F.R.E.E. HQ - Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe

What they offer

F.R.E.E. HQ - Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe is a centre for Russian-speaking Jews in Brooklyn, led by Rabbi Mayer Okunov.

There is a synagogue on the premises. Visitors are welcomed for Shabbat and holiday meals. Accommodation for guests can be arranged. They kosher kitchens for the community.

Classes run regularly, one-to-one study can be arranged and public lectures are held. There is a library.

For children there is a preschool, a Hebrew school, after-school programmes and a children's club.

Older children and young adults have a teen club, bar and bat mitzvah instruction, a bar mitzvah club and a bat mitzvah club.

They officiate at weddings, circumcisions and funerals. Couples are prepared for marriage. A chevra kadisha serves the community.

The center visits patients in hospital, looks after the elderly, works with children with special needs, distributes food packages, provides humanitarian aid, runs medical services, works to prevent drug and alcohol abuse, helps people find work, counsels families facing cults and missionaries and runs a club for seniors.

There is a women's group. Holiday programs run through the year, hands on. Mezuzos and tefillin can be checked here. A mitzvah tank goes out from here. They publish. They produce television and radio programs.