Rabbi Edery brought huge amounts of relief from Tokyo to Tohoku on a weekly basis for many months. To be exact, he rented 2 ton trucks, twice a week, packed with relief and necessities and then distributed it to many community centers in Tohoku. How did the relief collection and distribution work? Rabbi Edery requested National Azabu to put large baskets outside the store for people to put their contributions. One basket is for clothes, the second for dry foods,…
Rabbi Edery organized many groups of volunteers every time he drove up to Tohoku he brought with him Chabad House staff, members and volunteers. Some were students in Japan, some just simple people who wanted to help. Some were Japanese friends.There were many Rabbis in Asia, all colleagues of Rabbi Edery, who also run volunteer organizations of their own who heard about the great destruction that happened in Japan. They wanted to come and assist. Rabbi Edery arranged for the…
One of the members of Chabad house of Japan, who lived in Japan for many years, heard about the Rabbi’s relief activities. Rabbi Edery asked him to join the efforts to help. This friend designs and makes clothes and sells in his shops and online. He packed very large amounts of his brand clothes and brought it up to Tohoku to distribute together with Rabbi Edery. He decided to make T-shirts for the people there, with a message of hope…
The relief work needed a lot of funds to cover them. How was Rabbi Edery able to cover all the costs of 1 million dollars? He was very creative. Firstly, he got as many people involved in helping out. Each volunteer contacted their network and the word got out that funds were needed. People’s generosity was incredible, especially from the Jewish communities worldwide. From the US, England, Israel there was an outpour of support. Rabbi Edery, had one great idea…
One of the most amazing projects was with National Azabu Supermarket. National has a long standing relationship with Rabbi Edery and Chabad House of Japan. When the Tsunami happened the Rabbi got many phone calls and emails from people who wanted to donate things to the people of Tohoku.He realized that there were many people who wanted to help but didn’t know where to or how. He thought of a plan: he asked National to put very large collection baskets…