Dear Ramaz Families and Friends,
Our immediate family went to the Los Angeles Area for a few days in December. We returned home on December 31th, the day before the fires began. When we looked at the news, we couldn’t believe what we saw. Just a few days before, we had literally driven down the Palisades Interstate Parkway through Malibu and some of the other communities, admiring the views and natural surroundings. Many of those communities were now destroyed.
As we were sitting at the Shabbat table, our mother told us about two friends that she grew up with that lost their homes to the Palisades Fires. These two friends are New York transplants. They are families just like us that have nothing to go back to anymore. No community. No Rec Center for sports. Their children don’t even have a school anymore, where they would see their friends everyday, like the bonds we share so deeply at Ramaz. They lost everything down to their clothes! We then asked our mom, but don’t they have money to get new things, and she told us, “It’s not easy to start from scratch, even if you somewhat have the means to do so. You cannot just go to a store so easily to buy everything that you need to survive.”
After hearing that, we told our mom that we wanted to help her friends’ communities, and the Jewish community of the Chabad in the Palisades, where some of the Rabbis and Congregants lost their houses. We feel a closer bond to them, since we were just there, knowing that they lost everything, and we need to help them IMMEDIATELY! These evacuated families are all in a state of shock and devastation right now, having been displaced from the community that they had called home, with nothing, but a few things that they left with when the fires broke out.
We want to start an initiative at Ramaz to help these overwhelmed families, who are confused and lost right now. We also want to show support to the California Firefighters that have been fighting these tough fires and winds, to save lives and homes!!!! Our initiative will be, “Feelings Heal Over Time.” We are going to start a clothing drive for the CHILDREN in the Palisades that have lost everything. THE CLOTHES HAVE TO BE NEW AND UNUSED. We believe that collecting clothes for these children will give them a sense of security and community from us at Ramaz. We also want to send the families and firefighters letters of encouragement and support, allowing them to know that we are there for them, and we at Ramaz, STAND WITH THEM, during this tough time. Our support will
hopefully allow these families to heal over time, and REBUILD their communities, like we have here at Ramaz.
If anyone would like to help in our initiative, please bring the clothes you drop off to the lobby of your division as soon as possible.
If anyone or any company would like to donate clothing or funds from their business or brand, or personally, please email our mom Elizabeth at elizhonig@gmail.com for further assistance.
Very Truly Yours and Thank You In Advance,
Harry Heller Honig ’27 and Abraham Heller Honig ’29