(JTA) — The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee partnered with Paris-based Jewish groups to help deal with the challenges facing their communities.
The partnership involves resiliency programs addressing trauma, crisis management training and the relocation of at-risk Jews from troubled neighborhoods in the French capital, JDC wrote in a statement Tuesday.
The program follows the slaying of four at a kosher shop near Paris on Jan. 9, which occurred following a doubling of anti-Semitic incidents documented in 2014. With 851 such incidents, last year broke the 2009 record of 832 cases.
JDC’s involvement in the partnership comprises an initial investment of $100,000 and the dispatch of staff, including a psychologist, to Paris, a JDC spokesman told JTA. The partnership further involves 80 hours of additional JDC staff work that will provide professional psycho-social support to at least 450 people.
More than half of France’s Jewish community live in and around Paris, often in heavily Muslim suburbs. One such area is Sarcelles, home to 60,000 Jews, where police in July prevented a mob from reaching the municipality’s main synagogue.
“We are proud to partner once again with the French Jewish community to ensure that, as they chart their future, we are there to strengthen their resiliency, implement specialized services for the most vulnerable, and present a united front in the face of violent hate,” said Alan Gill, the CEO of JDC.
In France, JDC will cooperate with several Jewish groups including the United Jewish Social Fund, or FSJU; the humanitarian association OSE; and the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah.
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