The High Holidays are for me one of the most important events here at the JCC. Spending the Chagim with the community and with so many friends is a blessing. I can’t imagine my life without these moments. The seniors are taken care of and are active in the community. We help the youth by teaching them our Jewish culture and tradition. The JCC is really valued and a source of happiness for me and the community. The Senior Club gives elderly members of the community, who often live alone, an opportunity to spend their time among peers and young people – community members and volunteers. Thanks to this place, I never feel alone.
- Fredzia, Holocaust survivor, JCC Krakow Senior Club Member
As we celebrate the Chagim and embark on a new year, we take stock of the year that was. What we did well and not so well, the Simchas and the sadness.
Our Krakow community went through many years when there was not much happiness to look back on. The Holocaust and 45 years of communism almost ended Jewish life in Krakow. But our community has been blessed as of late. This year, thanks to you, our friends around the world, we have made great strides in rebuilding Jewish life in Krakow. We opened our Hillel club so our students, many of them only recently aware of their Jewish identities, have a place to be together. We opened FRAJDA, Krakow’s first Jewish preschool since before the Holocaust to serve our growing community of young families. We increased programming for our 70 Holocaust survivors who spend time in their warm, welcoming space in the JCC 6 days a week from morning till night.
Please consider helping us help them this year - the survivors, their children, and their grandchildren. And now their great-grandchildren.
This community has a lot of sadness to look back on. Now you can help them look forward to some joy.
Shana Tova U’Metukah
Jonathan Ornstein
Executive Director
JCC Krakow