Employees of the Lithuanian Jewish Community’s Social Programs Department are currently visiting the Frankfurt Jewish Community in Germany. Under the EU’s ERASMUS program, ten center employees will learn from colleagues in Germany, Poland and France this year how best to expand the care and services network for the elderly and how to provide higher-quality services to our clientele.

Our employees studying practices in Germany are being hosted by our partner-organization Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland or ZWST. This is one of the organizations with the longest experience serving the elderly. Their main clients are Jews and their families who have immigrated from Eastern Europe. The LJC Social Programs Department wants to learn more about the standards of services provided, European perspectives and how to apply them in dealing with the problem of aging in the Community.

Below you will find some pictures and descriptions of the Frankfurt Jewish Community, the second-largest Jewish community in Germany about 60% of whose members hail from Russia, Ukraine and other countries. Members pay a membership fee based on their income tax.

The community has a kindergarten, a large social center and a kosher meat restaurant.

Currently social center employees at the Frankfurt Jewish Community are preparing holiday cards for their members and coupons for picking up a Passover package which includes matzo, flour and wine from Israel. About 250 such coupons will be mailed out. One package costs €7.50. The card for picking up a package contains the time for doing so.

Community members are invited to a Seder. The usual cost is €40 and those receiving support pay €9.

During the recent Purim holiday elderly members of the community received packages containing small gifts from children.

The executive board of the Frankfurt Jewish Community holds meetings at a round table and the meeting room has a fantastic view looking out over the city.

The community also has a kindergarten.

The kosher restaurant is open to one and all, although prices are high. They have a meat kitchen.

Two community rabbis work within the administrative headquarters. There is a small kosher kitchen in their office for milk products. If employees bring their own food, they may use the small kitchen on the second floor.

A picture of a menorah drawn by a social center client with diminished mental capacity.