April 29, 2008 /  24 Nissan 5768

Dear Friends,

This Wednesday evening marks the beginning of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day.  We will remember and sanctify, with trembling and pain, the loss of millions of our brothers and sisters during the darkest moments of Jewish history.  We will recall the destruction of hundreds of Jewish communities with their magnificent culture and heritage throughout Nazi-conquered Europe.  And at this time, every one of us must make a personal and national reckoning concerning our duty to Holocaust survivors living amongst us today.

It is my privilege to share the news with you this week of the unique "Bezchutam" project, a joint initiative of the Jewish Agency and the National Council for Volunteerism in Israel.  In the framework of this project, approximately 1,000 volunteers from all walks of Israeli life, mostly students and young people, will be trained to serve as personal counselors for Holocaust survivors so that the survivors will be able to take advantage of the rights to which they are entitled from the government and the various funds operating on their behalf.  The training program will be specially suited to the needs of the most senior and needy Holocaust survivors. 

At the end of the training, the first group of volunteers will visit the homes of 5,000 Holocaust survivors, who will be selected according to lists received with the assistance and cooperation of the Claims Conference.  The survivors will be given personal assistance so they can realize the financial rights due them: from clarifying the various and unique rights for each survivor, filling out forms, collecting the necessary related documentation, applying to the various bodies and overseeing the receipt of assistance.  In the second stage, the program will be expanded with the aim of assisting tens of thousands of additional Holocaust survivors in Israel.

There are approximately 280,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel today.  60,000 of them subsist below the poverty line.  Many of them have the right to various benefits and assistance from government grants from Israel and Germany, the Claims Conference and various funds.  In reality, thousands of Holocaust survivors do not take advantage of their rights due to lack of knowledge or the inability to apply and maneuver through the complex procedures required. Nor do most of them have the necessary financial means to acquire assistance from lawyers specializing in this unique field.

Sadly, the number of Holocaust survivors in Israel is continually decreasing.  Now is the time to stand behind them and help them in their increasing distress.  As a people, as a nation and as a society, we must not remain idle at this time.  We in the Jewish Agency are privileged to have joined forces with the Claims Conference and the David and Fela Shapell Foundation following the Second Lebanon War and to have given grants to Holocaust survivors living in Israel's North.  Similar assistance is being granted to Holocaust survivors in Sderot and in communities surrounding the Gaza Strip.  I see it as a great honor to continue the effort to help Holocaust survivors at this time and greatly appreciate the contribution of UIA Canada which has become a our partner in this special and moving project, allowing us to train the volunteers and prepare them for being personal counselors for Holocaust survivors.

I would like to specially thank the Jewish Agency's Israel Region and the Resource Development and Public Affairs Department for developing the project together with the National Council for Volunteerism in Israel.  Thanks also go to JAFI's subsidiary company "Amigour" which is opening the doors of its senior citizen homes to social activity for the survivors, many of whom live lonely and isolated lives.

It is my hope that the launch of this project is just the beginning, and that it will grow in the near future and involve additional Jewish communities who will join us in this crucial and poignant national and humane project. 

We invite all who are interested in joining the project to volunteers or to receive assistance, to contact the Jewish Agency's Global Center at gci-en@jafi.org.