It’s got to be kosher — even for the homeless
A kosher meal for the homeless was something special
By Louisa Taylor, The Ottawa Citizen January 27, 2009

OTTAWA - The ballroom at Beth Shalom Synagogue is an elegant space — soaring ceilings, soothing cream-coloured decor and a stunning chandelier. It’s often packed with revellers for bar mitzvahs, weddings and anniversary parties, but yesterday it was the site of an unusual gathering: scores of cheerful volunteers serving lunch to street people, in what organizers said was the city’s first kosher meal for the homeless.

Yesterday’s event was not just unusual because it offered food that adhered to Jewish dietary rules, or because it was the first time an Ottawa synagogue has opened its doors to the homeless on such a scale.


Siamak Salimi (left) and Robert Christian (right) receive a kosher meal from volunteer Simone Gardner. Kosher meals were served to members of Ottawa's homeless community at Beth Shalom Synagogue
Photograph by: Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen

It also involved an unprecedented level of co-operation between numerous agencies helping the homeless, including Christ Church Cathedral, Shepherds of Good Hope, The Salvation Army, The Mission, Centre 454 and others.

“Everybody working with homeless people has their own program, and we don’t work together enough, we don’t know what the other guy is doing,” said Pete Cassidy, the tall, burly leader of Jewish Family Service’s Street Smarts outreach program, which he describes as “addicts helping addicts.” Mr. Cassidy was one of the lead organizers of the event.

“We’re here today because we know that we’ve got to come together to take care of people.”

A City of Ottawa report says that in 2007, an average of 932 people stayed in emergency shelters every night. Over the whole year, more than 7,500 people used shelters, for an average cumulative stay
of 45 days.

Just a couple of dozen of those were Jews or Muslims adhering to religious diets, but being able to serve them even once is meaningful, said Angela Campbell, director of the Shepherd’s of Good Hope Foundation,
the fundraising arm of the Murray Street shelter.

“We do have Muslims who come through the shelter and often they can’t eat what we’re serving, so this is pretty special,” said Ms. Campbell. “It was a fantastic meal — all the clients said it was terrific.”

The guidelines for a kosher diet are extensive, and not exactly the same as the rules defining halal, the Arabic word for what is acceptable under Islamic principles. But there are several commonalities between the two —
for example, both ban eating pork and most insects, and both require similar, specific slaughtering methods.

Offering a kosher meal in the Chapel Street synagogue was a way of enabling homeless people to learn about the programs of Jewish Family Services and about Judaism in general, said Mark Zarecki, executive director of JFS.

“We wanted to be as inclusive as possible, and also to give people an opportunity to be in a synagogue,
to demystify it,” Mr. Zarecki said.

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The lunch of soup, green salad, kafta (ground beef and spices) and baked potato was prepared by Beth Shalom congregation member David Smith, owner of Creative Kosher Catering, using food donated by local businesses. The mood was upbeat and friendly, and by 1:30 p.m. the scores of volunteers had served more than 200 meals, a good turnout but not quite the 400 people organizers planned for.

“There would be a lot more people here if it weren’t for the bus strike,” said Mike Martin.

Mr. Martin, 47, said he has been on the streets since his marriage ended three years ago. Summers, he works for a road crew and has a roof over his head but, come winter, he sometimes finds himself sleeping under one of the bridges over the Ottawa River.

He is an addict who uses whatever is on hand, whether it’s crack or pot or something else. He chokes up as he talks about the effects of his addiction on his family and says “One thing I want to do is say hi to Jesse, Sean, Alyssa, Michael and Kyle,” the grown children he has lost contact with.

“This kind of thing shows that there are a lot of good people, a lot of people who give their all to help others,” said Mr. Martin. “If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have things like this to look forward to, we wouldn’t know how much people care.”

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