B’nai B’rith International held its annual Holocaust remembrance program at United Nations headquarters in New York City with hundreds of people in attendance and U.N. Under-Secretary-General Cristina Gallach giving remarks. The program spotlighted preeminent Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, who publicly took a hard-line stance against the oppression and racism of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and supported the establishment of the orchestra now known as the Israel Philharmonic in solidarity with Jewish musicians escaping Nazi persecution. Those in the audience included diplomats, members of civil society, B’nai B’rith partners from the Italian-American and other communities, and Holocaust survivors.

B’nai B’rith’s program was held in cooperation with the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations and the world body’s Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Programme. Gallach and Kimberly Mann, chief of the Education Outreach Section of the U.N.’s Department of Public Information, thanked B’nai B’rith for its partnership over the course of a decade since the United Nations began its official Holocaust commemorations.

Executive Director Natalia Indrimi of the Centro Primo Levi, a New York-based organization inspired by the humanistic legacy of Italian Jewish writer and chemist Primo Levi, who survived Auschwitz, gave a candid and thorough overview of the situation of Italian Jews during the fascist period, and the intensifying persecution of them. She called Toscanini “one of the few Italian public figures who spoke up” against fascism.

Cesare Civetta, music director of the Beethoven Festival Orchestra and author of “The Real Toscanini: Musicians Reveal the Maestro,” spoke on the panel, detailing Toscanini’s story of bravery.

Civetta described how—despite a personal appeal from Hitler—Toscanini came to refuse appearance in Nazi Germany and later Austria, and vocally condemned the Nazis’ banning of Jewish artists. The conductor also deplored Mussolini’s fascism in Italy, and for this he was physically attacked, harassed, and had his passport repeatedly confiscated. Toscanini highlighted the work of Jewish composers and helped to feature Italian-Jewish musicians. And he was, from the outset, a great foreign champion of the group of Jewish refugee musicians that would become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He toured pre-state Israel with the ensemble upon its founding, deeply impacting audiences there, and found Israel’s blossoming to be a miracle.

B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs, who invoked the observance this month of both Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day, noted the marking this year of “the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Nazism… as well as that of the founding of the United Nations.” At the same time, he emphasized that “we meet at a moment when hatred and violence persist—including an anti-Semitism that is again resurgent, only now in the context of a globalized world of porous borders as well as proliferating technology of the most lethal kind.” He concluded with a reminder of the need for “integrity in the face of bigotry.”

B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin, pointing to the rebirth of B’nai B’rith and Jewish communal life in countries where these had at one time been extinguished, added: “To stand up for principle, for our common humanity, one need not be a soldier or a statesman. Rather, it is upon each of us— every single man and woman—to find ourselves on, and move our societies toward, the right side of justice, the right side of history.”

B’nai B’rith International has opened its Disaster Relief Fund to aid the victims of the devastating earthquake in Nepal that occurred on April 25. The earthquake struck some 50 miles northwest of Katmandu with a 7.8 magnitude and multiple violent aftershocks. The death toll has climbed to 3,500 and is predicted to grow even higher.

B’nai B’rith will also work with other agencies and coalitions to support the emergency, recovery and long-term rebuilding efforts that will be needed as the situation unfolds.

Some of the funds raised will help support on-the-scene responders from IsraAID, which already has a team on the ground in Nepal. IsraAID, of which B’nai B’rith is a founding member, is a non-profit humanitarian organization committed to providing life-saving disaster relief and long-term support to people in need, regardless of gender, race, religion or national borders.

“As I saw the news of the devastation reported on Saturday night, and saw these horrific images, I felt compelled to help. It doesn’t matter that it’s happening on the other side of the planet. Our fundraising efforts have a direct impact on assisting those affected,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said.

Recently the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund supported victims and families of the terror attack in Kenya, as well as the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. B’nai B’rith regularly assists with other projects in the wake of manmade and natural disasters, both domestic and international, and have done so since 1865.

“B’nai B’rith has always been an organization that has prioritized disaster relief and we will once again mobilize to see where we can help. It will be a long process for Nepal to return to any sense of normalcy and hopefully B’nai B’rith can make an impact in helping this nation along what will surely be a difficult journey,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said.

To help, donate online at our secure website by clicking here.

You can also call 800-573-9057 to make a credit card contribution over the phone. Or, you can send a check payable to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund to:

B’nai B’rith International
Disaster Relief Fund 
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 300 North
Washington, DC 20036


Image via Flickr

B’nai B’rith International has proudly been the official North American sponsor of the Yom Hashoah program “Unto Every Person There is a Name” for 26 years. In 2015, we once again carried that mantle, along with a combination of other programming to make for an inspiring Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Communities across the continent came together on or before Yom Hashoah, the 27th day of the month of Nissan on the Jewish calendar. Programs started on April 12 and will run through April 28, reading the names of the victims of the Shoah and where and when they were born and died. These observances honor more victims each year, as the Shoah Victim’s Names Recovery Project seeks and uncovers additional information.

The program is a worldwide memorial project that began in 1989 and is coordinated by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, in consultation with the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and enjoys the official auspices of the President of the State of Israel, the Hon. Reuven Rivlin. This year’s theme was “Seventy Years Since the End of WWII: The Anguish of Liberation and the Return to Life.” The program, including thematic materials is developed by an international committee and B’nai B’rith International is represented by the B’nai B’rith World Center Director Alan Schneider, giving B’nai B’rith not only the honor of implementing the program, but having a hand in the planning stages as well.

The program has become an integral part of community observances across the country. These observances are generally held in public spaces such as shopping malls or downtown office plazas during the lunch hour, to be especially visible for the entire community. Often, people will stop to see what is happening and ask if they can read names too. Teachers bring students as part of their learning experience about the Holocaust. 

“B’nai B’rith International is proud to have such strong Yom Hashoah programming. It’s important work to ensure we always remember, and for 26 years now, we’ve done an excellent job with ‘Unto Every Person There is a Name,’” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. 

In addition to community observances, for the seventh consecutive year, B’nai B’rith partnered with the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity for its “We Walk to Remember” campaign held on more than 130 campuses throughout the United States, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom. AEPi members walk silently across campus wearing a “Never Forget” sticker and also participate in “Unto Every Person There is a Name” programming. At many campuses, the ceremonies extended beyond B’nai B’rith and AEPi with numerous Jewish student groups participating. 

A particularly poignant iteration of “We Walk to Remember” was held on Vanderbilt University’s campus in Nashville, Tenn., where AEPi’s fraternity house was vandalized with swastikas spray-painted in the basement and elevator in March. Hundreds gathered not only to remember those lost in the Holocaust, but also to directly respond to the face of bigotry on campus.

“We came here together to prevent anything similar to this from happening again. And to educate everyone in Vanderbilt, the Nashville neighboring community, and the people that this reaches across the country and internationally that us as AEPi members, [we] as Vanderbilt students and Jews will not stand for things like this,” AEPi Chapter President Joshua Hyman said before the program commenced. 

The combination of the two powerful programs has created a lasting impact on campuses across the globe. It demonstrates that young people on campus understand the importance of remembering and have taken on the responsibility to tell the story of the victims of the Holocaust. 

Another example of the two programs coming together to create an atmosphere of solidarity and remembrance occurred on Georgetown University’s campus in Washington, D.C. Participants walked silently around campus, ending at the statue of Jan Karski. Karski was a Georgetown history professor and member of the Polish Underground during World War II who was among the first people to alert the Western world of Nazi atrocities against Jews.

“It was a really powerful moment with the walk ending in front of the Karski statue,” B’nai B’rith Assistant Director of the International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy Sienna Girgenti said. “To have everyone joining in reciting names, poems and prayers—it was a true embodiment of what ‘Unto Every Person There is a Name’ and ‘We Walk to Remember’ strive to create on campuses and communities around the country.”

B’nai B’rith provides programming materials and support with the generous sponsorship of Kurt and Tessye Simon, of blessed memory. 

“It’s a big responsibility sponsoring such a meaningful program as ‘Unto Every Person There is a Name’ for an entire continent,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “It’s serious responsibility to remember those who were lost in the Holocaust. Between ‘Unto Every Person There is a Name’ and our yearly efforts honoring Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Shoah, B’nai B’rith diligently works to ensure those lost are not forgotten.”

On the morning of April 16, the B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) held a unique joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony dedicated to the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the Holocaust. Taking place at the Martyrs' Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza with about one thousand people in attendance, the program memorialized Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach (1869-1955), an outstanding rabbinic and communal figure who served for 63 years as rabbi, including later in life as chief rabbi of Greece. Pessach initiated and orchestrated the rescue of his community during the German occupation, efforts that led to the survival of 74 percent of the Volos Jews—an extraordinary achievement in a country where 85 percent of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust—and led a partisan unit against the Germans. The program saw its highest attendance in its 13-year history and was reported on in dozens of print, broadcast and digital media outlets in Hebrew, English, Greek and Spanish.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is encouraged by the bipartisan agreement reached between Congress and the White House on the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (S.615), which, if passed, would give the legislature the power to review a final deal on the Iranian nuclear program.

The compromise struck between Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Ben Cardin gives Congress 30 days to review a deal with Iran following the June 30 negotiating deadline with the United States, its negotiating partners and Tehran. President Obama has pledged to sign the bill if passed by both chambers of Congress.

B’nai B’rith calls on the Senate to pass the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and the House of Representatives to do the same when the bill is brought to the floor.

Given the high stakes for U.S. national security and stability in the Middle East, it is essential that Congress be involved.

The bipartisan consensus on S.615 is encouraging. It conveys the broad concern in the Senate over the proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

While this congressional action is vitally important, B’nai B’rith remains deeply concerned about the Iranian regime’s interest in adhering to a nuclear agreement based on a 36-year track record of obfuscation and cheating. Iran also continues to act as the world's largest state-sponsor of terrorism, which only furthers our skepticism as to whether Iran will honor the final deal in good faith.

B’nai B’rith International has opened its Disaster Relief Fund in response to the horrific murders of 147 people in Kenya, most of them Christian college students.

On April 2, the Somalia-based Islamic militant group al-Shabab infiltrated Garissa University College to begin a murderous rampage. Over the course of the 15-hour siege, they gunned down anyone in their path, and specifically targeted Christians for murder or capture. This terrorist attack is another reminder of the dangers of Islamic extremism.

“B’nai B’rith is reaching out today to urge our members and supporters to provide aid to a country in need,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “As a founding member of IsraAID, we’ll be working with its emergency response teams to coordinate the administration of trauma treatment and post-trauma coping mechanisms within a community currently dealing with horrible grief.”

IsraAID is always among the first on the scene when a disaster, both manmade and natural, strikes. The non-profit humanitarian organization is committed to providing life-saving disaster relief and long-term support to people in need, regardless of gender, race, religion or national borders.

Recently the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund supported IsraAID’s response to combat Ebola in West Africa, and regularly assists with other projects in the wake of manmade and natural disasters, both domestic and international. B’nai B’rith and IsraAID also work together to arrange humanitarian assistance for refugees escaping violence and famine.

 “We are working with IsraAID to help meet the psychological needs of the survivors and their families,” B’nai B’rith International Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said. “We’re talking about college students murdered in the pursuit of education. The situation is beyond disturbing, and we want to meet the imperative need that has materialized from this horrific chain of events.”

To help, donate online at our secure website by clicking here.

You can also call 800-573-9057 to make a credit card contribution over the phone. Or, you can send a check payable to the B’nai B’rith Disaster Relief Fund to:

B’nai B’rith International
Disaster Relief Fund 
1120 20th Street NW, Suite 300 North
Washington, DC 20036

The B’nai B’rith World Center in Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) will hold for the 13th consecutive year a unique, joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony on Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) on April 16—the only event dedicated annually to commemorating the heroism of Jews who rescued fellow Jews during the years of torment in Europe. Some 200 border patrol cadets—who will provide an honor guard—and some 200 high school students will participate in the ceremony together with Jewish rescuers and survivors. The ceremony will take place at the Martyrs' Forest “Scroll of Fire” Plaza at 10:00 a.m. local time.

This year’s event will memorialize Rabbi Moshe Shimon Pessach (1869-1955), an outstanding rabbinic and communal figure who served for 63 years as rabbi, including later in life as chief rabbi of Greece. Pessach, the scion of a long line of towering Sephardic rabbinic figures in Greece, shepherded the Volos Jewish community of approximately 1,000 people through tumultuous times. Fiercely loyal to his country and to his community, Pessach initiated and orchestrated the rescue of his community during the German occupation, efforts that led to the survival of 74 percent of the Volos Jews—an extraordinary achievement in a country where 85 percent of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust—and led a partisan unit against the Germans.  

On Sept. 30, 1943—Rosh Hashanah—Pessach was summoned to the headquarters of the German military governor who demanded that he submit within 24 hours a list of all the Jews in the city and their assets, purportedly for determining the amount of food rations needed to sustain them. The astute rabbi had no intention of playing into the hands of the Germans and instead embarked on a series of actions to rescue his community, at great risk to himself and his family. Pessach was able to extract a three-day extension for submitting the list and immediately found his friend Archbishop Joachim Alexopoulos, the metropolitan of Demetrias and the bishop of Volos, to ask for his help in discovering the Germans’ intentions. Alexopoulos contacted a man with whom he was friendly at the German consul in Volos and was told in no uncertain terms that the Jews must leave Volos before the stated deadline.

Alexopoulos informed Pessach of the warning and handed him a letter of introduction addressed to the clergymen in villages surrounding Volos, urging them to protect the Jews in every way possible. Through the rabbi’s intervention, and with the help of the mayor, municipal officials and the chief of police, the Greek underground spirited all but 130 Jews (who were later arrested, deported and murdered)  into hiding in the surrounding remote mountain villages over a three day period.

Alexopoulos died in 1959 and was recognized in 1977 by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Gentiles at the initiative of the Volos Jewish community.

The rabbi's escape gave the signal for the rest of the community to go into hiding and they were all accommodated in the villages. The Germans put a bounty on Pessach’s head, and two of his sons who taught Jewish studies in nearby towns were captured by the Germans and murdered. His wife died while they were in hiding. Pessach eventually established a unit of partisans that rescued allied soldiers and fought the Germans. For these actions, he was decorated both by King Paul of Greece and by the commander of the Allied forces in the Mediterranean.

After the war, Pessach returned with 700 members of the community to Volos and engaged in efforts to rebuild the devastated city. In 1946 he was elected chief rabbinic count judge and chief rabbi of Greece, titles he held until his death.

In April 1955, Volos was hit by a devastating earthquake. The aged rabbi was forced to live in a tent, later forfeiting his house in order to build a new synagogue in the same spot, and he died on Nov. 13. In recognition of his contribution to Greek Jewry, Pessach and his wife Sara were reinterred in 1957 in Jerusalem beside Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, and his extensive library was brought to Israel and is archived at the Ben-Zvi Institute.

Pessach will be represented at the ceremony by his grandson Moris Eskenazi and great-grandson Dr. Ilias Pessach. Guests of honor will be Greece Ambassador to Israel Spyridon Lampridis, Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece Moses Constantinis. Also speaking: KKL-JNF Chairman Effi Stenzler and B’nai B’rith World Center Chairman Dr. Haim V. Katz.

During the ceremony a “Jewish Rescuers Citation” will be posthumously conferred by the Committee to Recognize the Heroism of Jewish Rescuers During the Holocaust (JRJ) and the B’nai B’rith World Center on Rafi and Tamar Benshalom, Yitzhak and Judith Herbst, Moshe Weisz, Moshe Weiszkopf, Shmuel Arie Schwartz, all of whom were members of the underground Zionist youth movement in Hungary during World War II, and Yaacov (Jacko) Razon, a Greek-Jewish boxer who helped other Jews survive at the Auschwitz, Buna and Buchenwald concentration camps.

Since the establishment of the Jewish Rescuers Citation in 2011, some 100 awards have been presented to rescuers who operated in France, Germany, Holland, Hungary and Slovakia.

The event will be held at the Martyrs' Forest—a joint KKL-JNF and B’nai B’rith project which memorializes the victims of the Holocaust in six million trees planted in the picturesque Jerusalem Mountains near Moshav Kesalon. At the pinnacle of the forest stands the “Scroll of Fire” by the renowned sculptor Nathan Rappaport, which invokes the destruction of the Jewish people in the Holocaust and their redemption in the State of Israel in a moving base relief. The event will commence with personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to classes of soldiers.

The phenomena of Jewish rescue and the instructive stories of thousands of Jews who labored to save their endangered brethren throughout Europe are yet to receive appropriate public recognition and resonance. Many who could have fled chose to stay and rescue others; some paid for it with their lives. With great heroism Jews in every country in occupied Europe employed subterfuge, forgery, smuggling, concealment and other methods to ensure that some Jews survived the Holocaust in Europe or assisted them in escaping to a safe heaven and by doing resisted the Nazis’ death camps. The few rescuers who are still alive are sometimes reluctant to recount their stories, satisfied in the knowledge that they were able to overcome the German tormentors and their collaborators.

Considering that many of the rescuers were young at the time of their activity, the organizers of the ceremony view it as especially important to expose Jewish youth to the stories of the f Jewish rescuers during the Holocaust as a model for Jewish solidarity and courage.

The program schedule is as follows. All times are Israel Standard Time:

09:00-09:30     Personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to soldiers in the Martyrs' Forest
09:45              Coalesce in “Scroll of Fire” Plaza
10:00              Siren peal and ceremony commencement 
11:00              Ceremony conclusion
11:00-11:30     Personal testimonies by Holocaust survivors to students in the Martyrs' Forest


The press is invited. For further information please contact Alan Schneider, director, B'nai B'rith World Center +972525536441; bbrith@012.net.il.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

The horrific murders of 147 people in Kenya, most of them Christian college students, are a frightening reminder of the dangers of Islamic extremism.

On April 2, the Somalia-based Islamic militant group al-Shabab infiltrated Garissa University College to begin a murderous rampage. Over the course of the 15-hour siege, they targeted Christians.

Global terror fueled by religious intolerance is a growing plague. In parts of Africa and across the Middle East, assaults on free societies in the name of religion are growing. As we work to combat intolerance, we must all endeavor to remember the names, lives and families behind the raw numbers reported after such a tragedy.

B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

In the wake of the announced framework of a deal between the United States, its five negotiating partners, and Tehran on the Iranian nuclear program, B’nai B’rith International believes there are still many questions surrounding the outcome—questions involving the viability of the deal and whether the notoriously sinister and secretive Iranian government will honor the terms in good faith.

B’nai B’rith is skeptical of the agreement’s ability to increase Iran’s nuclear breakout time from three months to a year, given the regime’s unwavering determination to continue enrichment and its history of evading inspections. The current deal, negotiated by the P5+1 (United States, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom), follows more than 20 years of deception by the regime in Tehran. If it was truly negotiated in good faith, then why did Iran run out the clock as the deadline approached?  

We thank Secretary of State John Kerry and his team for their hard work over many, many months. But we still remain concerned.

Iran’s credibility has already been severely strained by its track record of saying one thing and acting on the complete opposite. Iran has always opposed international “interference” in the Syrian civil war, all the while supporting the Syrian government with troops and supplies. In the current conflict in Yemen, Tehran has taken the same stance, while simultaneously backing one side. These are just a few of many examples of Iran’s deceitful and aggressive behavior, a list which also includes Iran’s many ventures as the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.

The framework deal calls for a reduction of Iran’s installed centrifuges by two-thirds of its current capacity, but Iran’s actions during negotiations seemingly offer a clear blueprint for how it would act once a deal is in place. Even under the preliminary agreement, the regime has continued to enrich and stockpile uranium, build centrifuges, defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other inspection requests from the international community, pursue plans to build intercontinental ballistic missiles and hide the military dimensions of its nuclear program. Will Tehran truly allow for the transparency of its nuclear sites with comprehensive inspections by the IAEA? We also question whether the Iranians will actually convert their clandestine enrichment center at Fordow into a center for nuclear physics and technology research, or whether they will downgrade their heavy-water reactor in Arak.

While Iranian double-speak is a legitimate concern, what’s even more disturbing is the regime’s straightforward talk when it comes to Israel. Just a few days ago a commander in the Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said that erasing Israel off the map” is “nonnegotiable”—a horribly frightening statement as negotiations were in the penultimate stage.

The incendiary remarks, obviously, don’t stop there. Several months ago, Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari said: “The range of (our) missiles covers all of Israel today. That means the fall of the Zionist regime, which will certainly come soon.” Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even stated that same month: “Whether a nuclear agreement is achieved or not, Israel will be more insecure each day.”

With a June 30 deadline set for a final deal, B’nai B’rith will be monitoring the specifics of the deal that are released in the coming months. B’nai B’rith urges Congress to carefully and stringently review the agreement during that time as well. A nuclear-ready Iran has consequences that would resonate far beyond Israel and the United States. Given the uncertainties of the deal and the enormity of the stakes, we hope that both parties in Congress will make their voices heard, as both the administration and Congress must play an active role in preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Do we have a final head count for the Seder? Can you pull the folding table and chairs out of the basement? Who’s bringing the gefilte fish? Do we have enough matzah? These are typical questions cropping up this time of year as the preparation for Passover is underway. And while these conversations are being held in many households across America and the world, not everyone is so fortunate.

For the poor and elderly, Passover may be a difficult time. It can be a time that conjures thoughts about family that moved far away or passed on. It could bring to light an illness preventing someone from attending a Seder   or the fact that there is no supermarket filled with kosher specialty items for Passover nearby. Some are living on a fixed income so the extra cost for the kosher-for-Passover product stymies them from setting up a Seder of their own.

B’nai B’rith leaders saw this happening in the late 1960s and created a program called Project H.O.P.E. (Help Our People Everywhere) as a means to help those who are unable to obtain and prepare the necessary holiday fare.

The program evolved over time, but continues to include the essentials of food for the holiday such as matzah, eggs, grape juice, canned goods, jam, cookies, oil, gefilte fish and horseradish for their Passover table. In some communities, there is fresh or cooked chicken included.

This year B’nai B’rith will distribute more than 2,600 kosher-for-Passover packages.

“Project H.O.P.E. is one of the most impactful programs that B’nai B’rith has to offer,” B’nai B’rith International President Allan J. Jacobs said. “The genesis of it is uniquely B’nai B’rith. There was an unmet need with those unable to have a Passover meal and B’nai B’rith members rose up to fill that need, to help their neighbors, and eventually expanded the program to communities across the country.”  

The program is currently underway with hundreds of volunteers already having turned out to buy, store, pack and deliver the food to those in need up and down the east coast. And these volunteers are not only B’nai B’rith members. Project H.O.P.E. works with community family service agencies, local Jewish social services and local synagogues to organize the people power it takes to perform a project of this scope. It also requires funding and B’nai B’rith is grateful to those who support this project each year. Donations are always welcome to ensure this project and allow for expansion.