South Palm Beach County Jewish groups turn to fund-raising for support of Israeli brethren

BOCA RATON — Delray Beach's Hailey Desser quit her corporate job and moved to South Florida in 2021 to pursue a career in real estate, but she didn't know anyone in the area.

She decided to start a Facebook group — The South Florida Jewish Social Network. It was a way she could meet other young Jewish adults in the region primarily through happy hour events she arranged.

That changed on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns. The attack, which killed hundreds of civilians, stunned Israel and caught its military and intelligence off guard.

Israel immediately launched airstrikes on Gaza, destroying neighborhoods and killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians in the next days. The war has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. At least 199 people, including children, were captured by Hamas and taken into Gaza, according to the Israeli government.

For Desser and other South County Jewish residents, it hit home. She decided to turn the next happy hour gathering into a fundraising event.

South Palm Beach County's Jewish population is among the highest in the state, according to a 2020 American Jewish Population Project. In Florida, there are approximately 665,000 Jewish adults — including the 134,300 in south county.

Desser had planned the Oct. 19 happy hour for the group at Kapow, a noodle bar at Mizner Park in Boca Raton. But when she started handing out flyers and spreading the word, the planned group outgrew the venue.

Desser had restaurants throughout the city offering their space for the evening. She decided on Osha Thai & Sushi Bar on North Federal Highway for the gathering of about 100 people.

“As Jewish people, and many of us have been to Israel before, we have unconditional love and support for our brothers and sisters that are there,” Desser said. “There was comfort in knowing that everyone was there to help support Israel and that we're all going through this wide range of emotions.”

The group raised $8,242. Since that will be matched by the Jewish National Fund, which Desser partnered with for the event, around $16,000 will be sent to Israel.

The donations will go toward evacuating the hardest-hit border communities, providing transportation and emergency services to those in need, and providing hygiene products, bedding and care packages. They’ll also help provide firefighting and protective gear for first-responders, and mental health aid.

A Boca Raton rabbi's brother-in law is on Israel's north border

While Desser’s happy hour was one of the larger planned events in the area, smaller family-hosted fundraising gatherings have happened in recent weeks.

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Boca Raton rabbi Yosef New hosted a fundraiser at his home for his brother-in-law the week after the Oct. 7 attack. New is a rabbi with Chabad of East Boca.

New’s brother-in-law is on the north border of Israel. The event included lit candles for the hostages and “prayers for the safety of brothers and sisters of Israel.”

But he also noted the planeloads of materials that have been sent from Florida to Israel, his father having just left on one of the planes with a group of 25 rabbis on Oct. 22. His father, Rabbi Ruvi New also is affiliated with Chabad of East Boca.

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“They each had suitcases full of gear,” New said. “We had gear, food, toys for our children who lost their parents and are injured or displaced.”

Congregation B’nai Israel, also based in Boca Raton, has sent more than 16,000 pounds of supplies to Israeli troops in recent weeks. The first drive held by the congregation was on Oct. 14. The congregation calls it the "Israel Community Drive," and supplies have included gauze, hydration packs, headlamps, flashlights and new clothing.

Also, within a week of Oct. 7, nearly 100 members of a Boca Raton synagogue partnered with the Jewish National Fund, the same group Desser partnered with, to donate two “beautified bomb shelters” to residents of Israel’s Gaza Envelope, the populated areas of Israel that are within about four miles of the Gaza Strip border and thus within range of mortar shells. The project was led by Rabbi Rony Keller of Congregation B’nai Israel.

Congregation B’nai Israel's members raised $20,000 for the painting of two shelters already existing in the region.

“People always talk about donating money to Israel, but it's hard to specifically see where your money goes,” Keller said. "With Bomb Shelter Beautification, people can see exactly where their charitable dollars go and appreciate knowing they are directly helping save lives."

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For South County Jews, it's a 'dark time'

Similarly, a group of three rabbis from Boca Raton left for Israel the morning of Oct. 23 with 90 duffle bags of supplies for soldiers and displaced families. Two of the rabbis — Efrem Goldberg and Josh Broide — are with the Boca Raton Synagogue and the third, Yaakov Gibber, is a rabbi at Boca Jewish Center. The group departed from Miami.

“We're in a dark time,” New said. “Jews are experiencing that internally and externally. And our response to that has always been, throughout history, is we combat that with light, good deeds, anything.”

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New, 25, grew up in Boca Raton. It’s radically changed throughout his life, he said, with a quickly growing population of younger Jewish families.

Desser, too, has seen it since she started her Facebook group for social gatherings. Six people showed up to her first event, back in 2021.

“The next event, we had 10 people,” Desser said. “And then 15. And, now, we're just about 1,500 people in the group.”

She said she has 100 requests pending.

At Jewish fundraising events, security is a must

Looking forward, Desser hopes there will be several more large-scale in-person fundraising events. She had many people who couldn’t attend on Oct. 19 ask her when the next would take place.

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But with restaurant capacity limitations and what Desser described as an increased need for security for such events now, planning can take some time.

In fact, she believes the reason there haven’t been more events like hers is because of security concerns, she said.

“Every Jewish event that's taking place, it’s almost mandatory that you have some sort of security,” Desser said. “That's not something that you saw pre-October 7.”

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Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: South Florida Jewish groups turn to fund-raising to help Israel