Snow blanketed the ground, and ice was packed on the pavement. We steadied each other on the walk up to the small apartment. I was in Arad, Romania. In the region once called Transylvania and once a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Jewish community here has dwindled to only a few hundred members. It was January 2004, winter was upon us, and our group was visiting some of the near 2,000 Jewish elderly that the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) helps to support throughout Romania today.
JDC, or the “Joint,” is the overseas arm of the North American Jewish community, helping Jews in 59 countries around the world when they are threatened by providing material and welfare assistance, promoting Jewish renewal, rebuilding Jewish communities, supporting educational and leadership development programs and helping Israel address its most urgent social challenges. I spent this past year as the Ralph I. Goldman Fellow in International Jewish Communal Service living, learning and working in Romania, Israel, and Russia.
We entered Ella’s apartment. She lives in two small rooms, but in the winter she only heats one. The six of us squeezed into the tiny space that triples as her bedroom, living room and kitchen. Her larger room was shut for the winter, but Ella opened it for us to show her family photos and mementos. Then, we returned to the heated room.
Ella, who is in her eighties, is proud of the fact that she was a teacher long ago. She worked all her life, but her pension from the state government is less than $50 a month. Without the help of JDC, she wouldn’t know where to turn. The JDC, she explained, helps pay for her heating, and she eats a hot meal everyday at the JDC-sponsored kosher canteen. She gets her medicines for her heart condition free from the JDC, as well as some medical care. Ella is thrilled to have guests; she explained that she has no surviving relatives. She recites dramatic poetry for us. She is thriving and surviving with great spirit and gusto.
We said goodbye and returned to the cold, damp day. Later we attended a Jewish community program run by the Jewish youth club that JDC helps to support. Ella was there, enjoying the social interaction with her friends, and we waved to each other across the room. Though she survived World War II and Communism, the post-communist world leaves her with little support. Luckily, JDC offers her and so many others a strong lifeline to ensure that their spirit remains strong.
