Shomrei Emunah was honored last week for its 38-year commitment to supporting homeless families at the annual gala of Family Promise of Essex County. The organization began in 1988 as the Interfaith Hospitality Network (or IHN), through which religious congregations housed homeless families with young children who couldn’t find space in the county shelter system. Shomrei was the only synagogue to join the network at the outset, although numerous others joined afterwards.

Shomrei’s rabbi in 1988, Joshua Chasan, was a social justice champion who, along with his wife Kathy, had volunteered to care for homeless people amid frigid New York winters when he was in rabbinical school. He inspired Shomrei members to step up and become involved. Now retired in Maine, he was unable to attend the gala, but Kathy Chasan and their daughter Ze’eva traveled to Montclair to represent him. Sixty Shomrei members, most of them Family Promise volunteers over the years, also attended. They and the Chasans received a standing ovation.

Rabbi Julie accepted the honor on behalf of Shomrei and delivered an impassioned talk about the Jewish obligation to seek to eradicate poverty. [See video of the talk below.] She recalled, as a child, watching her mother bless the Shabbat candles every Friday night and then deposit coins in the tzedakah box. In Judaism, she said, the tzedakah box is never far from the Shabbat candles, a reminder to live our daily lives according to the laws and commandments. She also emphasized that the root of tzedakah is tzedek, or justice in English. She also quoted from Leviticus, “There shall be no needy.” Thus poverty constitutes an injustice that we must actively oppose.  She pointed out that Leviticus goes on to say that if we, as Jews, meet a needy person, we must welcome him not as a stranger, but as a brother, a member of the human family. In that light, she thanked Family Promise for doing what she called sacred work for many years.

Among the Shomrei members who attended were several of the earliest volunteers with IHN Shirley Grill was a Shomrei board member when Rabbi Chasan was our rabbi and an early coordinator of the program. She joined the Family Promise board soon afterwards. Lynne and Lanny Kurzweil, also early volunteers, brought their then-young son, Martin, to play with the children of the families Shomrei hosted. (Martin, now executive vice president of Shomrei, later volunteered with his wife Fiona, and they brought their sons Micah and Jack to help entertain the children.) John and Adrienne Lasiter cooked delicious meals for the families. Sheryl Glovin, a loyal volunteer, used to dress up as a clown and perform,  bringing cheer and laughter to children whose lives were in painful disarray. Dale Russakoff, another longtime volunteer, now chairs the Family Promise board. Fern Heinig coordinates congregants to provide groceries for families currently in the Family Promise shelter program.

Tia Aery, executive director of Family Promise, told the crowd that Shomrei was selected as this year’s honoree because of this continuous commitment to the welfare of homeless families in Essex County.

Rabbi Julie Roth’s Address