The Dnipro Jewish Community is implementing a special kosher food support program for military personnel, aimed at helping them maintain kashrus while serving, during constant relocation, and during extended periods away from home, when organizing appropriate nutrition on one’s own is especially difficult.
“This program is of great significance to our community,” noted Rabbi Reuven Kaminezki. “It is not only about food assistance but about the ability to help fulfill mitzvos, observe kashrus, and remain connected to Yiddishkeit in the most diverse, even very difficult, circumstances. We are deeply grateful to the esteemed members of the Dnipro Jewish Community – Igal Rogovoy and his family, Yehuda Kes and his family, as well as other sponsors, thanks to whom this program operates and grows. We also thank the chaplain of the FJCU, Yaakov Pinchas Sinyakov, for his assistance, and community staff member Ilana Esther Shpolyanska-Khaneles, who handles all the operational work within the program. We consider this program a very important part of the work of the united and cohesive Dnipro Jewish Community under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
As part of the program, the community assembles and sends targeted packages of kosher long-shelf-life products that make it possible to provide nutrition even where there is no opportunity to cook independently or regularly purchase the necessary kosher products. The food packages include canned meat – beef and chicken, canned fish and pâtés, noodles and other quick-cooking products, crackers, snacks, and, when needed, vegetables and fruit. In addition, the packages include disposable tableware and utensils, which is especially important in conditions of shared kitchens and shared dishes.
Special attention is also given to the ability to welcome Shabbos – challahs, candles, and grape juice are always included in the packages. When necessary, other important everyday items, including personal hygiene products, are added to the shipments.
The program is ongoing and operates systematically – every week, community staff contact the military personnel to ascertain their current needs and the exact destination for the next shipment, as the recipients’ locations and addresses may change frequently. Recently, the scope of this initiative has grown significantly: whereas just recently it was a matter of a few packages per week, today the Dnipro Jewish Community sends dozens of such packages weekly, and this work continues to expand.
