It’s always Thanksgiving at this shul

“It’s Thanksgiving every week,” said Rabbi Hershel Billet of Young Israel of Woodmere as he described how every Thursday night, congregants gather for the Tomchai Shabbos program to pack food and deliver it to needy families who would not otherwise have the necessary items for a Shabbos dinner.

Noting the importance of Thanksgiving Day for the entire nation, Billet said that being Jewish means giving thanks on a daily basis. “I’m happy that in America there is a day designated to giving thanks,” he said. “But in the Jewish religion it’s important to appreciate what you have and say ‘thank you’ to God everyday.”

Averim Stavsky, a Woodmere resident, said the Tomchai Shabbos program, which provides food to the needy for the Sabbath and other Jewish holidays, is a fairly common charity across the world. “Most large Jewish communities have this program,” he said.

More 22 years ago, Moshe and Jeanette Lamm of Far Rockaway spearheaded the Tomchai Shabbos Yad Yeshaya program that now serves nearly 200 families in that community, Stavsky said. From the onset, Stavsky and a large number of volunteers from the Young Israel of Woodmere, provided food packages and a team of drivers for the Far Rockaway program that now operates out of the Torah Academy for Girls, also in Far Rockaway.

Everyone should be able to celebrate Shabbos with the necessities and it’s a terrible tragedy when that doesn’t happen, Jeannette Lamm said. “There are some people in our community who don’t have food for a Shabbos meal and that’s a pity,” she said. “Everybody should have a Shabbos meal with everything it entails.”

With the economic downturn, Young Israel of Woodmere received more requests for people who needed this program in the Five Towns so they decided to operate out of their own synagogue while still sharing information and resources with Yad Yeshaya.

The Hershel Senders Young Israel of Woodmere Tomchai Shabbos program, currently provides 35 families in the Five Towns, Lynbrook, Valley Stream, Oceanside and Hewlett with Shabbos meal items that each include a chicken, fruits, vegetables, fish, soup, challah bread, cake and wine or grape juice. The program was named for Senders, the father of Willie Senders, its present coordinator.

Food is either donated by kosher caterers and bakeries, purchased or picked up from food pantries each week. Teens arrive at Young Israel of Woodmere at 5:30 p.m. each Thursday and for the next hour an assembly line packs and labels each box. “Everything in place ensures strict confidentiality. There are no names on the box, just addresses, so no one delivering them knows who is receiving,” Stavsky said.

He originally got involved with the Tomchai Shabbos program because of the responsibility he feels toward his community. “We are all busy with work and other obligations, [and] while writing a check is important to charities, I know that the hands-on efforts every Thursday for me and all the volunteers is incredibly rewarding,” Stavsky said. “Seeing the weekly operation spring into action, involving so many dedicated members and parents working along side their children, participating in this mitzvah is truly heartwarming. In these trying economic times, we need to make sure those who have less, have one less worry and can get what they need to properly celebrate and truly enjoy the Sabbath.”

When asked her hopes for the Tomchai Shabbos program in the future, Jeanette said, “I hope that we can shut it down and that there’s no need for it.”

To make a donation to the Tomchai Shabbos program, send checks to Jeanette Lamm, 634 Oak Drive, Far Rockaway, NY 11691.