Christians, Jews Come Together to Help Impoverished Israelis During COVID-19 Pandemic

JERUSALEM, Israel – The coronavirus outbreak in Israel is bringing Christians and Jews together to help those suffering the most.

The Genesis 123 Foundation, a US-based nonprofit dedicated to building bridges between Christians and Jews, is working with Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, to help distribute food and other supplies to families in Jerusalem.

“Israel took the correct but unprecedented measure of closing down schools and classes including for at-risk and special needs children. This is causing incredible hardship for some 6000 families in Jerusalem who have children in these schools, and whose families normally have the respite of a structured educational framework. Adding to the challenges of taking care of special needs children all day with no outside support, about a third of these families, 2000 households, suffer from severe economic hardship,” Hassan-Nahoum said in a statement.

The foundation is providing weekly packages to families. That means a lot in a country where the unemployment rate went from 4 percent to 25 percent in a matter of weeks due to the outbreak.

The need is especially high ahead of Passover when families need kosher unleavened food to follow the biblical command and celebrate how God delivered them from Egypt.

“We are proud to be part of the coalition providing urgent needs to support these at-risk and special needs families, a third of whom live below the poverty line. We are grateful to our network of Christian and Jewish partners who are stepping up to join us in meeting these immediate needs,” said Jonathan Feldstein, President of the Genesis 123 Foundation.

The food packages cost $55 per week and Feldstein is encouraging Jews and Christians around the world to continue blessing Israel during the pandemic.

“We have set a goal to provide at least 2-3 weeks’ worth of these emergency food packages. That’s $110,000 per week. We call upon everyone who cares about the needy in Israel to participate in some way,” said Feldstein.

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