An Unofficial Opening

Last week, on February 21, Agape held one final work day in order to open their humanitarian aid center, a joint effort with Tikvat Yacov. Everything was cleaned, new shelves were built, old shelves were extended, clothes were unpacked, folded and neatly placed on shelves and food bags were prepared for distribution.


This week, on February 28, Agape, in partnership with Tikvat Yacov, unofficially opened their doors to the public. So what is an "unofficial opening?" That simply means that next month we will be having an official grand-opening event, but that we aren't going to wait that long to open our doors and help those in need. Tonight, we had a small gathering of those involved in opening the center to pray over the new manager and volunteers as well as say "thank you" to all those who put in their time and effort to make our work in Tel Aviv a reality.


With that being said, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the donors, workers and volunteers who are still Stateside that have helped to make Tikvat Yacov a success in Israel, now with two fully operational humanitarian centers. May the Lord bless you as you have blessed Israel!

Ashdod

The work continues in Ashdod with our distribution center now fully up and running. We even received a certificate of appreciation for the work we are doing from a local daycare for children of single parents. Serval large boxes of clothing have already been distributed to over 50 local families.


As work continues in Ashdod, we are preparing to open the center in Tel Aviv. I will post details about the Tel Aviv Grand Opening as they become available.



Check out the pictures from my latest visit to Ashdod:

And also of the progress in Tel Aviv:

Ethiopian Jews

On January 22, 2010, Rivers of Living Water, with funds provided by Tikvat Yacov, held a special food distribution targeting Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Although many of these Jews came to Israel almost two decades ago, they are still having trouble integrating into Israeli society. As I learned, moving to Israel in July of last year, moving from your native country, your home, to a completely different culture, especially without knowing the language upon arrival, is very difficult and frustrating. Adding to that difficulty is the fact that many of these Jews were separated from family members, many are sick or elderly and many have little education. Many of these Jews were farmers in Ethiopia, but lack the knowledge or resources for modern farming.
Centuries of anti-Semitism and war almost completely wiped out the Ethiopian Jews, who were estimated to have once numbered around 500,000. However, upon arriving in Israel, their persecution did not end, with many orthodox Jews questioning their Jewry and even calling for them to be “re-circumcised.”
Because of their History, many of these Ethiopian Jews are very skeptical of any help that is offered to them and the turn out was relatively low compared with previous efforts, with only 30, or so, families receiving food bags. Many even refused to have their picture taken by me while receiving their bags of food. However, Zechariah teaches us not to despise small beginnings, and we will continue to reach out to this community.
For more information about Ethiopian Jews, click on the links below.
A BBC News article on Ethiopian Jews:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/524662.stm
A brief history of Ethiopian Jews:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html
Wikipedia article on Ethiopian Jews (Beta Israel):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel

Coming Soon...

Tikvat Yacov's Ashdod Distribution Center -
All the major rennovations are complete and as you can see, boxes of humanitarian aid have begun to arrive. We have clothing, blankets, pillows and even a few toys to give to those in need. We just need to take care of a few more minor details before we open our doors to the public.

Happy Hanukkah

Just before Hanukkah, Tikvat Yacov was able to enter into a partnership with Agape, in Tel Aviv, to open up our second center in Israel. Agape had been running a distribution center in Tel Aviv but their work was significantly diminished when their landlord decided not to renew their lease. Although they continued to distribute some food packages from an administrative office, they could not afford to open a full distribution center due to the high rents in Tel Aviv. Fortunately, we connected with Agape through a mutual friend and easily reached an agreement to renew their work in Tel Aviv. Although the initial location we had chosen fell through, we were able to find another location where, amazingly, both the head of Agape and I know the owner.

In Ashdod, renovations to our center have been completed and I will be heading down there this week to transfer all the utilities from the owner. I will post pictures as soon as I am able.

In addition to our two centers, our partnership with Rivers of Living Water continues in Karmiel. We had a food distribution for Hanukkah on December 12 and are planning another food distribution targeted for Ethiopian Jews living in Karmiel in January.

Work To Be Done

Tikvat Yacov is continuing its efforts to open distribution centers in Israel and is proud to announce a new partnership with congregation Beit Halel in Ashdod. This week we have signed an agreement to lease a property in downtown Ashdod for our first distribution center in Israel. Ashdod is on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, about a half hour drive South of Tel Aviv and is currently the fifth largest city in Israel with approximately 240,000 residents. Ashdod is an up and coming city in Israel, attracting many people who work in Tel Aviv, but can't afford to live in that city.
Along with this new partnership there comes a great amount of work to be done. I have meetings scheduled with lawyers and accountants to iron out the remaining details of operating a non-profit organization in Israel. We have hired contractors to do necessary renovations to the store-front we are renting and hired a manager from the congregation.
Meanwhile, we are still looking at other opportunities in Tel Aviv and Eilat. Additionally, Rivers of Living Water has scheduled another food distribution for Hanukkah in early December.

The Work Continues

On Saturday, October 10, 2009, Tikvat Yacov, along with, and through the efforts of Rivers of Living Water in Karmiel, was able to distribute another 90 bags of food to families in need. It is truly amazing to see exactly how much food is required to produce these 90 bags. We had 5 shopping carts overloaded with cases of pasta, tomato sauce, corn, oil, tuna, sugar, soup, crackers and tea.

Although we have been purchasing this food, at a discount, from a local supermarket, Irene Friedman, from Rivers of Living Water, has secured the services of a food distributor so that we will be able to acquire even more food to distribute as we continue our efforts in Karmiel.

In addition to our work in Karmiel, we are in the process of securing a humanitarian aid center in Eliat, where there are a large number of single mothers and new immigrants, who have been attracted to the area by the low cost of living and employment opportunities in the Hotel industry.

There have also been a number of other opportunities for Tikvat Yacov to open additional centers in Ashdod, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, but we have been limited by the amount of funding available. We have meetings scheduled in these three cities to determine how we can best provide in these areas with the limited resources we currently have available.