Kehilla Projects

ST. LOUIS - RIGA

The St. Louis Jewish community's sister community project with Riga, Latvia, was initiated by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in 1990. This connection was established to support Jewish education, welfare, and religious life in the newly emerging Jewish community of Riga and to provide a framework for advocacy.

The project is currently chaired by Ilene Ordower, with support from the Associate Executive Director of the JCRC, Batya Abramson-Goldstein. 

Working closely with NCSJ and the JDC, the JCRC has developed the project through numerous exchange visits to assess project needs and expand contacts.

Most recently, a St. Louis delegation headed by Abramson-Goldstein conducted a mission to Riga in late May-June 2001 to take part in a gathering of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust in Latvia and to develop upcoming projects.  

Education/Children's Programs

Books, a laminating machine and other supplies were sent to the Jewish Day School in Riga. A pen-pal program was established between students in St. Louis and their counterparts in Riga, and the principal of the Riga Day School visited St. Louis.

A children's art exhibit from the Jewish community of Riga and a pictorial history of its Jewish community were featured at the JCCA's Jewish Folk Arts Festival.

A 13-year-old from Riga attended a session at the JCC's Camp Sabra.

 

Holocaust Survivors

Gertrude Shneider, historian and author, survivor of the Holocaust in Riga, came to St. Louis for a community lecture. Steven Springfield, President of the Organization of Survivors of Latvia, visited St. Louis for consultations.

A group of St. Louisans traveled to Riga in 1993 with the Latvian Survivors of the Holocaust to take part in the dedication of a Holocaust Memorial there. The delegation also met with Latvian government officials to discuss issues of concern including Holocaust education and the legal position of the Jewish population.

A community fundraising drive sent money to the small group of Holocaust survivors in Riga struggling to survive on very limited funds.

Medical Programs

The Jewish Family and Children's Service sent a shipment of over-the-counter pharmaceuticals for the elderly of Riga.

 

     

The Project's Medical Committee, chaired by Dr. David Caplin, oversaw projects to assist the Bicur Holim Hospital in Riga, beginning with a JCRC (in cooperation with the former St. Louis Jewish Hospital) Medical Mission in January 1995.  Mission participants also met with municipal and national government officials, representatives of U.S. organizations in Latvia, and the Israeli Ambassador to the Baltic States.

In response to a JCRC initiative, the former Jewish Hospital, BJC Health System and Washington University School of Medicine developed a successful proposal for a grant from the American International Health Alliance (AIHA) later in 1995, resulting in a multimillion-dollar grant to the St. Louis-Riga medical project. The grant helped fund the training in St. Louis of physicians from Bicur Holim, the Latvian Children’s Hospital, and the Riga Maternity Hospital; further missions by St. Louis doctors to Riga; the institution of an email system for the Riga participants; and the founding of a hospice at Bikur Holim. The AIHA grant ended in December 1998.

In 2000, a grant of $15,000 was obtained from the Meyerhoff Foundation of Baltimore to initiate the development of a wellness facility in Riga's Jewish Community Center.

The JCRC has responded to manifestations of anti-Semitism by communicating the community's response to Latvian government officials, and by sending statements of support to the Jewish community.

The JCRC hosted Riga community leader Hana Finkelsteine and Director of the Bicur Holim Hospital Arkadij Gandz in December 2000 for a round of consultations with St. Louis community leadership.

After this visit, the Jewish Family and Children's Services, in cooperation with Barnes Jewish Hospital and the Jewish Community Relations Council, submitted a grant request to the USAID for establishment of services to the chronically and terminally ill in Riga. This upcoming grant of approximately $250,000 will be administered by JFCS, Bicur Holim and the Jewish Community Center of Riga and several agencies in the general Riga community

FUTURE PLANS 

Areas for future focus include the continuation of medical and social services activity centered on Bicur Holim Hospital and the community center; support for the elderly (including food baskets); Jewish renewal, linkage between interest/professional groups (e.g., academics, college students, physicians, teachers); and trilateral projects involving St. Louis, its Partnership 2000 community of Yokneam/Megiddo and Riga (which could include organizations of Passover Seders and summer/winter camps).

For more information on the St. Louis-Riga project, please contact Batya Abramson-Goldstein at
(314) 432-0020 ext. 3710