PLEASE HELP US WIN!

As you know, the United Jewish Communities will honor 5 "community heroes," who make a difference. We have been nominated by Mendy, and WE NEED YOUR HELP. THIS IS POSSIBLE IF WE ALL WORK HARD!

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, FACEBOOK, EMAIL, TWITTER, DIGG, YOUR COMMUNITY, THE PRESS, ANYTHING ELSE.

VOTING JUST TAKES A SECOND TO CLICK ON THE WORD VOTE UNDER THE PICTURE OF TA BENTCHING ESROG WITH A MAN. THE RULES ALLOW YOU TO VOTE EVERY 12 HOURS, UNTIL OCTOBER 8TH. WE ARE STARTING A FEW DAYS BEHIND, SO PLEASE VOTE NOW AND VOTE OFTEN, PREFERABLY EVERY 12 HOURS (I.E. 8 AM AND 8 PM.)

MAKE A REMINDER IN YOUR PHONE, PDA, COMPUTER, WHATEVER...

FIRST PLACE WILL WIN $25,000 FOR THEIR WORK. THIS WOULD GIVE US THE GIFT OF LIFE FOR OUR WORK IN CRIMEA.

THE LINK IS: http://www.jewishcommunityheroes.org/nominees/profile/yitzchok-lipszyc/

AND IT SAYS:

Yitzchok LipszycBrooklyn, New YorkRabbi Yitzchok founded a non-profit organization, the Jewish Lamplighter Foundation, to assist recent Jewish immigrants. [What can we do, they changed the words...]

Yitzchok Lipszyc
City: Brooklyn, New York
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Votes for Yitzchok Lipszyc: 55
Tell us about your nominee. Why should he or she be recognized as a Jewish Community Hero?
Brooklyn residents R' Yitzchok and Leah Lipszyc are my heroes. Seeing how neccessary it is to personally help Jews in the Former Soviet Union, in 1991 Rabbi Yitzchok Lipszyc founded a non-profit organization, the Jewish Lamplighter Foundation, to assist Jews in the CIS. While living in a tiny crowded basement apartment, he and his wife Leah would regularly invite 20 or more guests every Shabbos, including new immigrants from the FSU as well as students in the local schools for baalei teshuvos, and neighbors who might need a warm meal and a listening ear. Motivated by the stories they heard from their many guests from the FSU, they now run the American Friends of Chabad of Crimea, from Brooklyn. Crimea is an often overlooked peninsula, attached to Ukraine, and they do not receive any funding from major organizations. While Leah spends most of her time in Simferopol, the capitol of Crimea, helping the Jewish School Bais Menachem, synagogue, camp and holiday programs, teaching, counseling.... Rabbi Lipszyc remains in the states, raising the desperately needed funds to operate the various programs, since they do not have a sponsor. Leah cooks up a storm every week, providing 50 to 80 meals or more every Shabbos, providing people not with a piece of canned fish and some seltzer, but with the same kind of delicious meals they would have eaten in her home in America. At any given moment, she may have from 2 to 30 house guests camping out in their small, run-down home. These have included orphans and children from broken homes, for whom the Lipszyc's later arranged the possibility of learning abroad after high school, and helped them until they were ready to set up their own Jewish homes. Backpacking Israelis, tourists, people who are down and out, everyone finds a warm meal and an open heart in this home, on both sides of the world. Recent visitors from a left-wing kibbutz said "Thank you so much for this experience. In Israel, we never would have set foot in a chareidi home. Thank you for opening our eyes." Thousands have passed through the Lipszyc's doors. I seriously doubt anyone has left untouched.
What problem did your nominee identify in the community that needed to be solved? How has your nominee's efforts made a difference for others?
Former CIS immigrants would come to the United States with little Jewish knowlege. Now when they come from Crimea, they can come armed with that knowlege, and ready to actively join the Jewish community here. They immediately start giving back maaser from whatever they earn, take an active role in their communities, and even go on to teach and lead themselves. Most humanitarian aid in the FSU does NOT go to the people it is intended for, instead, directly or indirectly, it goes into the pockets of people along the way. As soon as the Lipszyc's were told they would be receiving humanitarian aid to distribute to all peoples in Crimea, they were approached by a respected person in the community, who said "I will take care of it for you. Half will go in your pocket, and half will go in my pocket." Rabbi Lipszyc refused, saying that as an American and as a Jew, he will not do that, and the food went to the peoples it was intended for. In spite of the animosity and hardships this has earned them, they continue this policy. While this caused them enormous problems locally, it earned them the respect of others, including non-Jews, thus causing a kiddush Hashem. The Lipszyc's are working on less than a shoestring budget. Every penny and kopek goes straight into that budget, and they can use all the help they can get.