Food For Needy Transcends Pesach

Continued from Page L-1

4

freedom which is inseparable from
Pesach. Even if a man has already
fulfilled the mitzvah of tzedakah, in
complete accordance with the law,
he cannot appreciate the full
implication of freedom if he knows
his neighbor is hungry and in need.
The Moies Chitim Organization
of Detroit was founded in 1922 by
Louis Smith, great-grandfather of its
current president Levi Smith. Moles
Chitim was established to ensure
that no Jew is denied a Passover
for lack of funds.

According to Shirley Robbins,
who serves as vice president of
Moles Chitim, the organization
exists solely to provide Passover
necessities for the needy. It once
supplied wine and other holiday
foodstuffs such as matzah meal,
farfel, cereal and cake meal.
However "it became too expensive
to provide the other products," she
said, presently only wine (or grape
juice), matzah and a check are
given to the client. Last year the
Moles Chitim Organization
distributed matzah and wine to more
than 500 families as well as giving
cash stipends totalling over $24,000.
Recipients are determined on
the basis of lists supplied by Jewish
Family Service.
The Moles Chitim Organization

of Detroit, Inc. will gladly accept
contributions to defray costs' for this
Passover and future Passovers.
Persons wishing to donate can write
to:
Shirley Robbins
23410 Radclift
Oak Park, MI 48237

If there be among you a needy
man, any one of your brethren
within any of your gates in the land
which the Lord, your God, gives
you; you shall not harden your
heart, nor shut your hand in the
face of your needy brother. But you
shall surely lend him sufficient for
his need, you shall surely give him
and you shall not give him with ill
grace; for because of this thing the
Lord, your God, will bless you in all
your work and in all to which you
put your hand.
Deut. 16:7,8,10

Passover is not the only festival
which we are commanded to
remember the less fortunate. On all
religious and joyful occasions we
are to share God's bounties with the
underprivileged.
In November, a group of
concerened people combined
resources and talents to bring the
problem of Jewish hunger, year-
round, to the greater Detroit

metropolitan area, thereby bringing
Yad Ezra into existence.
Yad Ezra provides strictly
kosher, non-perishable foods to
those in need in Southeastern
Michigan throughout the year
excluding Passover. Free nutritious
food is given out from the pantry
and/or distributed to those who are
unable to come in for whatever
reason.
People in need can come to the
Yad Ezra office (15670 W. 10 Mile) in
Southfield, or they call 557-FOOD
(3663) to arrange for distribution.
In relieving human suffering I never
ask whether the cry of need comes
from one of my own faith or not, but
what is more natural than that I
should find my highest purpose in
bringing to the followers of Judaism,
oppressed for a thousand years and
starving in misery, the possibility of
physical and moral regeneration .. .
and thus furnish humanity with
much new and valuable material.

M. Hirsch 1891
Mazon is a Jewish Response to
Hunger. It helps confront the terrible
scandal of hunger in America and
overseas. Mazon was founded in
1985. Since then, Mazon has made
grants totalling more than $1.4
million to non-profit agencies, most
of which work to alleviate hunger in

the United States. In the greater
Detroit area the following
organizations have been
beneficiaries of Mazon: Mother
Waddles, Wellness House, Food
Bank of Oakland County,
Southeastern Michigan Coalition on
Hunger, Pontiac Area Lighthouse,
Community Food Depots of the
Society of St. Vincent De Paul.
Mazon offers us a means by
which we may add a rich dimension
of community service to our private
celebrations. Through Mazon, we
voluntarily add 3 percent to the cost
of our celebrations, a bar or bat
mitzvah, a wedding, a birthday or
anniversary, any joyous occasion —
as an offering to help defeat the
scourge of hunger here at home
and around the world.
Simply send your tax-deductible
check for the suggested amount of
3 percent of the cost of your
celebration to:
Mazon, Inc.
Los Angeles, Calif. 90064
In the spirit of the Passover
festival let us aid those who are
less fortunate than ourselves.

Rabbi Schnipper is spiritual leader
of Congregation Beth Abraham
Hillel Moses in West Bloomfield and
active in causes to feed the needy.

Dtt.0 iZc°
400 Opening The Gates To Freedom

By MARY KORETZ

Each month in this space,
L'Chayim will present a Yiddish
lesson entitled, "Du Redst Yiddish?
(Do You Speak Yiddish?)," whose
aim is to encourage further study of
Yiddish. The lesson will include a
brief story utilizing the Yiddish
words to be studied and a
vocabulary list with English
translations.
The lessons were prepared by
Mary Koretz of Oak Park.
Following is this month's
lesson:
Passover this yor will be
particularly significant because of
the heintike exodus of Soviet Jews.
It kumpt none too soon. On March
11, 1990, I hob gehert a reporter on
Cable News Network announce that
there was a hecherung in anti-
Semitism in Rusland. The event of
glasnost made it gringer to express
the anti-Semitism, dos has immer.
been felt. As he spoke, a bild of a
scribbled Star of David, desecrating
a building, was shown. Ironically,
afile something good, like freedom
of expression, can be used antkegn
Jews.

L-4

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1 990

.

The circumstances of the
biblical knechtshaft in Exodus and
the present one differ, in specifics,
ober are alike in being oppressive.
The Soviet Jews did not have
taskmasters over them to oppress
them with forced labor. The book of
Exodus further bashreibt their
salvation through the leadership of
Moses.
The Soviet Jews were gefodert
to sacrifice their identity. The
practice of zayer religion, the study
of Hebrayish and Yiddish were
farbotn. Jewish tseitungn, theater
and andere cultural effects
disappeared or were practiced in
secret for moyre of punishments.
Travel, at will, as we vaysn it was
forbidden and emigration was
ommiglech.
Any questioning of these, or
other government policies were
ongetrofn with disciplinary
measures. Particularly, requests to
farlozn the country, to become a
refusenik, was oft mol a prelude to
the loss of employment, a reize
kein Siberia, to turme or to a
mental hospital.
Added to the misery were the
purges of the Stalin era. Efsher, in

a way, the most touching incidents
were the murdering of the Jewish
poets. As committed Communists,
zay hobn geshribn so passionately,
so glowingly of the Soviet
iberlebung. For example, from the
poem "I Am A Jew" by ltzik Feffer;
"I am a Jew who has drunk up
Happiness from Stalin's cup.
To those who would let
Moscow go
Under the ground, I call out
. No.
The Slays are my brother, too,
I am a Jew!"

One tries not to batrachtn zich
of what they must have felt, when
their cherished cholem became
their murderous nightmare.
No Moses for this present
exodus exists. They are dependent,
as Jews usually are, on other Jews,
principally those in lsarel and
America. May this Passover arrive
in proper order.

Vocabulary

yor
heintike
kumpt
hob gehert
hecherung

year
present (time)
comes
heard
rise

Rusland
gringer
dos
immer
bild
afile
antkegn
knechtshaft
ober
bashreibt
gefodert
zayer
hebrayish
farbotn
tseitungn
andere
moyre
vaysn
ommiglech
ongetrofn
farlozn
oft
mol
reize
kein
turme
efsher
zay
hobn geshribn
iberlebung
batrachtn zich
cholem

Russia
easier
that
always
picture
even
against
slavery
but
describes
required
their
Hebrew
forbidden
newspaper
other
fear
know
impossible
met
leave
often
times
a trip
to
jail
perhaps
they
had written
experience
think, consider
dream

C