Leket Israel feeds thousands with LIers’ help

Residents from the Five Towns and elsewhere on Long Island are contributing to Leket Israel by donating, volunteering or hosting events with the proceeds benefitting the national food bank for Israel,

Leket Israel rescues tens of millions of pounds of fresh, surplus food in Israel. They are partnered with 300 nonprofit organizations that distribute the produce and hot meals to hundreds of thousands of in-need Israelis each week.

In Hebrew the word leket means, “to glean” and is a mitzvah.

Cedarhurst resident Yael Gurevich organized a May 28 sisterhood event at the Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst, along with American Friends of Leket Israel,

“I thought it would be a good idea to raise awareness and also to hopefully bring in other people to become more aware of Leket,” Gurevich said.

Her fundraiser included a presentation from Jennifer Zwiebel, senior development officer for the Long Island and Greater New York region of American Friends of Leket, along with a hands-on demonstration using various fruits and creating fruit soup, fruit leather and sorbet by Chaia Frishman of Fruit Platters and More, in Far Rockaway.

Gurevich said that when she volunteered with Leket in Israel last summer, “We pruned trees in an orchard in the south. The farmers needed a lot of help and we were happy to do that for them.”

Tova Markowitz, from Lynbrook, volunteered in February and will be hosting an event with them in the fall for the Hewlett-East Rockaway Jewish Centre.

“I’m not an outdoorsy gardening person, but when I go to Israel I want to do that type of work,” Markowitz said.

Leket is helping to fight “agricultural terrorism” that occurred on Oct. 7, 2023 in the Hamas attacks, she said. “Hamas caused fires on the fields that killed all the crops and when you’re killing the crops people can’t get fed.”

“I feel a deep sense of pride and fulfillment to be able to represent Leket Israel and share the incredible work that they do to provide food, a basic human need,” Zwiebel wrote in an email.

Zwiebel learned about Leket through family members who support them in Israel as their charity of choice.

“Right now, our greatest need is for donations during the War with Iran,” she said. “There is a deepening crisis in food security and with the uncertainty of how long the war will go on, the pressure on Israel’s food supply system is only intensifying.”

“Food is not a luxury, it’s a lifeline,” she wrote. “We need the support of our friends who care about Israel and its people.”

For more information about the organization, contact Zwiebel at Jennifer@leket.us.