Shomrei’s mighty MESH crew is back in full swing. The congenial and efficient team of Linda Wieseneck, Joan Zief, Leslie Billet and Lynne Kurzweil whipped up a late summer BBQ meal for 50 that included Martin”s Turkey Burgers garnished with lettuce and tomato, baked beans and semi-homemade coleslaw. We added clementines and a chocolate-dipped biscotti for dessert and, of course, a water bottle. Lynne and Leslie delivered the meals, along with some leftovers from the weekend.
Shomrei is receiving very special recognition on the night of Oct. 8, at the annual gala of Family Promise, a longtime provider of services to housing-insecure families with young children in Essex County. For more than 30 years, this nonprofit has sheltered and supported young families who couldn’t find space in the county shelter system.
Shomrei was there from the beginning, the first synagogue in Essex County to host homeless families in what was then known as the Interfaith Hospitality Network. Shirley Grill was one of its first board members, Dale Russakoff is its current board chair, and in the years in between, generations of Shomrei families volunteered to cook for, entertain and provide support to families who stayed in our building for two weeks a year.
The hosting program ended with Covid, but many Shomrei members continue to donate generously so that Family Promise can guide struggling families from shelter to self-sufficiency.
Family Promise will honor Shomrei at its annual gala for its long and ongoing support. Rabbi Julie has been asked to give the keynote address.
The Family Promise Gala draws 200 or more people from across Essex County, and we would love to have as many members as possible be part of this special honor. Link for tickets below. Alternatively, you can contribute in any amount to the purchase of tables by emailing Dale via the Shomrei Office, . A $2500 contribution buys a table for ten.
We hope to share this evening with everyone whose mitzvot have sustained Family Promise over the decades.
Harvesting Hope
An Autumn Evening of Hope & Community
Thursday, October 8, 7:00 – 10:00pm
The Albion Summit
570 Springfiield Ave. Summit, NJ 07901
Tickets $250 per person
more info and tickets
The brutality at Delaney Detention Center continues. Inhumane conditions include inedible food that has worms, is frozen, or moldy; sleep deprivations; beatings. Extreme medical neglect has resulted in a third man, Jose Chajon-Raxon, from Guatemala, dying at Delaney Hall during the last week of July. The two men who died earlier this year due to medical emergencies are Edwin López Cornejo, age 39, and Jean Wilson Brutus, age 41. Please reflect on these names as you read “Destruction,” a poem written after observing Tisha B’Av at Delaney Hall on July 22, 2026. Included at the poem’s end is a link to a Montclair Local article about the circumstances under which these three men died.
DESTRUCTION
The first time I observe Tisha B’Av is outside thick gray brick
walls of a concentration camp. Some call it Delaney Hall. I call
it savagery. Inside, nine hundred neighbors remain locked
in cages. Voiceless children cry for their parents, their friends,
their beds. Outside, we chant psalms and prayers in Hebrew.
A white van races into Delaney. How many more silenced tonight?
Beneath floodlights and air that chokes, we offer our final prayers.
One by one, we rise. Arm in arm, we walk to the locked metal gates
outside the prison. We sing in Spanish—language of the new diaspora.
We will sing until nine hundred voiceless songs sing free. We will sing
until our voices rise together, we’ll sing down the walls everywhere.
Our voices their mourning.
Our voices their weapon.
Ours is their Tisha B’Av.
Judith L Antelman, July 2026
Read the article from the Montclair times: Third Person Detained At Delaney Hall Dies, DHS Confirms
We joined well over 100 people including Shomrei members Sarah Cortez and Greg Charak, in observing Tisha B’Av services outside Delaney Hall, the Newark prison operated by ICE to detain immigrants—in most cases illegally. The observance was sponsored by synagogues throughout Essex, Bergen, and Hudson Counties. We gathered on a cool summer night to stand for people from other communities who now endure their own tragedy, and are thus prohibited from standing and gathering with their communities and families. (more…)
MESH Tag Team Report.
On Monday (June 22), Team 1 including Linda Wieseneck, Joan Zief and Lynne Kurzweil met in the Shomrei kitchen to prepare 50 MESH meals for the following day which included Dry Rub Roast Chicken to be served cold, Roasted Potato Salad with Lime-Parsley Vinaigrette and Cole Slaw. They partially packed the bags, including a roll and stored them on a cart in the refrigerator. (more…)
