Thousands of Food Baskets Distributed in Moscow to the Needy, and to Large Families

This year the light of Chanuka will shine in the homes and hearts of thousands of indigent Jews, the elderly, the lonely, as well as large families when they receive an especially festive food basket in honor of Chanuka. This is part of an expansive project initiated by the Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berel Lazar, to provide aid and assistance not only to the needy, but to all those who were financially hurt in wake of the Covid pandemic.

The project is being run out of the large “Shaarey Tzedek Chessed Center” in the Marina Roscha district of Moscow. Throughout the year it offers a variety of humanitarian aid programs. Since the appearance of the Corona virus, a day hasn’t gone by that the Center isn’t humming with intensive activity, providing daily, as well as pre-holiday assistance to Jews throughout the entire capital city, lighting up the city of Moscow and beyond.

A number of parallel assistance tracks have been set up so that each person can receive the most appropriate kind of aid in a dignified and respectable manner. There are food baskets for large families, food packages for the elderly who are alone at home, special meals for the sick and hospitalized, holiday packages for young families which include a menorah for Chanuka, some Jewish books and reading materials, as well as surprises for the children. Such holiday packages were delivered to thirty thousand Jewish families by Chabad Shluchim in cities throughout Russia.

Additionally, teams of volunteers are getting ready to go on house visits each night of Chanuka, bringing light and joy to the sick and homebound, all while strictly adhering to guidelines given by the Russian Ministry of Health.