06/02/2026
JDC Ethiopia’s Work Highlighted During Area Visit
Billy Goldberg, Avital Sandler Loeff and Kaleab Tadesse represent JDC at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland on May 19. CJN Photo / Casey Couch
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
by Casey Couch
Following a diagnosis of life-altering scoliosis in 2009, 12-year-old Kaleab Tadesse walked out of his country’s largest hospital on doctor’s orders to “go home and wait for the inevitable decline” – one that would leave him paralyzed for the rest of his life.
“It was devastating, you couldn’t imagine,” Tadesse told the Cleveland Jewish News. “I couldn’t go out with my friends, I couldn’t wear nice clothes. I couldn’t be a kid.”
But when the “angel of Ethiopia” descended upon him and sent him to Ghana for spine surgery that was unavailable in his country, Tadesse was given a second chance at life.
“Somebody has to wake me at some point,” Tadesse said. “This is a dream.”
Tadesse is one of many Ethiopian patients whose life was transformed by Dr. Rick Hodes, medical director for JDC Ethiopia. JDC, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, is the world’s leading global Jewish humanitarian organization.
“It transformed my life completely,” Tadesse, now 30 and JDC’s country director for Ethiopia, said. “Not only that, I proposed to a beautiful lady and she said yes, and we have twins who are three years old. JDC and this surgery completely changed my life.”
Tadesse joined Avital Sandler Loeff, executive director of JDC’s humanitarian arm for Global Response, Innovation and Development, on May 19 and 20 at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in Beachwood, where they spoke at several events together, sharing JDC’s impact with the Freater Cleveland community.
“This job was my dream job for many, many years,” Loeff, who began working for JDC in 2020, told the CJN.
Through partnerships with governments, NGOs, industry leaders and Jewish communities, Loeff’s work with JDC delivers humanitarian solutions to vulnerable communities around the world, regardless of religion or creed, but with the work always rooted in Jewish values. Today, JDC serves over 70 countries.
“We are doing amazing work,” Loeff said. “We’re working on disaster relief and international development. We’re focusing on medical innovation, agriculture and food insecurity.”
According to Loeff, JDC has been primarily working in Africa, with the country of Ethiopia as a main focus since their work began in 1983.
In April, JDC celebrated their inauguration of the Bring Back Hope: National Spine Center in Ethiopia, in honor of Hodes. According to Tadesse, the spine center will allow patients to have surgeries in Ethiopia, without having to deal with travel, time away from family, and more barriers that come with having transformational surgery away from home.
“The cost will go down dramatically, and we’ll be able to serve many more people, as well as leave this capacity within the country,” Loeff said. “This is the beauty of JDC. Whatever we do, we build the local capacity so that soon, we can phase out. We are planning in 2029 for the spine center to be helping thousands of people.”
Hodes began the spine program in Ethiopia in 2006 with the help of JDC, following his work with several patients suffering from severe scoliosis. After legally adopting a couple of his patients and bringing them to the United States for surgery, he realized there were too many patients to help, and a change needed to be made to serve the greater population in need. Through JDC, the spine program has made that possible.
“We’ve seen over 12,000 patients so far and have operated on 1,750 patients since 2006,” Tadesse said.
In addition to the spine center, JDC’s work in Ethiopia supports farmers in poverty, bringing Israeli technology to the country and working to support the population of vulnerable women. This year, they are also celebrating 35 years of Operation Solomon, a JDC program that brings Jews from Ethiopia to Israel.
JDC also works in Malawi, Zambia, South Africa and more with the help of over 200 Jewish volunteers, bringing nurses and portable X-rays to the most rural areas of the world.
“I always like to say that we work in a triangle,” Loeff said. “We help the most vulnerable in an innovative way, we rely on Israeli technologies and we engage Jewish communities. We think about the long-term impact, and this is because we are a humanitarian organization. We are always doing it on behalf of the Jewish community.”
Billy Goldberg, former Beachwood resident who resides in Los Angeles and JDC board member for over six years, accompanied Loeff and Tadesse on their speaking engagements while visiting Cleveland.
According to Goldberg, vice chair of the JDC’s global response, innovation and development committee, the team visited Cleveland to meet with leaders, donors, and share their stories and impact with the greater community.
“As someone who was born and raised in Cleveland, it’s especially meaningful for me because I grew up in a community that is so rooted in the ideas of giving back, shared responsibility and tikkun olam,” Goldberg told the CJN. “I don’t think I realized until I left Cleveland how unique this community is.”
Calling JDC the “911 of the Jewish world,” Goldberg said. “It’s an honor to be a part of JDC and to get to share it with the Cleveland community.”
