Jewish Schools In Russia On Verge Of Collapse

Hat tip: Eli Tabori

Jewish schools in Russia are in serious need of immediate assistance:

The Jewish education system in the former Soviet Union is on the verge of collapse and needs immediate financial assistance, a charity warned at a conference dedicated to Jewish education in the region, held in Jerusalem on Monday.


Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the Fellowship of Christians and Jews said at the event that unless the Israeli government helped come up with a plan for the cash-strapped Jewish schools across the former Soviet Union, many of the schools would have to close.

Due to the bad economy, the normal channels of aid to these schools have dried up:

In recent years, private contributions, the mainstay of the budgets of Jewish schools throughout the former Soviet Union, have dwindled considerably, especially after the recession of 2008, which strongly impacted the markets in Russia. In response, Jewish schools have struggled to find alternative sources of income to maintain their operations.

The Fellowship of Christians and Jews is one group that has stepped in to fill in the void left by philanthropists who have had to cut their donations because of the financial downturn. The group, which raises most of its money from evangelical Christians in the US, plans to give NIS 70 million to Jewish causes in the FSU in 2011.

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky, who also attended the event in Jerusalem, said it was important to find funds to help assimilated Jews in the region return to the fold of Judaism.

Currently, The Fellowship of Christians and Jews is raising money from evangelical Christians in the US for Jewish schools in the FSU in 2011.

The article in the Jerusalem Post makes no mention of what any other groups are doing.

Technorati Tag: Jews In Russia.