Sophie Carson
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY NETWORK- WISCONSIN
When children and families staying at local shelters receive gifts this Christmas, some of them will come from Milwaukee’s Jewish community.
The Jewish nonprofit Tikkun Ha-Ir is in its 20th year of collecting Christmas gifts and supplies for Milwaukee-area shelters, social services agencies and assistance groups. And as volunteers sorted donations ranging from coloring books to winter coats to diapers on Tuesday, they came to a rough total: about 1,000 items would be delivered to people in need this December .
“We want to show love for our city and for our neighbors, even ifwe don’t know them one-to-one,” said executive director Sarni Stein Avner.
Tikkun Ha-Ir reaches out to several area synagogues and other Jewish organizations for donations, then collects all the items and gives them to a dozen nonprofits, including the Cathedral Center, the Milwaukee Women’s Center and Pathfinders.
Nearly all are non-Jewish groups.
This week a few dozen volunteers have been sorting through boxes of donations and matching them to each organization’s wish lists. Among other things, volunteers set aside picture books, washable markers and deodorant for All Peoples Gathering Church, in the Harambee neighborhood, which asked for children’s books and hygiene items.
The Benedict Center, seeking cold weather gear and clothing for women, will receive several sets of scarves and hats knitted by the Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid knitting club – one of a handful of Jewish knitting groups that contributed warmth-giving gifts.
Andrea Bernstein of Bayside has donated to Tikkun Ha-Ir’s gift drive for years and this year volunteered to help sort.
“It’s important to me that my neighbors can celebrate Christmas, even though I don’t,” she said.
Tensions between faiths have been high in the U.S. since the Israel-Hamas war began last October, and incidents of antisemitism, as well as threats directed at Muslims, has been on the rise. It’s easy these days, Bernstein said, to “contract, and really become more insular.” The better option, she said, is to “double down” on reaching out to the broader community.
“It has never been more important to have interfaith engagement and connection than right now,” she said.
As she sorted toys and mittens and toiletries, Bernstein imagined the people who would receive each item, and the kinds of things they would appreciate receiving. Homeless individuals might have a more urgent need for socks and underwear compared to someone who has a home.
It’s that “thoughtfulness of giving” that Bernstein said feels especially meaningful. It goes toward the mission stated in the translation of Tikkun Ha-Ir’s name: “Repair the city.”
On Tuesday, volunteers emptied a large box of winter hats, which came from a local knitwear manufacturer. The company’s owner would be adding to the holiday spirit even further, Stein Avner said. He’s going to dress up as Santa Claus and hand out gifts to children at a Christmas Eve dinner hosted by Tikkun Ha-Ir at the Cathedral Center, a shelter for women and families.
“We’re canying on this tradition of the Jewish community, stepping up on Christmas Eve, on Christmas Day, when other people are celebrating,” Stein Avner said.
Copyright© 2024 Journal Sentinel 12/14/2024