This text was produced as a part of JTA’s Teen Journalism Fellowship, a program that works with Jewish teenagers all over the world to report on points that have an effect on their lives.
SKOKIE, Illinois — Simply off East Prairie Street on this suburb of Chicago is an indication that claims, “Welcome to Hersh’s Fridge.” On the backside is a line in Aramaic, quoting the Passover Haggadah: “Let all who’re hungry come and eat.”
It could not seem like a lot, however the signal factors to a pioneering challenge: an out of doors kosher group fridge that gives free, recent meals and ready meals that anybody can take anonymously. The meals, supplied by volunteers and native kosher eating places, is obtainable at any time of day or evening.
The trouble is aimed toward offering meals assist for strapped kosher-observant households within the closely Jewish neighborhood northwest of Chicago. Within the week because it opened, the fridge has been closely used, stated Rabbi Hody Nemes of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue. As one of many organizers, he had already obtained a number of letters of gratitude from individuals who have visited.
Whereas the initiative has been within the strategy planning stage for a 12 months, it has opened at a time of explicit want. Tens of thousands and thousands of People who depend upon SNAP, the Supplemental Diet Help Program, to feed their households, are anticipated to lose SNAP advantages throughout the federal government shutdown, resulting in lengthy strains at meals banks throughout america. On the similar time, disruptive immigration enforcement raids by federal brokers in Chicago — together with, final weekend, in Skokie and adjoining Evanston — are placing extra stress on needy households.
“A whole lot of our neighbors are feeling weak proper now, significantly with uncertainty round SNAP advantages,” Nemes stated. “We would like our neighbors to really feel secure and nicely fed. We see the fridge as a part of ensuring that everybody, whoever they’re, no matter their politics or their background, feels taken care of and welcome to take meals, together with people who find themselves not a part of the kosher-keeping group.”
The fridge is supported by a volunteer military of native youngsters. After witnessing years of meals waste at Shabbat kiddush lunches, together with at his personal bar mitzvah, Avi Rubin, 17, a senior at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Skokie, volunteered to affix the challenge, which he stated displays the tenets of Judaism he has been taught in class. “Not losing meals is a Jewish worth rooted within the halachic precept of Bal Tashchit, which prohibits mindless waste or destruction,” Rubin stated.
Anabelle Ashman, 13, an eighth-grader at Hillel Torah Day College, stated she bought concerned after assembly a girl in want whereas restocking one other public fridge. “She defined to us that she was residing in a home with three households,” Ashman stated. “It was a very blissful second for me, as a result of I spotted that I may assist the group like that.”
The challenge is called in honor of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, the Israeli-American kidnapped from the Nova music competition in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and subsequently murdered by Hamas. Hersh’s mother and father, Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin, are initially from the Chicago space and met whereas attending Ida Crown.
Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jon Polin talk about their son Hersh on the Democratic Nationwide Conference, Aug. 21, 2025, in Chicago. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Instances through Getty Photos); An indication advertises Hersh’s Fridge, a kosher meals pantry within the Chicago suburbs. (Courtesy Hody Nemes)
The initiative is led by Solu, a neighborhood Orthodox Jewish group that usually companions with non-Jewish teams to deal with social points. Solu, which has been engaged on meals insecurity for the reason that COVID pandemic, got here up with the concept of a kosher fridge final 12 months in response to spiking kosher meals costs. After Hersh was murdered, they determined to call the initiative in his honor.
“Hersh was about doing good work, bringing folks collectively, bridging divides,” stated Rabbi Ari Hart, Solu’s co-founder and CEO. “We hope this fridge might be an engine for that locally.”
Hart stated the fridge presents an area for volunteers of all backgrounds to come back collectively, together with from a neighborhood mosque and church, to bundle kosher meals for neighbors in want.
The Jewish group and closely Jewish neighborhoods reminiscent of Skokie and West Rogers Park are affected by poverty and meals insecurity regardless of misconceptions on the contrary, stated Nemes.
“All it may possibly take is a job loss, or a serious medical incident,” he stated. “We’re blessed that we’ve sturdy social networks within the Jewish group, besides, folks can fall by way of the cracks.”
Jewish starvation advocates and nonprofits throughout the nation have sprung into motion as uncertainty has mounted about the way forward for SNAP funds. Mazon: A Jewish Response to Starvation and the Jewish Federations of North America are each urgent Congress to make sure SNAP advantages proceed by way of the shutdown. Native Jewish federations, in the meantime, have begun distributing emergency grants, with the New York federation saying that 74,000 Jewish households in New York alone had been liable to dropping their meals advantages.
Jewish households in Chicago and its suburbs are additionally struggling, in line with Nemes, who estimates that one-fifth of Jews within the close to north suburbs are financially insecure.
The pressing want was highlighted for Nemes when a group member contacted him after the fridge was introduced. “Somebody stated, ‘When will the fridge be up?’ I, foolishly, stated, ‘Thanks for desirous to donate, it is going to be up this fall,’” he recalled. “They stated, ‘I don’t wish to donate, I would like the meals.’”
Nemes stated the teenage volunteers are essential to the hassle. “Youngsters and youths have already begun to play a deep function in servicing the fridge,” he stated. “We hope that function solely grows as a result of we imagine that to be a Jewish grownup means to be a giver, and the easiest way to find out how is to start out younger.”
Rubin and fellow Ida Crown scholar, junior Hillel Lennon, 16, began a membership at their college to advertise teen involvement within the challenge. The pair had been thrilled when near half of the scholar physique signed as much as clear, verify and restock the fridge, together with buying meals from native kosher grocery shops in addition to selecting up leftovers from close by kosher eating places reminiscent of Emma’s Cafe and Tacos Gingi, in addition to native synagogues. Rubin ended up constructing the cupboard for the challenge’s dry-goods pantry.
Lennon stated he was excited to be concerned in a social effort that reached past Jewish establishments to the broader world. “As Jews, it’s crucial to assist our group and the folks in want that stay right here,” he stated.
The group fridge motion has surged in recent times amid a shift towards mutual help in some communities and activist actions. Whereas Hersh’s Fridge serves kosher-keeping households on Chicagoland’s north aspect, within the Hyde Park neighborhood on town’s South Facet, Congregation Rodfei Zedek operates its personal public fridge as a part of The Love Fridge Chicago, which has 17 areas throughout town.
Volunteers assemble Hersh’s Fridge, a kosher group fridge within the suburbs of Chicago. (Courtesy Hody Nemes)
Ezra Skol, 15, a sophomore at Kenwood Academy, is likely one of the teen volunteers on the Rodfei fridge. Skol stated he enjoys seeing the direct affect of his service. “On many events, whereas we’ve been stocking the fridge, the people who find themselves taking the meals will come up and thank us for the work that we’re doing,” he stated. “After I see these folks, there’s a private connection, I can really see who I’m serving to out.”
Skol has inspired his mates to volunteer on the fridge. He emphasised how the challenge goes past merely offering meals, strengthening the sense of group. “Finally, we’re all residing in the identical neighborhood and we’re sharing the identical areas. There’s a accountability there, and that’s precisely what the Love Fridge is doing, it’s searching for each other.”
For Hersh’s Fridge, organizers purchased two full-size fridge-freezers in addition to constructing the pantry, creating extra capability than pre-existing public fridges.
For Rubin, one of the vital particular elements of the challenge is its nameless nature.
“The Torah says it is best to give again to the poor,” he stated. “However that is additionally discreet. Individuals will simply be capable to come and choose up meals. This fridge will carry an consciousness to the problem as a result of folks will see that even within the Jewish group, there are nonetheless folks in want.”
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