COMMUNITY NEWS
The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia mobilizes financial
and volunteer resources to address the communities’ most critical
priorities locally, in Israel and around the world.

“We both were born in Philadelphia
s Passover nears, continually
and, as a result, we take a great deal of
rising food prices and expir-
pride in our ability to service our fellow
ing Supplemental Nutrition
Philadelphia neighbors as well as the
Assistance Program benefi ts beg
surrounding communities,” said Leo
local Jewish organizations to ask
and Seth Schwartzberg, who are the
a fi fth question this year: How is
fourth-generation owners of Kosher
it possible to ensure that all who
Mart Foods.

celebrate have access to matzah,
MFP clients have noted their grati-
maror and a hearty holiday meal?
tude for the Passover provisions that
According to the Department of
will help them participate in their
Agriculture, the cost of groceries was
holiday customs.

11.3% higher in December 2022 than
“In celebrating Passover, I am continu-
in January 2022. Kosher for Passover
ing the tradition that has been passed
foods, which are historically already
on to me by previous generations,”
more costly than non-hectured
expressed one of MFP’s clients, who
foods, are expected to rise this
wished to remain anonymous. “I still
Passover season as well. This comes
remember my grandmother opening
at a critical time for those receiving
a special set of dishes and preparing
assistance through SNAP benefi ts
Volunteers Terry
Hartley and
Marya Margolis
delivered Passover
packages from
for the seder. I cannot imagine break-
because $2.5 billion of the program’s
the Jewish
Federation’s Mitzvah
Food Program.

ing this [tradition], and I’m grateful for
emergency pandemic allocations will
MFP’s support because it means I
expire nationwide this month.

don’t have to.”
With all these strains on local
In addition
to providing
kosher food
during major Jewish holidays, like Passover
families’ budgets, the ability to express religious freedom by observing holidays
and Rosh Hashanah, MFP works to combat food insecurity all year round for all
with traditional foods is appearing more like a privilege instead of a right.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Mitzvah Food Program is who are hungry, regardless of race, religion or fi nancial background. This past
working to ensure that this basic freedom remains a right by off ering free Passover year, MFP provided 904,908 pounds of food to 4,055 clients with the help of local
volunteers. foods to those in need.

“When I deliver food packages, it brings me great joy to know that those in
“It is imperative that we are able to provide our Jewish clients with as much as
we can during the High Holidays and Passover to ensure that our clients are able need will have enough to eat for the coming weeks,” said MFP volunteer Mitchell
to celebrate their faith,” said Whitney Drukier, the Jewish Federation’s MFP opera- Benson, who also serves on the Jewish Federation’s endowment committee.

tions manager. “By providing staple kosher for Passover foods, we are helping to “These Passover provisions show MFP’s clients that we are here and we care.”
In addition to supporting MFP as an internal program, the Jewish Federation
add to these families’ seder dinners commemorating the liberation from slavery
granted $2.6 million this year through the Jewish Community Fund, unrestricted
and honoring the history of their ancestors.”
To honor this history, MFP has partnered with Philabundance and Kosher Mart giving, toward caring for those in need locally and overseas – one of its main
Foods to provide more than $25,000 worth of kosher for Passover goods to pillars. This includes organizations that fi ght food insecurity, like the Jewish Relief
Agency and KleinLife which will also provide kosher for Passover food to Greater
families in need in the Greater Philadelphia area.

“It’s our ultimate goal to make sure the diverse communities we serve feel like Philadelphia area families this spring.

“Jewish teachings and values direct us to care for those in need in our commu-
their cultures and traditions are refl ected in how we support them,” noted a repre-
sentative from Philabundance. “Our neighbors deserve the right to receive cultur- nity, and during this unprecedented time of infl ation in food costs, it is incumbent
for the Jewish community to provide for those who can't aff ord to fi ll up their seder
ally relevant foods they are accustomed to.”
This Passover, Philabundance showcased its support by gifting $8,300 in ACME plates,” explained Brian Gralnick, the Jewish Federation’s director of local grants
gift cards, which will be distributed at all four of MFP’s pantries across the region. and partnerships. “People don’t stop being hungry during the holidays.”
*** MFP is also using $17,000 of its annual funds to order Passover supplies from
For more information about the Mitzvah Food Program, visit jewishphilly.

Kosher Mart Foods, including Kedem grape juice, matzah, honey, gefi lte fi sh and
org/mfp, email mitzvahfoodprogram@jewishphilly.org or call 215-832-0509.

borscht, for their Jewish clients.

12 MARCH 30, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
A The Fifth Question: How to Ensure
All Have a Meal This Passover?



YOU SHOULD KNOW ...

Mallory Kovit
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
Courtesy of Mallory Kovit
U ntil she left for college, Mallory Kovit never had the feeling
that Jews were unique or different.

Kovit, the assistant executive director of Hillel at Temple
University, grew up in the heavily Jewish Five Towns of Long Island,
New York. Matriculating at Stony Brook University was a culture shock
— the first time she felt like part of a minority that made up 2% of the
country’s population.

“I had never had to grapple before with people that had never met
a Jewish person before,” she said. “I had also never really understood
that there was such a thing as the BDS or anti-Israel movement until
I went to college.”
During Kovit’s junior or senior year, the Stony Brook adminis-
tration voted to get rid of schoolwide days off on Yom Kippur and
Rosh Hashanah, a policy it later changed. Kovit was frustrated that
non-Jewish students didn’t realize this was a big deal.

“A friend of a friend said something to the effect like, ‘Not everything
can be about you and what you want,’”
Kovit remembered.

That’s when Hillel changed Kovit’s
life. Hillel advocated for having the High
Holidays off and provided a central
meeting space for Jewish students.

Kovit later applied to become Stony
Brook Hillel’s engagement intern, the
first of many leadership positions she’d
hold at Hillels.

At 33, Kovit has been involved in
Hillel for almost half her life. As a leader
of Temple University’s Hillel, she wants
to make sure today’s college students
can find the same joy in being Jewish
that she found through Hillel.

“I’m someone who is confident in my
Jewish identity, and it’s not necessarily
something that comes naturally to a
lot of people,” she said. “I want people
to feel really excited and thrilled to be
Jewish and know that it’s really fun to
be Jewish.”
Since taking on the position in
August, having previously served as
the director of the Jewish Graduate
Student Network at Greater Philly
Hillel Network for two years, the
Center City resident has had her work
cut out for her.

“When it comes to the challenges
of being a student nowadays, Jewish
student or not, everything is relatively
unprecedented,” Kovit said.

The students coming to campus
are shy, having spent most of their
high school days entrenched in online
spaces during the pandemic. Many
times, Kovit said, kids encounter
antisemitism online.

It’s Kovit’s job to make those
students feel welcome and work with
Temple Hillel’s staff to bring program-
ming to fruition that is “by students, for
students.” “We really want Temple Hillel to be
a place where students know that they
can have enrichment for their lives
now, and also for after they graduate,”
she said.

Interacting with the 30-100 students
who filter in and out of Temple
University’s Rosen Center — Hillel’s
hub — Kovit bridges the gap between
the Gen Z students and millennial staff.

The key to connecting with today’s
teens, she said, is not learning TikTok
dances, but finding common ground.

Students who join Hillel are looking
for the same thing: to have fun and
connect. “They’re still figuring out who they
are as people,” Kovit said. “But people
who are between the ages of 18 to 22,
they have a lot to say; they are really
funny; they’re really kind; they really
want to share; they want to have a
good time, and so do I.”
Kovit’s path to Hillel seemed clear:
She went on Birthright before going
to college, right as the program was
starting. She went back to Israel again
as an undergrad, studying at Tel Aviv
University for a year. After graduating,
she worked at Hillels of Westchester in
New York, coordinating programming
with five area Hillels.

In 2019, Kovit relocated to
Philadelphia, taking on roles at Greater
Philly Hillel Network, and balancing her
job with earning her master’s degree
in nonprofit/public/organizational
management with a concentration in
Jewish education administration from
Gratz College. Balancing a cultural
Jewish identity with a spiritual one,
Kovit is also a yoga teacher and has
taught mindfulness and yoga to Jewish
audiences, finding that the two cultures
can blend seamlessly.

Returning to the college Hillel
scene a decade after her own
college experience, Kovit saw some
changes. The Birthright program has
burgeoned since she first took the
trip. Students today are interested in
smaller affinity groups within Temple
Hillel, such as Owls for Israel or a
Russian-language group. Instead of
a humble Hillel office that Kovit was
used to at Stony Brook, Temple has
a center for Jewish students — a
“mansion of Jewish life.”
“It’s such a thrill and a gift to have
an entire building to have Jewish life
thrive,” she said. ■
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
13