President Reuven Rivlin today (Tuesday) welcomed to his residence 120 preeminent Jewish community leaders from North America and around the world, including Board Members and guests of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.  At the meeting which launched the JDC’s annual Board Meetings, President Rivlin was presented with a recently discovered JDC archival document, a 1920 letter from a cousin of the President’s father, Rabbi Moshe Rivlin requesting JDC assistance for matzah and food for needy Jerusalem Jews at Passover.

President Rivlin welcomed the group and thanked them for their many years of support and help for the State of Israel, and said, “This year Israel is marking 70 years of independence, but the Joint has been standing behind Israel for even longer. For more than a hundred years, since World War One, you have been a safety net for our people,” and added, “For a century, you have been helping Jews and non-Jews in all areas of hardship and disaster, and at the same time building Israel, building the State of Israel. You are a beacon of universal human concern and you are a beacon of strong Jewish solidarity.”

The President stressed, “Your dedication and commitment show that the connection between the State of Israel and the Jewish communities around the world is deep, important, and cannot be broken. Yes, we need to work on this relationship. We cannot just think that we understand each other, without knowing one another. We must work to develop a new partnership between Israel and Jewish communities around the world. We are in this together, and together we will succeed.”

JDC President Stanley Rabin thanked the President, and said  “We are honored to join President Rivlin and celebrate seven decades of Israeli independence and the hundred-plus year commitment of JDC, and diaspora Jews, to empower Israel’s most vulnerable and provide opportunity for those on the margins of Israeli society.”

During the event, there was a moving performance by the Lev HaMerchaz Choir, made up of children with special needs. The choir was established three years ago as part of the Center for Families of Children with Special Needs, a joint program of the Joint and the Ministry of Welfare.