Our Impact on Minsk

The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta links the Jewish community here in Atlanta with the Jewish community in Minsk, Belarus. Federation funding in Minsk focuses on providing programs around specific outcomes bringing people from our communities together. Through its efforts in the Former Soviet Union, your Federation is able to help elderly citizens of Minsk, Belarus (our sister city) combat poverty in order to lead full lives. Federation also supports initiatives that provide Jewish identity programs to young families in Minsk, providing younger generations with a Jewish foundation that was not possible during the Soviet era.

There are two outcomes guiding our work in Minsk, Belarus:

1. Jewish youth and teens who are connected to their Jewish identity
2. Elderly Jews who are leading safe, healthy and dignified lives

To attain these outcomes, we partner with organizations and agencies on a local and international level, including Jewish Family and Career Services, Jewish Healthcare International, Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), Chabad, Lech Lecha, and World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ). Programs designed to reach these outcomes include the following:

• Family and Teen Summer Camps – a rare opportunity for an intensive Jewish experience for Jewish teens and their families to experience authentic Judaism
• Hesed Rachamim – welfare relief for older adults in Minsk
• Minsk Outreach Project – professional exchange between Atlanta and Minsk aimed at improving the lives of older adults in Minsk
• Youth Board – an opportunity for Jewish youth to learn how to be leaders within their communities through volunteerism
• Sunday School – provides Jewish learning to youth and families who are unfamiliar with Jewish customs based on availability during the Soviet era
• Chabad Day School – provides Jewish education for children in Minsk, Belarus

Learn about what our Jewish brethren in the former Soviet Union are doing on a day-to-day basis at their “Jewish Community Center,” the Minsk Jewish Campus Meod >>

Your Federation supports the needs of Jews in Minsk, Belarus every day. Here’s a look at your dollars in action.