American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee

Initially founded to provide humanitarian assistance to the sizable Jewish population residing in Ottoman-held Palestine, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was founded in 1914 by the Jewish philanthropist Jacob Schiff with a $50,000 donation. With the Ottoman Empire’s entry into the First World War, channels of aid and foreign income for the Yishuv were severed, creating a dire situation where communities faced famine and destitution. The burgeoning organization also sent aid to Jewish communities in Russia during the fighting on the Eastern Front and the subsequent Russian Revolution and Civil War. Throughout the 20th century, the JDC worked to help Jewish communities survive the Great Depression and famines in the Soviet Union, providing safe havens for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany, and settling refugees in the state of Israel. Today, the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee continues its efforts with the mission of “Relief, Rescue, Renewal- Aiding Jewry Worldwide.”