Mendele’s Kindergarten at the Jewish Youth Union

Schools and nurseries were an effective way to provide nourishment to children in Poland throughout World War I and the immediate postwar years. Mendele's Kindergarten and Community School at the Bialystok Jewish Youth Union was most likely part of the Mendele Mokher Seforim Children’s Home and Orphanage, named in honor of the beloved Yiddish author. During the interwar period, Bialystok had an extensive Jewish primary education system. Many of these schools were funded by overseas Jewish philanthropy. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (“the Joint”), supported schools and provided meals, clothing, and shoes to the students. The Joint was created at the start of World War I by American Jewish groups uniting to provide coordinated relief from privation and suffering for Jews abroad. From the time America entered the war until its end, funding was sent to community and regional aid organizations in Poland, Lithuania, and other affected countries through a Joint branch in the neutral country of Holland.