FORMATION

Yehoshua Zvi Hershkowitz, who more than 40 years ago was so concerned that his indigent neighbors would go hungry for the Sabbath that he founded a kosher mealson-wheels programme, which has been imitated by Jewish communities around the world, died on Monday in Brooklyn. He was 92.

Madeawarethataneighbour was struggling to put food on the table, and reasoning that there must be others like him, Hershkowitz, a postal clerk, founded Tomchei Shabbos (the name means “supporters of the Sabbath”) out of the kitchenofhishomeinborough Park, Brooklyn, in 1975.

He and friends began gathering the ingredients of a traditional Sabbath meal and dropping off packages of food at the homes of those they heard were wanting. On Saturdays, they would make appeals for food and contributions at synagogues in the area.

From this improvised start, Hershkowitz built an organisation that every week distributes meals to 600 families and

His experience in World War II shaped his commitment to the hungry