Please Help Holocaust Survivors in Our Community

I couldn’t hold back my tears when Esther*, 89 years old, described to me how she and her sister subsisted on crusts of bread for two long years in Auschwitz. It wasn’t her story from the concentration camp that broke me (tragic though it was) - it was her shining face as she proudly held up a loaf of bread, and told me how she could make it stretch a whole month, if she had to. “I’ve done it before, I can do it again,” she insisted.

Esther isn’t the only Holocaust survivor living in squalor, utterly destitute. There are hundreds of men and women in our community who survived unspeakable horrors during the War, and are now enduring poverty and suffering that is both heartbreaking and shameful. For all that they experienced, one would expect that they would live in comfort for the rest of their days. Sadly though, government benefits and reparations can barely cover rent, let alone food, clothing, and medical expenses.

Jacob*, 92 years old, was too ashamed to call me himself. His neighbor texted me last week with photos of his sparse fridge. “He was doing ok until the pandemic,”, he wrote. “Staying inside for over a year destroyed him. He’s not the same witty, goofy man he once was. He’s a shell of his former self.”

As we approach the Yomim Tovim, a time when we ask Hashem (G-D) for His mercy, I can’t help but think of the Holocaust survivors suffering among us. HEI has partnered with Nachas Health Network, an incredible nonprofit organization in Brooklyn that is singularly devoted to helping survivors live out their days in dignity, to collect cash donations for those who are most in need.

*Every dollar we collect will go straight into the pocket of a Holocaust survivor for food and clothing for the upcoming Yomim Tovim.*

Please donate whatever you can afford, and share this link with your friends and family. On behalf of the survivors we serve, thank you in advance for your generosity and support. Tizku L’Mitzvot!

*Names have been changed to protect privacy*

*This is a collaborative campaign with HEI and Nachas*

Rachelle Deutsch-Sauer, Founder of HEI- Holocaust Education Initiative