Few sights are more inviting than a menorah, its candles ablaze, peeking through the living room window over the eight nights of Chanukah. But for countless thousands of homeless men, women and children, they remain out in the cold.
That was enough to stir adults and children in the local Jewish community to help the less fortunate during this holiday season.
America’s worsening crisis of homelessness shows no sign of abating. A study commissioned by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimated 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year. And that study came out in 2007, before the start of the recession and its torrent of foreclosures.
Homelessness is the shame of our nation, and makes a mockery of our collective prosperity. Fortunately, many Americans, including a significant segment of the Jewish community, refuse to accept the status quo.
This week we examine two local projects involving Jewish activism on this issue. The first is Project Homeless Connect, which brings to the homeless desperately needed services such as medical, dental and legal care. More than 170 Jews from 20 different organizations participated in the most recent event, held in San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
At the same time, the Marin Emergency Winter Shelter became a rallying point for Jewish volunteers from Tiburon’s Congregation Kol Shofar and Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael. They will help serve dinners at the shelter, which shifts locations among area churches and synagogues throughout the cold weather months.
And those are just projects we reported on this week. Across the region, organizations such as Jewish Family and Children’s Services have put homelessness high on their radar, and have directed resources to combat the problem. JFCS in the Bay Area also operates holiday gift-giving programs for families in need.
The Jewish community should feel proud of its contribution. Sadly, the need is far greater than our efforts alone can meet. Indeed, the root causes of homelessness are largely systemic in nature. To eradicate the problem would require societal intervention on a scale beyond the scope of volunteerism.
That is no excuse for despair or inaction.
We applaud our local agencies, as well as individuals and families, who have answered the call to help their homeless neighbors. Let us never forget, we are all in this together.