OHEL RAHEL - A Jewish Charity Organization:

The organization’s re-foundation in 1999 was established under the impression that in the same year around 15% of the members of the Jewish community in Vienna were living below the official poverty line. The board of Ohel Rahel set the goal to at least provide the most necessary and basic food to the very poor members of the Viennese Jewish Community.

Top priority of the work we do in Ohel Rahel is, that no member of the Jewish community should suffer from hunger in an affluent society, - no one should have to starve in a world full of abundance!

Tradition:

The Jewish religion values charity very much, - we are bound by honour to make charitable efforts. Overall we know eight different levels of charitableness in order to fulfill this religious duty. We reach the second-highest level when donor and beneficiary do not know each other – but the highest level of Jewish Charity is when your help is of such that you actually prevent someone from falling into the status of poverty!

Re-foundation 1999:

While working at the Social Committee of the IKG in the year 1998 Renate Erbst noticed that the amount of Jews living below the official poverty line had reached a level she regarded as being absolutely not tolerable. Less and less families and individuals had the means to at least buy the most necessary foods – enough reason for her to act and so she founded "OHEL RAHEL – Jewish Charity Organization". So far still the only charity organization in Vienna which solely orientates its work on the distribution of vouchers for alimentation goods to the poor members of the Jewish community in Vienna, without regarding any sort of religious or cultural aspects of the indigent individual!

Benefits And Services:

In the year 1999 the organization started to distribute food vouchers to people in need and was able to raise the amount of 168.900 Austrian Schillings (€ 12.350) in that year. For the year 2005 € 47.600 has been budgeted, - which means that the value of the distributed vouchers has been quadrupled over the last five years. It shows the great efforts which were taken during the last years, but still,…currently Ohel Rahel needs at least € 60.000 in order to provide enough food vouchers to the people of the community who are in need.

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