38 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 
 
 
 
 

E

ach year before the sun sets and Kol 
Nidre services are chanted to mark 
the beginning of Yom Kippur, Jews 
arrive at their places of worship, some wear-
ing white, many carrying items of food to 
donate. 
Giving the equivalent of food that would 
have been eaten in lieu of fasting heralds 
back to the ancient Jewish custom of kap-
parot. Generations ago, Jews before the fast 
would take a live chicken, wave it over the 
heads of their children to transfer any possi-
ble transgressions they may have committed 
to the chicken and then donate the chicken 
to a poor family for their pre-fast meal. 
Though kapparot in some communities 
is still performed this way, most times the 
chicken has been replaced with food — or 
money — intended for tzedakah. 
In Metro Detroit, Berkeley-based Yad 
Ezra is the coordinating agency of the com-
munity’s annual kosher food drive and its 
food collection bins are a commonplace 
sight in synagogues and schools this time 
of year. 
Yad Ezra Executive Director Daniella 
Mechnikov said food collec-
tions begin shortly before Rosh 
Hashanah and continue right 
up through Yom Kippur. This 
year, Yad Ezra will collect all 
gathered food on Erev Sukkot, 
Oct. 9. Those wishing to volun-

teer to collect the food and deliver it to the 
organizations’ headquarters in Berkeley may 
sign up at https://volunteer.yadezra.org. 
“What started out as something Yad Ezra 
once called the Kol Nidre drive evolved into 
collecting food through the whole High 
Holiday season,
” Mechnikov explained. 
“This is our one big food drive of the year.
” 
Mechnikov said the organization hopes 
to gather its biggest collection of donated 
food since 2020, the onset of the COVID 
pandemic. During that food drive, Yad Ezra 
collected only about 4,000 pounds of food. 
Collections improved in 2021, with 13,000 
pounds of food collected. 
“If you can recall, (2020) was the time 
when no one was coming into synagogues, 
and people were still wiping down packages 
for fear of spreading COVID, so there was 
a period when we were not even taking 
food donations,
” Mechnikov said. “We are 
hopeful that this year the community will 
be re-engaged with the process and get 
these collections back to the level of when 
we were collecting 25,000 pounds of kosher 
food for the food insecure in the commu-
nity — that would be a good amount. Any 
food that is not labeled as kosher gets dis-
tributed to our partnering agencies.
” 
Yad Ezra purchases perishable food from 
partnering agencies such as Gleaners and 
Forgotten Harvest in addition to food dona-
tions from donors and its annual food drive. 

Mechnikov said 60 percent of the food Yad 
Ezra distributes is purchased at a reduced 
cost. Unfortunately, Yad Ezra has not been 
immune to inflation and has seen a 20 per-
cent increase in the cost of purchased food, 
Mechnikov said. 
Mechnikov also said she enjoyed the 
organization’s annual fundraiser on Sept. 15 
honoring longtime Yad Ezra volunteers and 
supporters Roz and Ray Rebeck. 

APPLE COLLECTING
Partnering with Yad Ezra is the nonprofit 
Metro Food Rescue. Organization creator 
Chad Techner said this year the organiza-
tion invites the community to collect apples 
that can be found growing on trees in one’s 
own neighborhood and public spaces, such 
as a collection of apple trees on the grounds 
of the Oakland County Executive office in 
Waterford Township. 
Techner said he hopes to churn up vol-
unteers from area congregations, religious 
schools and Jewish day schools 
to participate. Collected apples 
can be dropped off at distribu-
tion points on Oct. 2 and 9 at 
Yad Ezra and Temple Kol Ami 
in West Bloomfield. The apples 
will then head to Detroit fruit 
preserves manufacturer Gus & 
Grey to be processed, canned and donated 
to local food pantries. More information 
can be found at the organization’s website, 
metrofoodrescue.com.
“The collected apples will be great for 
processing, and we will plan to turn them 
into apple butter to spread around the 
sweetness of the new year.
” 

Daniella 
Mechnikov

Chad 
Techner

Organization hopes to gather its biggest collection 
of donated food since the pandemic began.

Yad Ezra’s 
Annual 
Food Drive

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY
HIGH HOLIDAYS
Metro Food 
Rescue is asking 
the community to 
collect apples.

Boxes of donated food.

