The ESRA War Fund: Providing Financial First Aid To Those Affected By War

Thousands were evacuated from their homes, leaving behind not just their home, but their clothing, their appliances… their everything. They needed help. Thousands more were reservists fighting a war while losing their income and the ability to support their families. They needed help. Many hundreds found it difficult to focus on anything beyond their loss and grieving; unknown numbers experienced rocket damage to their homes, loss of business due to the war… They all needed help!

Imagine sending a request for emergency financial assistance, and within 72 hours finding the money in your account! No need to imagine… That is exactly what ESRA succeeded in doing, consistently, throughout the war!

Within days of the outbreak of war, it was decided to establish a special War Fund, and four veteran ESRA volunteers, headed by former ESRA Chairman, Terry Morris, took on the task of fundraising, phoning around to elicit donations. The response was overwhelming and generous. Meanwhile, Anat Shifter, a longtime dedicated member of ESRA's administrative office staff, put the word out among Social Workers throughout the country, that ESRA was geared up to help. The requests came flooding in.

Imagine sending a request for emergency financial assistance,

and within 72 hours finding the money in your account!

No need to imagine… That is exactly what ESRA succeeded

in doing, consistently, throughout the war!

Dealing with this flood were Adele Hunter, who has managed ESRA's Welfare Fund for over 20 years, and Dina Keusch, Welfare Fund committee member. Together they put in as many hours as it took to review the flood of requests and get the emergency aid moving. The next vital link in the chain was Baruch Tanaman, then Chair of ESRA's Finance Committee (recently retired from the position), and Richard Halon, then ESRA Treasurer (and now acting Finance Committee Chair), who constantly checked their inbox for request approvals so as to make an immediate transfer of the allocated sum to the recipient in need. And finally, it was Avraham Hanson who immediately dealt with all back-office procedures to ensure a smooth and well monitored process. Throughout the war, monies came in, requests were reviewed, and monies went out, ticking over like a well-oiled machine. It is worth noting that those mentioned here, working tirelessly, are all ESRA volunteers.

ESRA was founded 45 years ago as a volunteer organization with the aim of helping English-speaking new immigrants successfully integrate into their new home in Israel. This aim soon expanded to include helping every new immigrant group with their absorption process, and today its activities reflect the further expansion of its aims to aid every needy sector of Israeli society. Merle Guttman, ESRA's founder, Honorary Life President and creator and editor of the ESRA Magazine, witnessed the influx of Russian new immigrants to Israel, and became aware of their urgent needs. They needed eyeglasses, which ESRA volunteers managed to provide. They needed clothing, which was collected and distributed. They needed financial assistance. And so, triggered by the Russian Aliya, ESRA's Welfare Fund was established. Volunteers raised money and managed the fund, donors provided the means, and ESRA's place as an important aid to Olim and to Israeli society was further established.

The Welfare Fund has also been providing significant student scholarships through the Leah Klein Scholarship Fund, a special personal endowment from long time ESRA supporter, the late David Klein who named the fund after his mother. Over more than a decade, based on an interview conducted personally by David Klein with every student recipient, hundreds of students have been helped to complete their studies. This practice of the Welfare Fund has sadly come to an end due to depletion of funds. However, student scholarships are still provided through ESRA Projects, to those students involved in ESRA's Students Build a Community project.

The War Fund has been a special undertaking of the Welfare Fund. So how does it work?

Notified by the ESRA office of the availability of assistance, Social Workers around the country passed on requests to ESRA from their most urgent cases. Once an application is received from a Social Worker, Adele and Dina review it, checking the needs, whether the applicant has any other source of income, a healthy or troubled bank statement, and so on, working with full transparency, and ensuring funds are provided to those who truly need them. Then, based on the amount of funds available, a monetary allocation is decided upon. At the time of writing this article, 227 families have been aided by ESRA's War Fund, which has distributed a total sum of NIS 454,000 since October 2023. During most of the war, each family in need received emergency financial assistance of NIS 2,000, more recently reduced to NIS 1,000 reflecting available resources. This may seem like a small sum, but it has proved to be a vital lifeline for so many, for instance, for the family of Svetlana (fictious name).

Svetlana arrived in Israel with her husband and child 2.5 years ago, escaping the war in Ukraine. Her second child was born a Sabra shortly before the outbreak of the Gaza war. With Svetlana, a schoolteacher, on maternity leave, and her husband, a self-employed physiotherapist experiencing a greatly reduced clientele due to the war, expenses such as rent and municipal taxes were choking them beyond their means. Svetlana requested "financial support to help us get through this difficult period… any assistance would be deeply appreciated and would provide us with the stability we need until our financial situation improves in the coming months." ESRA was more than happy to help another family keep its head above the water.

As of the writing of this article, 227 families have been aided by ESRA's War Fund, which has distributed a total sum of NIS 454,000 since October 2023.

As rockets from Gaza were followed by missiles from Iran, the numbers of Israelis in need grew. Within a two-week period following the ceasefire, ESRA's Welfare Fund helped 8 families who lost their homes to Iranian missiles. Each family received NIS 2,000 within 48 hours of ESRA's receipt of their request.

Whether we are actively at war or not, those who have been affected by the wars will be hurting for a long time to come. And with the ongoing surge of antisemitism worldwide, the numbers of new immigrants to Israel are growing. They all need help.

ESRA's Welfare Fund continues to receive urgent requests and does its best to meet them.

We've been through a very bad patch and it's not over yet, but it has only made us stronger, more united, more supportive of each other. ESRA is proud of its part in supporting our nation, and proud of all its volunteers and donors who enable us to do so. Together we win.