Great Neck: A look at Tomchei Shabbos

Local charity connects those in need with others willing to share

By Lisa Schiffman

Issue of Oct. 10. 2008

On a sunny Wednesday afternoon in late September, a group of dedicated Orthodox men, women and students worked together inside the warehouse of Tomchei Shabbos of Queens in Kew Gardens. Cardboard boxes laden with food, each labeled and tagged, were stacked high on metal shelves. Quietly and without fuss, the well-organized team of volunteers loaded each box containing challah, fruits, vegetables and cake –– all the food necessary for a proper Shabbos dinner –– for delivery to needy Jewish families in Queens and other areas of Long Island. Near the front door, a woman with a computer printout checked each outgoing box to ensure it was complete. Finally, a young girl placed a frozen chicken in each box before it was loaded into the waiting car trunks of volunteer drivers.

“It’s enough to last at least another meal or two into the week,” said longtime Tomchei Shabbos volunteer and spokeswoman Adinah Pelman. Pelman and her husband Simon, who is the organization’s president, are two of the group’s original members. Founded in 1979, Tomchei Shabbos –– which in Hebrew means “Sabbath Support” –– has since provided kosher shabbos food packages for those in need.

The organization’s stated mission is to serve as the middleman between the hungry and those willing to share. With over 400 volunteers yearly, and 150 each week, 350 kosher food packages are delivered each week. In addition to Queens, volunteers make other runs in Manhattan, Washington Heights and The Lower East Side.

“Right now there are four Great Neck routes,” Pelman said. “A substantial number of volunteers are from Great Neck,” she added, including a large number of members from The Great Neck Synagogue. “It is a fabulous community –– very receptive. Great Neck has a very large Persian community and they have come out and been unbelievably involved in Passover deliveries.”

There are many people in need. Recipients may be a woman with small children whose husband has left or is out of work, an elderly couple on a fixed income, or a family in which a devastating illness has drained their financial resources. Referrals are made through local rabbis, yeshiva administrators, or medical and social workers. With no overhead or salaries, the organization receives funding through individuals and area businesses.

“Every effort is made to tailor the deliveries to peoples’ needs,” Pelman explained, noting that questionnaires are given out to recipients twice a year to ensure that the food being delivered is the right amount. In certain cases, she added, individual accounts are set up at grocery stores close to recipients. In addition, ethnic preferences are taken into account. For example, Jewish families of Sephardic origin who do not eat gefilte fish can request that it not be included in their deliveries.

The nation’s worsening economic crisis has started to have a chilling effect on the organization’s function.

“We have already begun to feel the effects of the economic slowdown,” Pelman cautioned. “Conditions are not what they have been in the past. We have gotten requests from rabbis and synagogue members on behalf of other members now out of work three, four, even six months.”

What is striking about Tomchei Shabbos is its members’ fierce determination to remain anonymous.

“Providing food for those in need is one of the most important mitzvahs,” Pelman explained. “Since its inception, the organization’s culture has been for its members to remain anonymous in order to maintain the dignity of those receiving aid.”

“We would rather fly below the radar,” agreed Dr. H., who asked that his full name not be published. Dr. H and Ben (an importer) have been making weekly food deliveries to needy families for the last 10 years. Both men are members of the Great Neck Synagogue.

After their car had been loaded, the men set off to make their deliveries. “The toughest part is not the weather, it’s the parking,” Dr. H admitted while navigating the busy city streets and searching for a spot. “Our route is Rego Park, and we have also done deliveries on occasion in Little Neck and Great Neck,” he said.

Each man takes turns carrying in the boxes, while the other waits in the parked car. The men made four deliveries that night, including one to an elderly couple, and a young woman with small children.

“The husband works, but their income isn’t sufficient,” Ben explained. “She recently had twins –– she has four children altogether.”

The discrepancy between the middle-class appearance of each recipient’s neatly-landscaped apartment buildings with their desperate financial circumstances was disconcerting.

“You never know,” Mike concluded as the two men made their final delivery, speaking of a family in Great Neck. “Their circumstances have changed. They may live in a large house but it doesn’t mean that they don’t need help.”

Despite their difficult work –– the boxes are heavy –– both men agreed that their commitment has brought them much personal gratification.

“I feel good I’m doing something for people much less fortunate than ourselves,” Ben said.

“I’m just glad to be able to do something,” Mike concurred.

For Pelman, a delivery she made many years ago remains a vivid reminder of why Tomchei Shabbos is essential to the Jewish community. It was during a heavy snowstorm in which several volunteers could not make their routes. Volunteering, Pelman took along her chidlren. After walking up three flights of stairs in a Flushing apartment, she was greeted by a frail, elderly Jewish woman wearing a head scarf. The apartment was poorly heated and decrepit. With gratitude, the woman asked Pelman if she and her children could put the food away. “I opened her refrigerator –– it was empty. It hit me and my kids so hard. My daughter said, ‘mom, there is nothing to eat. If we hadn’t come, this lady wouldn’t have had anything to eat.’ Fifteen years later, the image still haunts me.”

To contribute to Tomchei Shabbos in Forest Hills, serving Great Neck

Donations can be sent to 67-07 Austin Street, Forest Hills, NY 11375 or made online at www.tsqinc.org.

To volunteer, send an e-mail to info@tsqinc.org.

To contribute to Tomchei Shabbos in Far Rockaway and the Five Towns

Tomchei Shabbos Yad Yeshaya is now offering a new and meaningful way to thank your hosts. For $10 you can purchase a beautifully designed card explaining that you have made a donation in your host’s honor to Tomchei Shabbos, which extends the hospitality they have given you to a needy family in our community.

This mitzvah lasts forever, and will be remembered much more than flowers, candy or wine.

Cards are available from: Debbie Fenster: (516) 239-2677; Lisa Ehrlich: (516) 295-4898; Aliza Zlotnick: (516) 569-2035; Rachayle Deutsch: (516) 239-8093; Vivienne Frank: (718) 327-3038; and Judy Merlis (718) 327-5294.

You can also support Tomchei Shabbos by bringing your loose change to Commerce Bank on Central Avenue and Cedarhurst Avenue. Just drop the change into the machine and tell the teller to deposit the cash to Tomchei Shabbos.