My father’s first cousin, Benjamin Ferencz, died on April 7th at the age of 103. He was famous for being the youngest prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials. At 27 years old, his first trial, he convicted 22 high ranking SS German officers of killing over 1 million Jews. The Associated Press called the trial, “the biggest murder trial in history”. The horrors of WWII never faded, and he dedicated his life to helping victims of persecution. Continue reading
Help Us Help Local Refugees
In early 2017, Nick Levitin and Andy Silver started Shomrei’s Refugee Assistance Group in reaction to the massive influx of Syrian refugees to our area. The response from our group, which consists of roughly 50 members from the Shomrei community was, and continues to be, overwhelming, enabling us to assist refugees from a wide variety of countries. However, the needs, too, are overwhelming; wars, natural disasters, and government repression and persecution continue to cause mass worldwide migrations of people, many seeking refuge in our region.
To help meet those needs, we invite those who are not yet in our group to join us. Continue reading
Here’s an update on our “adopted” Afghan family, two brothers who were separated from their parents and siblings and evacuated by U.S. forces from Kabul in August 2021. The brothers were resettled in Elizabeth in October 2021 and our group has been providing them with assistance since December 2021, in conjunction with Refugee Assistance Partners (RAP) of NJ.
Here are two items of importance:
We are happy to report that the two Afghan brothers that we “adopted” a few months ago are assimilating very well in Elizabeth. The older (23-year-old) brother has a full-time job at a local retail establishment and the younger (14-year-old) brother has made many friends, is playing every sport imaginable and is looking forward to “moving up” from his 8th grade class to high school next year. We are currently exploring summer camp opportunities for him, as well as enhanced ESL tutoring during the summer.
Since this will be the first summer in Elizabeth for the brothers, we are hoping to find a way to help them keep their apartment reasonably cool. There is currently no air conditioning in their apartment. So, if anyone has a (small) window air conditioner, or a portable, that they would like to donate, please contact Andy SIlver (email hidden; JavaScript is required). In fact, we are hoping to find two air conditioners, since one of the Syrian refugee families that we have been assisting during the past few years has also requested one.
Thank you all for your continued support.
Regards,
Judith, Mike, and Andy
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Purchases of food and household goods for Refugee Families are financed by our members’ financial contributions. You can make a contribution online at Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund, Refugee Assistance, or by a check made out to “Rabbi’s Discretionary Fund” and sent to Congregation Shomrei Emunah, 67 Park Street, Montclair, NJ 07042, designating “Refugee Assistance” in the check’s memo line.
An Update from the Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group Continue reading
An Update from the Shomrei Refugee Assistance Group
From Andy Silver:
We are organizing a Back-to-School Supplies Drive for the children in the refugee families whom we have been assisting. We need your help!
There are currently 18 school-age children, ranging in age from 4 to 16, in six of “our” families. The families have very little discretionary income to spend on school supplies; our goal is to help enable the children to have what they need to start the school year successfully.
We will be visiting the refugee families in Elizabeth on Monday and would like to bring them as many needed items as possible at that time. We’ve compiled the requested items on the following list: http://signup.com/go/PGuRfLE. If you can possibly donate any items, please sign up online and drop off the items in the box in Shomrei’s lobby by October 28 if you possibly can.