This photo above marks the day a mezuzah was put on the door in 1976.
From left to right: Ben Zion Altman, Harvey Kash, Cantor Ben Siegal, Seymour Krasnov, Sam Weiss, Eli Rosen, Herb Rieders, Chas Gold, Manny Bardash, Susan Levine
Our Story
From left to right: Ben Zion Altman, Harvey Kash, Cantor Ben Siegal, Seymour Krasnov, Sam Weiss, Eli Rosen, Herb Rieders, Chas Gold, Manny Bardash, Susan Levine
Our Story
In 1972, the Council for the Jewish Poor was founded to help provide services to the thousands of elderly Jews who were living below the poverty level in areas such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York, Harlem, and the South Bronx. This small group was founded by a very dedicated young man, Elly Rosen, who was able to organize about 100 volunteers, mainly from Brooklyn and Queens colleges. Rosen was able to awaken the Jewish community to the fact that there were poor Jews in New York City. He publicized their plight in an ABC TV production They Weep Alone.
In 1974, with the help of a $2,000.00 grant from the Men's Club of Temple Israel in Great Neck, the storefront social service center at 1770 Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville was opened and was called HATZILU II. HATZILU I was located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, but did not survive. HATZILU III became the support group for the Intervale Jewish Center in the South Bronx.
The first Director at the Pitkin Avenue storefront was a young woman, Susan Levine, who was one of Elly Rosen's proteges. One of the college volunteers was Martha Rosenberg, whose participation in Hatzilu fulfilled the field service requirement of her social work program. She came to the Storefront after classes at Queens College. Those were very productive Hatzilu years. Martha was credited as the driving force behind the amazing accomplishment of moving approximately 125 people to safer apartments in the Far Rockaway area.
In 1976, when HATZILU II was experiencing financial difficulties and was in need of broader fundraising activities, the Hatzilu Rescue Organization (HRO) was formed. The group initially consisted of approximately ten congregations/men's clubs and individuals who could not tolerate the thought that this worthwhile organization would cease to exist. The HRO inherited a deficit of some $1800.00 but went on to raise enough money to pay the outstanding debts and establish a financially sound organization.
Then came a campaign of meetings at different synagogues throughout the Long Island area. They were some of the wildest, impassioned meetings that you can imagine. As more and more people became involved, the ability and determination to help other Jews in need grew. They banded together to help Jews in need throughout the Bronx and Brooklyn. Volunteer social workers helped elderly Jews obtain government benefits to which they were entitled. Emergency cash grants were distributed to pay for rent, utilities, and medicine. Food was given out to the hungry. The organization grew from the very small beginnings with a budget of $ 10,000 to it's present size and ability to help so many more people.
Today, Hatzilu continues to devote all its energy to help Jewish people in need. After most Jews left the city for suburbia, Hatzilu shifted its assistance to Jews in need on Long Island. Elderly Jews, and even a few Holocaust survivors, make up about 50% of our client base. Many of our elderly clients live solely on social security benefits, which do not cover all of their daily financial needs.
The other 50% is made up of younger single individuals and families. In some cases the main breadwinner in a family has lost his/her job, and the family just needs a little short term help until they can get back on their feet. Others have long-term needs due to health problems. We have more than one case where fathers have abandoned their family. Also, there have been cases where women have left their abusive husband and are struggling to support their family. There are so many reasons why people need help, but regardless of the reason, we are there.
We maintain the largest kosher food warehouse in Nassau County. We partner with Island Harvest and Long Island Cares to obtain food for the warehouse. However, these agencies often don’t offer food that we can use (we do not distribute non-kosher food to our clients). Therefore, we rely on the many food drives that synagogues and JCCs run for Hatzilu. We typically have over a dozen synagogues throughout Nassau County that run High Holiday food drives for us. Aimee Holtzman from rockCANroll also is there to lend a hand from time to time by providing Hatzilu with food from a rockCANroll concert or cash to do a shopping for the Hatzilu food warehouse. We partner with TANSS, a consortium of many synagogues and two JCCs in Nassau County, for a “Pack it Up for Purim” food drive. And the week prior to Passover, we partner with the Nassau County Shomrim Society, a fraternal organization of Jewish law enforcement officers, to provide the most diverse and largest assortment of Kosher for Passover foods to those in need.
We have over 40 volunteers who deliver food directly to the homes of those in need. As Rabbi Michael Eisenstein, former Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Hempstead so appropriately phrased it, the Hatzilu deliverers are “literally our front line troops in this battle” (the hunger battle). In some cases, the food we deliver enables clients to be able to use the money that they would spend on food toward their rent bill, utility bill, or to pay for their medicines.
In addition to our core of deliverers, we have a committee of several social workers and other volunteers that take on new clients and serve existing clients. They contact and/or meet the clients monthly to make sure that they are okay, find out about any changes, and offer a compassionate, listening ear. They help the clients benefit from all public benefits that are available to them. In short, we are there to provide them with food, financial aid, and social work intervention.
Currently we are making nearly 1,000 food deliveries to clients’ homes each year and we are reaching out to clients in financial need over 700 times a year! Many of these clients have nowhere else to turn for help. Hatzilu will continue to help all our current clients and plans additional outreach to Jewish people in need throughout Nassau County.
In 1974, with the help of a $2,000.00 grant from the Men's Club of Temple Israel in Great Neck, the storefront social service center at 1770 Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville was opened and was called HATZILU II. HATZILU I was located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, but did not survive. HATZILU III became the support group for the Intervale Jewish Center in the South Bronx.
The first Director at the Pitkin Avenue storefront was a young woman, Susan Levine, who was one of Elly Rosen's proteges. One of the college volunteers was Martha Rosenberg, whose participation in Hatzilu fulfilled the field service requirement of her social work program. She came to the Storefront after classes at Queens College. Those were very productive Hatzilu years. Martha was credited as the driving force behind the amazing accomplishment of moving approximately 125 people to safer apartments in the Far Rockaway area.
In 1976, when HATZILU II was experiencing financial difficulties and was in need of broader fundraising activities, the Hatzilu Rescue Organization (HRO) was formed. The group initially consisted of approximately ten congregations/men's clubs and individuals who could not tolerate the thought that this worthwhile organization would cease to exist. The HRO inherited a deficit of some $1800.00 but went on to raise enough money to pay the outstanding debts and establish a financially sound organization.
Then came a campaign of meetings at different synagogues throughout the Long Island area. They were some of the wildest, impassioned meetings that you can imagine. As more and more people became involved, the ability and determination to help other Jews in need grew. They banded together to help Jews in need throughout the Bronx and Brooklyn. Volunteer social workers helped elderly Jews obtain government benefits to which they were entitled. Emergency cash grants were distributed to pay for rent, utilities, and medicine. Food was given out to the hungry. The organization grew from the very small beginnings with a budget of $ 10,000 to it's present size and ability to help so many more people.
Today, Hatzilu continues to devote all its energy to help Jewish people in need. After most Jews left the city for suburbia, Hatzilu shifted its assistance to Jews in need on Long Island. Elderly Jews, and even a few Holocaust survivors, make up about 50% of our client base. Many of our elderly clients live solely on social security benefits, which do not cover all of their daily financial needs.
The other 50% is made up of younger single individuals and families. In some cases the main breadwinner in a family has lost his/her job, and the family just needs a little short term help until they can get back on their feet. Others have long-term needs due to health problems. We have more than one case where fathers have abandoned their family. Also, there have been cases where women have left their abusive husband and are struggling to support their family. There are so many reasons why people need help, but regardless of the reason, we are there.
We maintain the largest kosher food warehouse in Nassau County. We partner with Island Harvest and Long Island Cares to obtain food for the warehouse. However, these agencies often don’t offer food that we can use (we do not distribute non-kosher food to our clients). Therefore, we rely on the many food drives that synagogues and JCCs run for Hatzilu. We typically have over a dozen synagogues throughout Nassau County that run High Holiday food drives for us. Aimee Holtzman from rockCANroll also is there to lend a hand from time to time by providing Hatzilu with food from a rockCANroll concert or cash to do a shopping for the Hatzilu food warehouse. We partner with TANSS, a consortium of many synagogues and two JCCs in Nassau County, for a “Pack it Up for Purim” food drive. And the week prior to Passover, we partner with the Nassau County Shomrim Society, a fraternal organization of Jewish law enforcement officers, to provide the most diverse and largest assortment of Kosher for Passover foods to those in need.
We have over 40 volunteers who deliver food directly to the homes of those in need. As Rabbi Michael Eisenstein, former Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel in Hempstead so appropriately phrased it, the Hatzilu deliverers are “literally our front line troops in this battle” (the hunger battle). In some cases, the food we deliver enables clients to be able to use the money that they would spend on food toward their rent bill, utility bill, or to pay for their medicines.
In addition to our core of deliverers, we have a committee of several social workers and other volunteers that take on new clients and serve existing clients. They contact and/or meet the clients monthly to make sure that they are okay, find out about any changes, and offer a compassionate, listening ear. They help the clients benefit from all public benefits that are available to them. In short, we are there to provide them with food, financial aid, and social work intervention.
Currently we are making nearly 1,000 food deliveries to clients’ homes each year and we are reaching out to clients in financial need over 700 times a year! Many of these clients have nowhere else to turn for help. Hatzilu will continue to help all our current clients and plans additional outreach to Jewish people in need throughout Nassau County.