To mark the 100th anniversary of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the world’s leading Jewish humanitarian assistance organization, the Maurice Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Hartford, the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, and the JDC will present a special program at the University of Hartford on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m. in the Auerbach Auditorium of the University of Hartford. Free and open to the public, the program will feature Theodore Comet, JDC honorary associate executive vice president, as well as the screening of rare archival footage from the JDC archives highlighting a century of work on behalf of Jewish communities around the world.

“The JDC is one of the most important American Jewish organizations ever created. Its humanitarian reach has been unparalleled and it is only fitting that we mark its 100th anniversary with a unique program highlighting its work since 1914: after WWI, in the interwar period, during the Holocaust, behind the Iron Curtain, after the fall of the USSR, in peacetime and in war in Asia, South America, Australia, Israel – indeed, all over the world,” said Avinoam Patt, Philip D. Feltman Professor of Modern Jewish History and associate director of the Greenberg Center.

In addition to his work at the JDC, Comet also serves as executive vice president of the World Council of Jewish Communal Service. Long active on behalf of Soviet Jewry, he organized the first public demonstration and in May 1988, he served as coordinator of the National Conference of Soviet Jewry’s delegation to Helsinki. He was the first coordinator in America of Project Otzma, a new program to bring gifted young people to Israel for volunteer service. He is a founder of New York City’s annual Salute to Israel Parade and produced Israeli folk dance festivals at Carnegie Hall and the World’s Fair.

For more information or reservations: (860) 768-5018 or mgcjs@hartford.edu.