A few days before Rosh Hashanah, Rivka, an elderly Holocaust survivor in Israel, will hear a knock at her door. She may live alone. She may have no family nearby to prepare Yom Tov with her. But at her door will be a warm holiday meal, delivered with a smile and a simple message: You are not alone. You are not forgotten. The Jewish people remember you.
At the same time, elsewhere in Israel, a reservist who has spent hundreds of days away from his family and livelihood will receive a food card with NIS 1,000 on it to help put food on his family's Yom Tov table. A widow will receive assistance to help her prepare the holiday for her children. A struggling mother will walk into a supermarket with a food card that allows her to shop for Rosh Hashanah with dignity — choosing what her family needs rather than accepting whatever is available.
Behind each delivery is one person. One family. One table. But together, they represent something unprecedented. In its largest single High Holiday season undertaking to date, Colel Chabad is investing more than $18 million to bring food, dignity, and the joy of Yom Tov to more than 150,000 households and individuals across Israel, while connecting Jews throughout the Diaspora to those in need.
Click here to help bring Yom Tov joy to widows, the elderly & IDF families in Israel
As Jews around the world prepare to usher in 5787, the Jewish people living in the State of Israel are entering the new year carrying the weight of the previous years, unlike any in recent memory.
Families are struggling economically. Reservists and their families continue to bear enormous burdens, both physically and emotionally. Thousands of elderly Israelis and Holocaust survivors live with poverty and loneliness. Widows and orphans are rebuilding lives shattered by war and terror. And many soldiers are returning home with wounds that cannot always be seen.
At the same time, the Jewish people face another challenge: division—an extremely divisive and polarizing election season.
Against that backdrop, Colel Chabad is preparing what is expected to be the largest single High Holiday humanitarian undertaking in its history. The effort will reach virtually every sector of Israeli society.
Tens of thousands of struggling families will receive food assistance and supermarket cards. Thousands of elderly Israelis and Holocaust survivors will receive food packages, hot cooked meals, and Meals on Wheels deliveries. Families with infants will receive baby formula. Widows and orphans will receive Yom Tov clothing, gifts, lulavim and etrogim, and assistance preparing their homes and sukkot for the holiday.
Special attention is also being given to IDF soldiers, reservists, and families dealing with trauma and financial hardship — people whose lives and livelihoods have been profoundly disrupted by years of war and military service.
The scale of the campaign tells only part of the story. At its heart is an idea Colel Chabad has championed for generations: the Jewish people are strongest when we recognize that we are one people.
Israel is heading toward another politically charged period. Debates are becoming louder. Differences between religious and secular, Right and Left, Israel and the Diaspora can sometimes appear greater than what unites us.
Colel Chabad offers another answer.
A food package does not ask how someone votes. A hot meal delivered to a Holocaust survivor does not inquire about religious observance. A supermarket card given to a struggling reservist's family does not distinguish between Right and Left. A widow preparing for Sukkot does not need to belong to a particular community to know that the Jewish people stand beside her. This is Ahavat Yisrael – love of one’s fellow Jew – translated into action.
The idea is not new.
This year marks 249 years since one of the earliest organized Hassidic aliyot reached the Land of Israel. On 5 Elul 5537, on September 9, 1777, three hundred Hassidim led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk arrived in the Land of Israel. Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who would become the first Rebbe of Chabad and the author of the Tanya – the foundational book of Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic philosophy – had originally joined their journey. Under pressure from his colleagues, he ultimately remained behind in Eastern Europe, but he never abandoned those who had made their homes in the Holy Land. Instead, he devoted enormous effort to raising funds from Jewish communities abroad to sustain them.
Eleven years later, in 1788, that commitment was institutionalized with the establishment of Colel Chabad. The principle was remarkably simple: A Jew living thousands of miles away could have a direct responsibility for the welfare of a fellow Jew living in the Land of Israel.
Click here to help bring Yom Tov joy to widows, the elderly & IDF families in Israel
The methods have changed dramatically, but for 238 years, that chain has never been broken. Coins placed into tzedakah boxes (pushkes) in small European villages have become sophisticated national food-security programs, supermarket cards, logistics centers, Meals on Wheels routes, and humanitarian networks reaching across Israel.
But the principle remains the same. A Jew helps another Jew. And in doing so, distance disappears. This High Holiday season, the historic relationship between Israel and the Diaspora is taking on unprecedented dimensions. Jews around the world will help put food onto the tables of families in Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, Beersheba, and communities throughout Israel. They will help an elderly Holocaust survivor welcome the new year with dignity. They will stand behind a reservist who has sacrificed months of work and family life to defend the country. They will bring joy to widows and children who have experienced unimaginable loss.
It is not simply charity. It is Jewish unity made tangible.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe repeatedly taught that the unity of the Jewish people is not merely an inspiring ideal. It is one of our greatest sources of strength.
“During times like these, it is easy to focus on what divides us,” says Rabbi Sholom Duchman, Director of Colel Chabad. “But when a Jewish family does not have food for Yom Tov, nobody asks them how they vote, where they come from, or how observant they are. They are part of our family. For 238 years, that has been the mission of Colel Chabad — one Jew taking responsibility for another. This Tishrei, we are undertaking that responsibility on a scale we have never attempted before.”
That message carries particular urgency today.
At a moment when antisemitism is again confronting Jewish communities throughout the world, and when internal disagreements threaten to pull Jews apart, perhaps one of the most powerful responses is also one of the simplest: taking care of one another.
For nearly two and a half centuries, Chabad's connection to Eretz Yisrael has been expressed through precisely that responsibility.
This Rosh Hashanah, it will be expressed on a scale never before attempted—more than $18 million. More than 150,000 households and individuals. Jews from every background. Communities across Israel. Support from Jews throughout the world. Different opinions. Different lifestyles. Different languages. Different countries. One people. One responsibility. One Tishrei.
May the coming year bring blessings and security to the people of Israel and Jewish communities throughout the Diaspora. And may the acts of kindness that unite us prove stronger than all the forces attempting to divide us.
Click here to help bring Yom Tov joy to widows, the elderly & IDF families in Israel.
Written in collaboration with Chabad