Hesed Evaluation Study: Jewish Identity Community Orientation and Voluntarism – Report Number 7: Hesed’s Impact on Jewish Identity and Community Renewal

  • Research Staff: Sima Zalcberg, Esther Katz, Iaroslav Youssim
  • Categories:
  • Publication Year: 2004
  • Status: Research Report
  • Target Population:
  • Catalog Number:

    S-115-04
library_books Executive Summary
library_books Full Report

This report is the seventh in a series that presents findings from an evaluation study of Hesed Community Welfare Centers in the former Soviet Union (FSU). The study was initiated by the JDC-FSU Department and conducted by the JDC-Brookdale Institute in cooperation with the William Rosenwald Institute for Communal and Welfare Workers in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Hesed model, a multi-faceted service network, was designed by the AJJDC at the end of the Communist era to respond to the needs of an aging Jewish population with severe economic and health problems. It embodies three guiding principles: Jewish values, community orientation and voluntarism. Today, approximately 170 Hesed Centers serve over 250,000 clients throughout the FSU.

The goal of the study was to evaluate the extent to which Hesed’s guiding principles are being realized as the system develops. The study was conducted at eight “Hesed” Centers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus and examined the perspectives of the directors, employees, volunteers, home-care workers, clients and local community representatives.

This report compares the perceptions of Hesed’s employees, volunteers and clients, which were examined in individual reports on the three groups. The perceptions relate to Hesed’s impact on their Jewish identity and their perceptions of Hesed’s role in the Jewish community. To complete the picture, it also provides the perspectives of Hesed directors and community representatives on Hesed’s impact and role in the Jewish community. Selected findings:

  • The reports of the employees, volunteers and clients indicated that Hesed was significant in reinforcing their sense of Jewishness. This is reflected in their self-identity and attitudes, sense of belonging to the Jewish people, knowledge about Judaism, observance of Jewish practices and relationship with the Jewish community.
  • The findings regarding the impact that Hesed has on these various dimensions of Jewish identity revealed that the Jewish identity of employees and volunteers is affected the most, followed by that of the clients.
  • The majority (66%) of the employees, volunteers and clients reported that Hesed has a strong influence on the life of the city’s Jewish population.
  • The reports of Hesed directors and community representatives supported those of the employees, volunteers and clients concerning Hesed’s impact. They reported that Hesed’s activities give the local Jewish population a feeling of solidarity and affiliation with the Jewish people, and renew awareness of roots. They also emphasized that Hesed is well-organized and has the strong human and financial resources necessary to be a lever for Jewish community renewal. However, about a third noted that they are not in favor of Hesed’s having a leading role in Jewish renewal, as Hesed is a welfare center. They claim that Jewish community renewal should be left to other, non-welfare organizations and that Hesed should limit itself to social welfare activities.
  • The majority of the the employees, volunteers and clients as well as directors and community representatives, reported that Hesed should broaden its activities for other needy segments of the Jewish population, primarily children and single-parent families, those with serious medical problems, and the unemployed.

The study was funded by the JDC-FSU Department and has already been utilized in the ongoing development of the Hesed network.