Faber family’s close ties with Emunah go back four generations.
Yonatan Faber, a rising eighth grader at Yeshivat Noam, is combining his love of basketball and his love of family into a unique initiative for his bar mitzvah project. On Sunday, August 29, at 11 a.m., there will be a basketball tournament for eighth grade boys to raise money for Emunah, an organization with which the family is deeply connected. At press time, the tournament was scheduled to be held at Yeshivat Noam.
The tournament, which is already full, will be set up as a 3-on-3 model. The cost to participate is $100 per team. The winners of the tournament will receive tickets to a sporting event to be determined. Additionally, there will also be prizes given out throughout the day to the players. The goal of the tournament is to provide the participants with a fun day and raise money for an important organization.
Emunah is a social service organization that delegates funds to the children’s homes, schools and counseling centers for which it is responsible. Since 1935, Emunah of America has provided residential children’s homes, day care services and educational programs for at-risk children of all cultures and religions in Israel.With five homes throughout the country, hundreds of children call Emunah home.These children have been removed from their own homes for their safety and provided with a loving and safe alternative. Many of these children cannot safely live with their birth parents because of physical or sexual abuse, drug abuse, mental health problems or other situations. A major aspect of Emunah’s care is providing therapy services to combat the psychological trauma and psychiatric illness from which many of these children suffer. These therapies treat the children and their parents for depression, PTSD, addiction and many other conditions.
The funds raised through Faber’s tournament will be sent to Bet Elazraki, which operates under the leadership of Yehuda Kohn and is one of Emunah’s children’s homes in Israel. The vision of Bet Elazraki, as stated on its website, is to “break the cycle of distress for generations to come. … To do more than pull children at risk from dangerous environments, but to absorb them in the appropriate framework, to care for them and provide for all of their needs—physiological, emotional, academic and social. To provide them with tools and skills to deal with the traumas of the past, while at the same time providing them with everything they need to fulfill their utmost potential and look toward a bright future.”
The Faber family has strong ties with Emunah. Yonatan’s great-grandmother, Melanie Oelbaum, has dedicated her life to the organization’s causes. She was national president of Emunah of America for many years, founder of the mission department, and is currently the senior fundraiser. Motivated by her gratitude for being saved from the Holocaust with the help of Jewish funds, Oelbaum has made it her life’s mission to raise funds to ensure the well being of the children of Israel, and she instilled her life’s mission in her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She has truly dedicated her life to building the State of Israel.
Ronnie Faber, Yonatan’s grandmother, is currently Emunah’s director of philanthropy. And Yonatan’s father, Mordechai, spent many Shabbatot at Bet Elazraki when he was in Israel for his gap year. So the organization is truly close to the family’s heart.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been forced to do more at home, and from home. The funds raised through this tournament will be put towards special activities and equipment for Bet Elazraki’s outdoor grounds. In this way, Yonatan will help ensure that the children of Bet Elazraki Children’s Home will have all their needs met on site, to keep them both happy and safe.
For more information about Emunah, visit www.emunah.org. For information about Bet Elazraki Children’s Home, visit www.elazraki.org.
Hannah Kirsch recently returned from a gap year in Israel and will be attending Binghamton University in the fall.
