Various Organizations Celebrate Passover
As one of the most important religious festivals on the Jewish calendar, Passover has begun! Starting this past Friday on April 19 and ending the evening of Saturday April 27, Passover is a time to remember our ancestors’ liberation from slavery in Egypt.
Several Jewish foundations honored those who cannot celebrate Passover and share a meaningful Seder by organizing fundraisers to support and aid them in being able to celebrate the sacred holiday, as well as illuminate the trials and tribulations the Jewish community currently face.
“The Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) Foundation receives more than 100 micro-grant requested from AEPi chapters to plan Passover Seders. Each grant gives the chapter up to $250 to offset the cost of Seder and supplies and a Passover meal to hold as a Brotherhood,” Andrew S. Borans, CEO of the AEPi Foundation, wrote. Donations to the foundation can be made here.
The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF)’s National Director and CEO, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Meir Klifi-Amir, sent out a call to arms as well.
“Many soldiers will not be able to sit at the Seder table with their loved ones this Passover. They will miss out on the songs, the laughs, the hugs. Instead, they will be out on the frontlines.” Klifi-Amir wrote. “As the defenders of our freedom, the soldiers of the IDF deserve our support. We aim to make sure that they never feel alone, especially on holidays.”
In 2018, it supported 3,500 Lone Soldiers throughout the course of their service, adopted 37,500 soldiers, and cared for nearly 6,000 bereaved family members. Each year, the organization aims to increase its support to honor the men and women of the IDF. Donations to IDF can be made here.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of Simon Wiesenthal Center, sent a letter confronting the anti-Semitism and bigots, urging us to fight extremism this Passover.
“To restore hope and confidence in our future, Americans should heed the advice of the great 12 century thinker, Maimonides, who taught that one must never allow extremism on either side of the pendulum to become our permanent abode. Human beings, he insisted, should learn to oscillate between the extremes. Sometimes veering more to the East and other times more to the West, with the sole objective always being the greater good of the community,” he wrote. “Recognizing that politics in the absence of patriotism will almost always lead to tyranny.”
In light of all that can be done, here at Mann Publications we wish you and your families a kosher and joyous Passover.
