Africa and Asia
Children in a Jewish day school.
Djerba, Tunisia, 2000s.
JDC’s reach includes many exotic countries across Africa and Asia. From its earliest years, JDC responded to emergencies such as the Great Fire in Salonika in 1917 and assisted Jewish communities in Turkey. JDC financed and organized Operation Magic Carpet from Yemen and Operation Ezra and Nechemia from Iraq. Health and education work in Iran was discontinued with the revolution in the mid-1970s. Today, JDC assists remnant Jewish communities in Egypt and Myanmar to care for the needy, helps to enhance Jewish life in India, and works with local communities in North Africa with support for social welfare programs and Jewish schools. JDC continues its non-sectarian work in Ethiopia.
Letter from Maurice Nessim to Albert Lucas seeking aid for the Jewish community of Salonika after the Great Fire of 1917
New York, August 21, 1917.
Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, JDC's American Relief Commissioner for the Near East, walks in a procession in Smyrna (now Izmir), Turkey, with local dignitaries, including Chaim Nachum, the departing chief rabbi of Turkey
Smyrna, Turkey, December 1919. Photograph: Jacques de Padova.
Young Jewish girls smiling together at the Ecole Israelite
Tangier, Morocco, 1949. Photograph: Al Taylor.
An elderly Yemenite Jewish refugee holds a baby in the JDC transit camp
Aden. 1950.
Iranian and Iraqi Jewish refugees waiting to board planes for Israel provided by JDC
Tehran, Iran, 1951.
Jewish children in Shiraz, which had a Jewish population of about 15,000 in the early 1950s
Shiraz, Iran, 1951.
Jews of Lorestan
Lorestan Province, Iran, 1952. Photograph: Stanley Abramovitch.
Through Operation Baby Wash, 200 mothers bring their babies to the OSE health center in Tunis for baths
Tunis, Tunisia, 1950s. Photograph: Paul Brami, Tunis.
Jewish mother and child at the OSE trachoma center
Casablanca, Morocco, 1950s. Photograph: Jerome Silberstein.
Three young girls who have been expelled from Egypt arrive in France
Marseille, France, 1957. Photograph: Jerome Silberstein.
A nurse taking a medical history from a mother about her son
Teda, Ethiopia, 1986. Photograph: Peggy Myers.
Procession led by Kessim (religious leaders)
Ethiopia, c.1987. Photograph: Donald M. Robinson.
Traditional figurine of a man holding a Torah made by members of the Beta Israel community in Ethiopia
These likely came from the small Jewish village of Wolleka.
Gondar, Ethiopia, 1980s.
Dance performance of children sponsored by the Sephardic Education Center
Mumbai (Bombay), India, 1989. Photograph: Leon Leiberg.
Jewish Service Corps volunteer Andrew Rehfeld teaches Hebrew songs to Jewish children
Thane, India, 1990. Photograph: Leon Morris.
A Torah finial decorated with Jewish symbols
Tunisia, early twentieth century.
A shochet in Djerba slaughtering a chicken according to Jewish law
Djerba, Tunisia, c.2000s. Photograph: Hannah Starman.
Rosh Hashanah card for the year 5770 (2009) from the Jewish community of Myanmar
At its peak, there were 2,500 Jews in Myanmar; by 2011, 45 Jews remained.
Yangon, Myanmar, 2009.
