Elderly Immigrants Sing Praise of JDC's Warm Homes During Hannukah

During Hannukah, hundreds of elderly immigrant members of JDC's Warm Home program in over 65 locations will participate in family-like celebrations in the warmth of a home in Israel. Menorahs will be lit and Maoz Tzur sung, giving these older immigrants an opportunity to celebrate Hannukah in the company of others.

"Warm Homes save elderly from loneliness. It gives them hope," explains Alexander, the host of a Warm Home in Akko.

For some of these immigrants, including Ethiopians for whom the commemoration of the miracle at the Temple was unknown after being isolated from the Jewish people since Roman times, and for former Soviet Jews who were severed from their Jewish heritage for 70 years, Hannukah might otherwise not be celebrated at all.

The Warm Home program in Israel is based on a successful model developed by JDC in the FSU. There, Jewish elderly combat loneliness by gathering in the home of a host, participating in activities and lectures while rekindling Jewish memories nearly extinguished.

In Israel, like in the FSU, Warm Homes bring together mobile elderly immigrants, especially those with no family, providing camaraderie. It also provides a common link with other immigrants in an otherwise foreign land.

Recognizing that each immigrant community is unique, JDC has adapted the Israeli model to serve distinct communities, including Ethiopian-Israelis, Kavkazi immigrants from the Caucasus region of the FSU and Buchari Jews.

Each Warm Home echoes the personality of its members. In Akko for instance, the participants have an exceptional passion for music, poetry and performance. Twice weekly, the fourteen members of this Warm Home dispel their loneliness and display their talents in front of their peers in a small apartment.

The members open each gathering with an anthem they composed themselves:

We are not twenty and we are not thirty years old/
But we cannot sit, we cannot sit at home/…
On holidays, according to tradition we light the candles/
And with "Lehaim!" we drink our glasses/…
We are poets and singers, all of us are actors/
Let our performance last without end.

As the Warm Home host, Alexander organizes meetings, excursions, and invites guests, often actors, to his home. "I am proud to be a host," says Alex, who carries out the role together with his wife.

In a way, it is also his calling. Born in Leningrad in 1935, Alex's father was killed during Stalin's repressions. His family fled to the Urals to escape the Germans, moving back to Leningrad after World War II. In 1956, Alex was "rehabilitated." In Leningrad, now known as St. Petersburg, Alex studied, married, had a daughter, and worked hard as an engineer.

With the collapse of Communism though, Alex sought ways to contribute to his Jewish community. Through JDC, he found an outlet: when the very first Hesed welfare center was established in St. Petersburg in 1993, he volunteered there, helping needy members of the Jewish community. He helped the visually impaired, and hosted a Warm Home, where elderly members of the community convened in his small apartment, to meet, converse, and share Jewish traditions. He also was a deputy director of a Jewish Sunday school and taught Hebrew. He sang in the Hesed choir and taught music to children.

So, after Alex moved to Israel in 1996, it was natural for him to combine his desire to give to the Jewish community and his love for music, while maintaining his connection to JDC.

JDC found a perfect solution by inviting him to host a Warm Home in Israel.

Now, immigrants from the FSU in Akko share their love of song and poetry in Alex's home, composing poems and performing for each other. In preparation for Hannukah, members have written songs for a boisterous upcoming Hannukah meeting.

Let people come from outside/
We will serve sufganiot/
We will eat, we will drink/
We will celebrate our "Warm Home."

Let our circle of friends be made wider/
let the songs be sung merrier/
And during Hannukah not one/
But we will all dance together.

Serving as host of the Warm Home not only helps Alex put joy in the lives of elderly immigrants in his community. It has also transformed Alex's immigration into a success story. "I am so thankful for the opportunity to have a chance to help others," says Alex.

Alex even speaks to potential Warm Home hosts in cities throughout Israel, encouraging others to lead Homes in their own communities. He also believes that elderly from many countries could benefit from the program.

"There are so many lonely elderly in every society. Not just in Russia and in Israel. These people don't need financial or material assistance. They need moral support. They need conversation."

Or, like the JDC Warm Home in Akko, they need song.