While many people kicked back at a cookout or traveled out of town, 26 volunteers spent the Sunday before Labor Day bringing joy to local Holocaust survivors in the form of Rosh Hashanah bags.

It’s been a tradition at Congregation Olam Tikvah for the past five years, in partnership with Jewish Social Service Agency. Each reusable bag includes kosher wine, challah, gefilte fish, apples, honey, a honey cake, sugar-free candy, a Jewish calendar and tea light candles.

On Sept. 6, 27 members of Olam Tikvah hand-delivered the holiday goodies to 55 Holocaust survivors living in northern Virginia. Many of them came to the United States after World War II, typically from Russia and Ukraine.

Clare Bachner, Olam Tikvah’s longtime social action chair who organized the effort, spoke to the importance of delivering Rosh Hashanah baskets.

“First of all, they’re Holocaust survivors, and [we have to] make sure they’re not forgotten,” Bachner said. “It’s a wonderful excuse for us to go out in the neighborhood to do outreach to elderly Jews living in our community.”

“Delivering a High Holiday basket to a Holocaust survivor embodies some of Judaism’s deepest values: remembrance, lovingkindness and responsibility for one another,” Olam Tikvah’s Rabbi David Kalender wrote in a statement to Washington Jewish Week. “It transforms zachor — the Jewish imperative to remember — from an idea into an action.”

He added that the High Holidays encourage observers to look beyond themselves, perhaps by giving back to one’s community.

The tradition began in 2021, when JSSA called Olam Tikvah asking for volunteers to help deliver holiday care packages for Rosh Hashanah and Passover. JSSA provides social services to about 52 Holocaust survivors in the northern Virginia region.

The agency provides a list of their names and addresses, Ohr Kodesh Congregation packs the bags, and Olam Tikvah’s social action committee puts out the call for volunteers from the congregation.

“Our hero, who’s been doing it for many years, is Judy Gabel, who has coordinated the addresses with the OT congregants so they’re matched up [by region],” Bachner said. “I live in the Burke area. She might give me [a delivery in] Springfield or nearby.”

Each year, on the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah, volunteers line up outside of Olam Tikvah in their cars, ready to deliver smiles and a Rosh Hashanah greeting.

Recipients of the baskets know to expect the delivery. Some have an aide collect the basket at the door, and some prefer to have the basket left outside.

“Sometimes, they like us to come in and chat and meet with them, and a lot of times, friendships are formed,” Bachner said.

One year, Bachner visited a house where the father spoke English and the mother did not. But the communication barrier didn’t stop her. “She kept on serving me tea and didn’t want me to leave,” Bachner recalled.

The couple wanted to tell Bachner about their experiences emigrating to America and how much they appreciated JSSA’s support getting them acclimated to a new country.

“For a lot of us, they want you to sit. They want you to eat,” she said.

Other times, limited parking outside an apartment or house poses a challenge to that.

Bachner once rode in the passenger seat to one of her Rosh Hashanah deliveries — her husband drove and planned to wait in the car as Bachner dropped off the bag.

After a few minutes of chatting with the Holocaust survivor, Bachner called her husband to let him know that she might be there for a while. “‘No, invite him up!’” the survivor insisted.

The annual initiative is meaningful to everyone involved.

“This project is filled with such meaning,” Gabel said. “The recipients are now elderly survivors of the Holocaust who were eventually able to come to the U.S. to get away from areas, especially Russia and Ukraine, that were hostile to Jews. They love being remembered with a bag of Yom Tov treats that help them enjoy the holiday!”

“It’s always special making these deliveries,” said Jordan Baker, another Olam Tikvah volunteer. “We bring actual sweetness to the recipients with the wine and honey, and share in the joy of a Shana Tova greeting. Sometimes we are the only visitors the recipients see that day.”

Volunteer Sylvia Ambaruch said she draws inspiration from the survivors. “They have such a positive outlook on life and are so appreciative of the support they receive from the community,” she said.

This year brought scheduling challenges, as the Sunday before Rosh Hashanah fell over Labor Day weekend. Bachner herself went out of town for the weekend and was unable to attend.

“It became a challenge, but we miraculously just really were committed to it, and we made sure it was done,” Bachner said.

“For a generation that endured an attempt to destroy Jewish life and continuity, our members showing up at their door with a gift is an embrace that reminds them how we are truly one people across time and space,” Kalender said.

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com