palestine have varied throughout history. The Jordan Rift Valley (comprising Wadi Arabah,
13673-537: Was MALBEN —a Hebrew acronym for Organization for the Care of Handicapped Immigrants. Over the next few years, MALBEN rushed to convert former British Army barracks and any other available building into hundreds of hospitals, homes for the aged, TB sanitariums, sheltered workshops, and rehabilitation centers. MALBEN also funded the training of nurses and rehabilitation workers. By 1951, JDC assumed full responsibility for MALBEN. Its many rehabilitation programs opened new worlds to
13794-552: Was annexed by another Persian dynasty; the Sassanids , until returning to Byzantine control in 628 CE. Palestine was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate , beginning in 634 CE. In 636, the Battle of Yarmouk during the Muslim conquest of the Levant marked the start of Muslim hegemony over the region, which became known as the military district of Jund Filastin within the province of Bilâd al-Shâm (Greater Syria). In 661, with
13915-433: Was established in collaboration with the Psychiatric Trust Fund to develop modern, integrated mental health services and to train qualified staff. The Paul Baerwald School of Social Work, first created by JDC in France to train professionals working with refugees from many diverse cultures, was reestablished at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to professionalize social services. JDC's social work innovations continued into
14036-407: Was important for creating an Arab Palestine detached from greater Syria ( bilad al-Sham ). According to Pappe, it was an attempt to reinforce the Syrian front in face of Muhammad Ali's invasion. Two years later, Palestine was conquered by Muhammad Ali's Egypt, but Egyptian rule was challenged in 1834 by a countrywide popular uprising against conscription and other measures considered intrusive by
14157-406: Was in the Great Depression, the JDC was able to aid over 190,000 Jews in their escape from a Nazi-occupied Germany. Of the 190,000 Jews, 80,000 were able to escape Europe completely. Hitler's rise to power in 1933 was followed closely by passage of Germany's Nuremberg Laws , a set of onerous restrictions that stripped Jews of their basic human rights and livelihoods. JDC's support became critical to
14278-448: Was supporting 380 medical facilities across the continent, and some 137,000 Jewish children were receiving some form of JDC aid. Falling victim to Cold War tensions, JDC was expelled from Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria in 1949, from Czechoslovakia in 1950, and from Hungary in 1953. The time came for JDC to shift its focus in Europe from emergency relief to long-term rehabilitation. A large part of its evolving mission involved preparing
14399-464: Was then annexed as a Babylonian province . The Philistines were also exiled. The defeat of Judah was recorded by the Babylonians. In 539 BCE, the Babylonian empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire . According to the Hebrew Bible and implications from the Cyrus Cylinder , the exiled Jews were eventually allowed to return to Jerusalem . The returned population in Judah were allowed to self-rule under Persian governance, and some parts of
14520-442: Was to help these passengers find a home. Berenson met and negotiated with Cuban President Federico Laredo Brú ; however the negotiations were unsuccessful. On June 2, Bru demanded the St. Louis leave Cuban waters. The ship sailed close to Florida's borders, and asked President Roosevelt to grant them access into the United States. They never received a response. The ship returned to Europe and the JDC continued to negotiate on behalf of
14641-711: Was to provide refugees life-sustaining aid while trying to secure permanent refuge for them in the United States, Palestine, and Latin America. With U.S. entry into the war following Pearl Harbor in December 1941, JDC had to drastically shift gears. No longer permitted to operate legally in enemy countries, JDC representatives exploited a variety of international connections to channel aid to Jews living in desperate conditions in Nazis-controlled areas. Wartime headquarters were set up in neutral Lisbon, Portugal . From Lisbon, JDC chartered ships and funded rescue missions that successfully moved thousands of refugees out of harm's way. Some made it to Shanghai , China , where JDC sponsored
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