The Fellowship’s With Dignity and Fellowship program gives critical support to about 16,000 elderly Israelis by providing them with essential aid, food, and most of all, hope. Many elderly Israelis have come from the four corners of the world and made aliyah to join their Jewish brothers and sisters in the Holy Land. All too many of them live below the poverty line and without help would have to make the painful choice of purchasing food or medicine.
But the Bible tells us, “Do not cast me way when I am old” (Psalm 71:9) – and The Fellowship is determined to give these precious elderly the care they deserve. Two of these are Rina and Lakau.
Rina made aliyah a little over 60 years ago with her husband and three children from South America – Spanish is spoken along with Hebrew in her small, modest apartment. Her husband passed away soon after they arrived in Israel and she’s been raising her family on her own. The Fellowship’s food boxes are an essential part of how she budgets for herself and family, for which she is grateful to our donors.
Lakau is a member of the Beta Israel community, descendants of the lost tribe of Dan who were run out of Jerusalem in biblical times when the Temple was destroyed. They settled in remote villages in Ethiopia where they preserved their Jewish identities, practices, and hope that they would one day return to the Holy Land. This came true for Lakau when she and her family made aliyah. While her husband died before they were able to make aliyah, Lakau held onto her faith in their memory. She receives Teff flour, an Ethiopian specialty, from The Fellowship’s food boxes so that she and her grandchildren can enjoy the food of their old country while living in their ancestral homeland.
Israeli media has described elderly loneliness as an epidemic. Through With Dignity and Fellowship, The Fellowship and our generous supporters live out the biblical calling to provide comfort to the most vulnerable population in the Holy Land.
