Pittsburghers rally with free kits, food and seder options for those in need
Across the area, easy ways exist to experience Passover
Passover preparers are eyeing exorbitant expenses again this year. With eggs costing nearly $5 a dozen, many will need assistance in the weeks ahead. As the holiday approaches, several organizations and individuals across Pittsburgh are offering help.
Rabbi Chezky Rosenfeld, director of Our Giving Kitchen, encourages community members to visit the organization’s pre-Pesach store.
“Open to the entire community,” the pop-up shop will be held at Shaare Torah Congregation on April 7 and feature fruit, vegetables and eggs for purchase at little to no cost, he said.
Rosenfeld, who has run other holiday-related temporary food stores, acknowledged the financial strain families face this year may be greater than ever.
Even those whose incomes exceed the poverty line (approximately $32,000 for a family of four in Pennsylvania) “often struggle to pay the bills,” according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.
“Pesach has always been a stretch for families in the Jewish community,” Rosenfeld said. “Especially now with prices being more astronomical, it’s important to help out those in need.”
More information about Our Giving Kitchen can be found at ogkpgh.com.
GIFT, another Pittsburgh-based organization, is offering free Passover-to-go kits. Eligible recipients include older adults, immunocompromised individuals and people with special needs.
The packages, which can be ordered for loved ones, include “everything you need for a seder and kosher meal,” according to organizers.
Kits must be ordered before March 30. Additional information, including delivery details, is available at giftpgh.org/passover.
Cindy Goodman-Leib, executive director of Jewish Assistance Fund, encouraged Pittsburghers to consider JAF as the holiday approaches.
“We provide financial help for the western Pennsylvania Jewish community for pressing expenses,” she said. “Assistance is timely, confidential and with no repayment.”
More information is available at jafpgh.org.
Like others in the community, Rabbi Yisroel Altein of Chabad of Squirrel Hill is striving and driving to ensure Pittsburghers have necessary items for a meaningful holiday.
While speaking with the Chronicle, Altein was en route to Community Day School to deliver 200 boxes of handmade shmurah matzah to families at the Jewish day school.
The special unleavened bread, which arrived in Pittsburgh via New York, is made from grain that was guarded from contact with water since the time of harvest. Rabbinic literature encourages Jews to eat shmurah matzah at the seder because the bread is round, handmade and similar to the matzahs baked by the ancient Israelites in the Passover story.
Altein’s March 25 delivery wasn’t a one-off; apart from the 200 boxes delivered to CDS, he plans on distributing another 300 cartons before the holiday begins April 12. He is also helping to find Pittsburghers a place to celebrate the Exodus from Egypt.
“We have a community seder that is highly subsidized — and it’s not just for people who can’t afford — it’s for everyone to have a place to go,” he said.
The Chabad of Squirrel Hill communal seder, which will occur the first night of Passover, costs $25 per person, but the fee is optional, Altein said. Additionally, “anyone who needs assistance, we will give them money to help buy food for a seder or we’ll help them find a place to eat.”
More information is available at chabadpgh.com.
While community members are working to provide adults and children with Passover options, Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld is focusing efforts on one particular local demographic: young professionals.
Rosenfeld, the director of Chabad Young Professionals of Pittsburgh, is encouraging individuals to attend the organization’s subsidized seder on April 12.
“Generous sponsors” are ensuring people have a place to go, he said. “If anyone is in need they should reach out.”
Information is available at cyppittsburgh.com.
Echoing a sentiment shared by several other Jewish professionals, Rosenfeld said he’s happy directing Chronicle readers to matzah, resources or a seder. The takeaway, he continued, is that “financial means should not be a barrier to celebrating Pesach.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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