Hesed is a network of nonprofit community welfare centers to serve the Jewish community in former Soviet Union states (FSU's). The network provides services to Jews who remained in post-Soviet states after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. 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.

History

The first Hesed center opened in 1993 in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. The organization was formed by the

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(JDC) and funded by JDC,

International Fellowship of Christians and Jews The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (also referred to as IFCJ or The Fellowship) is a philanthropic organization founded in 1983 by Yechiel Eckstein whose stated mission is to promote understanding and cooperation between Jews a ...

(IFCJ),

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, and other donors. Hesed based its structure and activities on a model developed by Amos Avgar, who was Director of the JDC-FSU Welfare Department. Volunteering, fostering community and Jewish traditions or

Yiddishkeit Yiddishkeit, also spelled Yiddishkayt (, i.e. "a Jewish way of life"), is a term that can refer broadly to Judaism or specifically to forms of Orthodox Judaism when used particularly by religious and Orthodox Ashkenazi. In a more general sense, it ...

were central to the model. As of 2003, there were 174 Hesed centers operating in 2,800 Jewish communities and serving over a quarter-million people in the FSU. Hesed continued to operate through the war between Russia and Ukraine in Crimea and the Donbas starting in 2014. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, Hesed continued providing services to its approximately 37,000 Ukrainian clients. The organization also offered psychological counseling and operated a hotline for those needing assistance and treatment during the hostilities.

Services

In addition to activities in the Hesed centers, volunteers visit the homebound. Hesed's services included food programs and packages, meals-on-wheels, soup kitchens, winter relief, homecare, providing medicine, medical equipment and medical services. Social and community services include day centers, library services, and Jewish holiday celebrations.

References

{{reflist Jewish community organizations Jewish organizations based in Russia 1993 establishments in Russia Welfare and service organizations Jewish organizations established in 1993