When a successful organization has been in existence for almost 250 years, helping those in need, one is understandably reluctant to change its name. After all, why spoil a good thing? Such is the case with Colel Chabad, the oldest continually operating charity in Israel, founded in 1788 by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
Says Zalman Duchman, the organization’s managing director: “We’re not a typical colel, and we are not a typical Chabad house. Our brand has endured almost 250 years, and it will go further that way. We are a conglomerate of hessed [lovingkindness], serving every demographic in Israel.”
Colel Chabad has become one of Israel’s most essential organizations, offering a broad range of programs, which include soup kitchens, daycare centers, medical rehabilitation centers, mental health clinics, and much more. Its largest program is its Food Security Initiative, part of the Blavatnik Food Bank of Israel. It has developed a partnership with the Israeli government that reaches 40,000 families each month, helping to ensure their food security. Food security is defined as the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.
Zalman’s father, Rabbi Sholom Duchman, director of Colel Chabad, was appointed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe to head the organization in 1978. He explains the significance of partnering with the government.
“When the Rebbe personally entrusted me with the mission to expand Colel Chabad’s activities and care for Israel’s most vulnerable, it was clear that our mandate was to reach everyone in need – without exception. We understood then, and continue to believe now, that a strategic partnership with the Israeli government is the most effective path to achieving that vision.”
IN MUNICIPALITIES throughout Israel – from Rahat to Ashkelon, from Beit Shemesh to Acre – Colel Chabad is the official organization responsible for overseeing food security support for all Israeli citizens in need. “We feed the poor – Jews and non-Jews alike,” says Duchman.
Adds Moshe Lavon, deputy director-general of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, “Colel Chabad touches on everything related to food for families in need at any moment and at any time for all sectors without distinction of religion, race, and gender.”
Colel Chabad employs three methods to provide food to those in need. First, participants in the program receive a special NIS 500 debit card each month, which can be used at major supermarket chains to purchase basic food items. Second, through a partnership with Leket, Israel’s national food bank organization, participants receive monthly deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables. And Colel Chabad provides infant formula to working mothers in need in partnership with the Ted Arison Foundation.
Mendy Blau, who heads Colel Chabad’s activities in Israel, explains the unique nature of the organization’s food security project. “What is special about our national food security program,” he says, “is that it is the first and only governmental program in the area of food security. There are many charitable organizations involved in food security in Israel, but the amount of help that they can provide is relatively limited and is usually at different times during the year, such as Passover and Rosh Hashanah.” By contrast, he notes, Colel Chabad’s program works throughout the year.
While the program has been fully operational for three years, says Blau, Colel Chabad conducted testing for 10 years to ensure its success. Because Colel Chabad is part of Israel’s National Food Security initiative, its representatives are part of the welfare department of each municipality that it services. The representatives investigate families in the city’s welfare department to identify those in need of food security assistance.
“We don’t deal simply with poor families,” says Blau. “We work with families that suffer from extreme food insecurity – people who worry that they may not have enough food for the next day.”
ACCORDING TO Israel’s National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi), he adds, some 265,000 families in Israel suffer from extreme food insecurity and skip meals because they simply don’t have enough food. “We find these families and reach them with aid,” he says. Currently, the program reaches some 40,000 families, and it is expected to reach 50,000 by the end of this year.
According to Israel’s National Policy Framework for Food Security, the eating patterns of those in the food security and nutrition sector are characterized by high consumption of unhealthy and processed foods, and low consumption of healthy foods. Their combination with the risk of health problems such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and respiratory disease raises its importance. Blau explains that the monthly 20-kg. allowance of food and vegetables that families receive is designed to prevent the onset of these kinds of illnesses.
Colel Chabad’s Food Security Initiative does more than address the physical needs of the participants. The organization offers workshops for families in the program on managing finances, promoting proper nutrition, and educating them about their rights related to their financial situation.
Families that enter Colel Chabad’s Food Security Program are eligible to participate for a period of two years. Beyond the importance of providing food to families in need, the program, through various initiatives of Israel’s welfare agencies, offers job training and afternoon programs for children to support working families.
A SIGNIFICANT percentage of the support for Colel Chabad’s food security project – 65% – comes from the Israeli government, with 10% coming from Israel’s municipalities. Colel Chabad and the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews provide the remaining 25% of funding.
Blau says that many families who have been part of the food security program have managed to extricate themselves and their children from difficult situations. He mentions the case of a single mother from Lod who was raising twin sons in a situation of extreme food insecurity.
As a result of the family’s participation in the program and the assistance they received, the children graduated high school with excellent grades and served in the IDF with distinction, with one of them serving in the elite 8200 intelligence corps. “None of these things would have been possible for a family under these circumstances [without our help],” he says.
A second case involved a woman whose husband had abused her and was in jail. The wife was living in a home for battered women with her son. Colel Chabad assisted her in enrolling the child in an afternoon daycare center, allowing her to work as a cashier in a supermarket. The woman now lives in an apartment with her son.
Had the family not been in the Colel Chabad food security program, says Blau, it is likely that the mother would have ended up in less than favorable circumstances. “Once people want to take charge of their lives, they can sort out their own affairs and get out of the situation they are in,” he says.
A third case in which the program proved pivotal involved an Ethiopian family living in Netanya. The husband had mental health issues and was confined to their home, and their child was disabled. The family spent most of their time at home. Through her participation in the program, the wife found employment outside the home and was able to arrange care for her child outside the house and for her husband at home.
Blau says that the food program, with its numerous programs offered through the Welfare Ministry, is appealing to many families. “Today, when the welfare minister visits municipalities, he is asked to increase the number of participants in the program because it is very much in demand,” he says. “We are still far from being able to provide solutions for all of the families in need, but it is a significant improvement from what was.”
MOSHE LAVON from the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry states that Colel Chabad plays a vital role in helping families overcome circumstances of food insecurity. “It has proven itself and helped many families get out of the cycle of poverty both through the food debit card, enabling them to learn about their rights, and seminars that help them to get out of the cycle of poverty.”
Blau says that Colel Chabad is developing additional projects to assist those in need. While the organization’s primary food security program is targeted toward families with children, it will soon begin a pilot project in conjunction with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry to assist approximately 50,000 elderly people who face food insecurity issues. In addition to providing food, the organizations will provide volunteers who will visit them and check on their welfare.
“We need to be able to assist more families,” says Blau, “and the NIS 500 that we are providing each month is not enough. We have created the frame of the picture, and we have the government with us. We just need to fill in the image.”
For Blau, who has been affiliated with Colel Chabad in Israel for 34 years, the central message of its food security program is the fact that it is partnered with the Israeli government. “Working together with the government gives power and strength to the program. Once the program has this strength, we can reach people who might not otherwise access individual organizations. In addition, we need to involve the state in this important work. The country needs to realize that it is its responsibility.”
This article was written in cooperation with Colel Chabad.