On Sunday, February 23, at the Riverdale Y, the Riverdale Jewish Community Partnership dedicated a new Magen David Adom ambulance, having raised over $120,000.
Riverdale Y CEO Melissa Sigmond said: “This is an overwhelming day for me. I’ve watched this initiative come to life. It’s just remarkable.” Sigmond recounted the genesis of this endeavor. “Originally, we planned to fundraise for half an ambulance. We rallied together community support of our partners at RJCP.” After raising their goal, on the day the donation link closed, a community member wanting to donate, but couldn’t, reached out to Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff, the Y’s director of community engagement. Sigmond explained the donor’s caveat on their very generous donation: “If we make this donation, let’s get the whole ambulance.”
Kalmikoff continued: “After October 7th, many of us felt we needed to do something. Our love for our brothers and sisters in Israel, our concern for them, was felt deeply. Our rabbinic leadership wanted to mobilize our community. There was this desire to send our love to Israel in some way, and many of us didn’t know how to do it. The rabbinic leadership in Riverdale decided to raise funds to donate half an ambulance to MDA.”
Kalmikoff acknowledged the leadership of CSAIR’s Rabbi Barry Dov Katz and HIR’s Rabbi Steven Exler, saying, “In a very short amount of time, our community mobilized and raised the funds.” Kalmikoff also thanked Alfie and Judy Marcus for their significant contribution to this effort, “With the Marcuses’ dedication, love and support I went to the rabbinic leadership. We have a significant contribution coming in. Should we go all the way to the full ambulance? Because of their significant contribution, we were able to do so.
“This ambulance is going to be sent to Israel to save lives, and not only the lives of Jewish people,” noted Kalmikoff. “There are Muslims and Christians who are citizens of Israel. MDA serves all Israeli citizens. We wanted to create a way to support our brothers and sisters in Israel, but in a way that would support all Israeli citizens, regardless of who they are, what their background is, their political beliefs, their religious background.”
Kalmikoff took the opportunity to note that CSAIR played a significant role in this effort and especially thanked CSAIR member Abby Pitkowsky for her dedication. He acknowledged all the elected officials in attendance who have stood by the Jewish community, including Congressman Ritchie Torres, Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, New York State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, and representatives of the Office of the Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clarke.
Torres remarked” “I want to thank the rabbinic leadership and the people of Riverdale for giving us hope in what has been a draining and depressing week. There’s long been a special relationship between the United States and Israel. There are few places on earth where that relationship is more deeply felt than here in Riverdale. The new ambulance is a deeply felt expression of our collective commitment to Israel.
“These past few days have been unbearable,” Torres continued. “The barbaric murder of the Bibas family has sent an overwhelming shock to the conscience and the heart of the people of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora. I’m just enormously grateful and so proud to represent the community that is rising to the occasion of standing with the people of Israel in its moment of greatest trauma and greatest tragedy, and I’m just honored to be a small part of it. Thank you for giving the greatest gift that one could give, which is hope.”
Borough President Gibson noted: “I’m so grateful to be here in recognizing this important moment with all of you, knowing what has happened the past week. Certainly, I am sending my heart and my prayers to the Bibas family. Innocent children who were taken from us is such a reminder of the preciousness of life. What we have seen right here in our borough, in the City of New York, acts of heartbreaking antisemitism, reminds us that love will always prevail.”
Gibson continued: “The fact we are dedicating this ambulance to the State of Israel is important because we know this work is about saving lives. It is about giving hope to many who may feel hopeless. It is about lifting up our community. It’s about being there, whether an emergency or a relief effort in a disaster. It’s important for us to always show up.”
MDA then presented awards to the Riverdale Y, congregations and schools. After reciting ‘Shehechiyanu,’ Alfie and Judy Marcus cut the red ribbon on the ambulance.
