EJEWISH PHILANTHROPY—Recipients who are finding new ways to connect to their Jewishness can receive up to $150 for gatherings.
For many practicing Jews, the accumulation of holidays from Rosh Hashanah to Simchat Torah can be a heavy load, emotionally and physically. But for those thinking of leaving the Haredi community, the High Holy Days can be the last straw before taking the leap of faith toward a new life. And after leaving, the holidays may symbolize both freedom and loneliness.
For the past 10 years, Footsteps, a nonprofit serving individuals who have left the Haredi community, has provided members with microgrants, allowing them to honor the holidays in a way that is meaningful to them. The grants — offering up to $150 for grantees to host a gathering — are meant to help members explore what they want their Judaism to look like in their new lives and to cultivate community.
“The beauty of the microgrant program is that it allows individuals autonomy to determine how they want to celebrate and who they want to celebrate with,” Lani Santo, Footsteps’ CEO, told eJewishPhilanthropy. “A lot of our folks are living at the edge of the poverty line. Affordability is a big issue in this country, in this city and for this community. You have people [who] are coming out of a community that doesn’t have a lot of resources, but then when they leave that, they have lost the social and economic safety net that exists in those communities.”
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