Israeli food organization helps Holocaust survivors 'live in dignity'

In Israel, according to estimates, about one-third of Holocaust survivors live below the poverty line. The organization "Likhiot beKavod" which translates as "Living in dignity" tries to help. 

Volunteers prepare 1,500 meals every day that get distributed to different cities in the center and south of Israel.

Rotem Barak is one of the volunteers who fills hundreds of black plastic boxes with string beans, rice and meatballs. To him, helping is an obligation: “There are thousands of Holocaust survivors in this country and the state does not reach them yet. Some go to sleep hungry every day. I think about those who went through great suffering and after they came to the country still nobody cares for them but our organization."

Lkhiot beKavod was founded almost 30 years ago by Erez Krelenstein and his wife in their home. He says that there are different organizations which provide the elderly with groceries but no other group that distributes nutritious ready-made meals that only need to be heated up in the microwave. To Krelenstein it is the biggest joy when he receives complaints about the food: "These people did not have food, but now the fact that he complains that it’s important to him. That means that I managed to get them used to a balanced diet, so that they even complain if something is not exactly according to their taste. We try to fit our food to the needs of the elderly. And they are waiting for it. I remember in Covid times they were peeking out of the window, waiting for our car to come because it’s not only food for them, it’s attention, warmth and empathy, that someone thinks of them."

To the elderly, the attention that comes with the food and the little chat with the volunteers is often as important as the meal itself. Most of them live in state-financed housing. Just like in Bat Yam, where the volunteers meet 95-year old Emilia Israeliovska. She has been receiving their food for half a year already. As a child, she witnessed the massacre of Babi Yar in 1941. And although today she has a big family in Israel that visits her, she is short of money - and also thinks about others who don’t have relatives around them. Talking about the food deliveries, she says: "It is very important especially to the elderly people. In the past we were very active and we did everything on our own but now, very often, we stay alone. The fact that there is somebody who is taking care of us keeps us alive." 

Some of her neighbors never learned to cook and for some, their bad health makes it impossible to prepare meals. Boris Kogan lives on the same floor as her. In Ukraine he was an engineer in the military, when he came to Israel in the '90s, he swept streets. He lives alone: "There is nobody who can cook for me. My caregiver comes and goes and he cooks poorly." The volunteers leave him with a couple of boxes so that he will have enough meals for the coming days.

 Likhiot beKavod is financed by donations. As the organization wants to expand and also deliver food to Israel’s north or offer fitness classes for elderly, for first time it is cooperating with local high-class restaurants ahead of international Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

One of them is the Seatara Restaurant in Tel Aviv. The cost for a meal that was specifically now added to the menu - about $21 - will directly go to Likhiot beKavod. Chef Mosab Abu Hadwan talks about the meal while preparing it in the kitchen: "We make 'kreplach’ (dumplings) with chicken, in chicken soup which comes from the Jewish kitchen. We have a Mediterranean twist, so that our customers enjoy it. And everyone who enjoys this meal in the end also donates to Holocaust survivors." He can even imagine continuing the cooperation for the long term as customers seem to appreciate the initiative.

This is how Holocaust remembrance reaches a luxury restaurant – and how a warm meal a day can make a difference.