While Marc Erlbaum is one of the founders of the Jewish Relief Agency, a charitable organization that provides food and household items to more than 6,000 low-income individuals across the region, it was truly a team effort to get JRA off the ground.

Erlbaum’s brother, Daniel, helped co-found JRA. His father, Gary, helped fund the organization in its early days. And it was Rabbi Menachem Schmidt, Erlbaum’s friend and mentor, who is responsible for the organization’s focus, Erlbaum explained.

“I approached Rabbi Schmidt, and I suggested that we do something to start helping needy Jewish communities, possibly in different places in the world — maybe do a relief mission or something like that,” he said. “He looked at me and said, ‘Why don’t we help the people right here in our backyard?’”

In the two and a half decades since that conversation, the Jewish Relief Agency has blossomed from a group of a couple of friends delivering boxes of food to around 20 homes to a full-fledged charitable organization with sometimes more than 1,000 monthly volunteers serving around 3,500 needy households.

The first drive consisted of delivering food to around 20 homes. Each one received a note that told them to spread the word, asking anyone who needed assistance to call a phone number. That idea worked well: Over the course of the next few days, the Jewish Relief Agency received more than 1,200 calls asking for help, mostly from Russian families in Northeast Philadelphia.

It goes without saying, then, that the little idea that Erlbaum had in the late ’90s has been an overwhelming success.

“I think what was attractive was the whole idea of feeding poor Jews, [and] that they were providing a service that no one else was providing. It started very small, and it’s grown tremendously, and Daniel and Marc deserve all the credit,” Gary Erlbaum said.

Now, JRA is celebrating its 25th anniversary with an appropriate event coming in December: one that is called “Dor L’Dor” in honor of l’dor v’dor, the Jewish value of passing on knowledge and traditions from generation to generation.

As JRA enters another Jewish new year, a third generation of the founding family has joined the crew: Marc Erlbaum’s daughter, Tsila. Not only is she a JRA volunteer, she is a member of the Yellow Capper Program, which sees JRA’s most dedicated volunteers pledge to perform various duties beyond those of regular volunteers and receive a yellow hat that they can wear proudly in return.

“Both of my parents have been communal leaders throughout my life, and as a child, I was always going to Federation events and Israel Bonds events and other Jewish organizations, so they really instilled in me the importance of giving back to the community,” Marc Erlbaum said. “So, when I founded JRA, I felt like I was walking in their footsteps, and then, of course, they were very involved in helping us. All of the kids have been involved, and my daughter was the first one to decide to become a yellow capper. It’s become a family affair.”

Gary Erlbaum said that he has watched his granddaughter grow from a helping hand to much more than that.

“She’s become very active, and she’s a fabulous young lady. She’s now a senior in high school, and she started as a much younger child, delivering and doing things with Marc,” he said. “Now she’s pretty much doing it on her own.”

Gary Erlbaum said that he is not only impressed by how popular the organization has become but also that its services are performed by everyday members of the community.
“It’s all volunteers, [and it is] a great blueprint for other people to do things, but I don’t think anyone’s ever followed it,” he said.

Marc Erlbaum said that the organization is committed to forging a future for itself and its services. JRA started a leadership academy that is tasked with bringing in young people and teaching them what it takes to achieve the organization’s mission, “so that [current leadership] can pass the baton to them, and [so] they can continue to support and supply these services throughout the next several decades.”

“Right now we’re very consciously engaging the next generation of leaders,” Marc Erlbaum said. “Our goal is to feed every Jewish family that needs help in the region, and to also provide additional services where necessary. So we hope that we will be able to continue to do that.”

Other communities have Jewish communal charities, but JRA truly stands apart in its reach and influence. As the Erlbaums’ work continues to embody the spirit of l’dor v’dor, Gary Erlbaum is proud to see that value grow in other families, too.

“People have taught their children and their children’s children, and when they drive and come back [to JRA] and load up and deliver themselves, I think it’s wonderful to see that,” he said.

aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com