Food

After Delays, Masbia Soup Kitchen in Boro Park Opens Doors

Affixing the mezuzah at the door of the new Boro Park location are Masbia Executive Director Alexander Rapaport (left), Rabbi Isaac Tirnauer of Shomrei Shabbos (center) and Rabbi Abraham Friedlander. Image by Courtesy of Masbia Soup Kitchen Network

By Liza Schoenfein November 11, 2016

The Boro Park branch of Masbia Soup Kitchen Network finally opened its doors Wednesday night, serving a hearty chicken dinner to a handful of hungry clients, after serious financial constraints resulted in delays over the past several months.

So it was all the more satisfying for Masbia’s tireless executive director, Alexander Rapaport, when on Tuesday night three prominent Boro Park rabbis affixed a mezuzah at the front door. In attendance were the Hivnov Rov, the Rov of 24-hour synagogue Shomrei Shabbos and the Kosov Rebbe, as well as Rapaport and his father, Yosef Rapaport.

“The Boro Park opening was definitely fulfilling and was very exciting to see,” Rapaport said. “The Jewish saying is that Moses brought the first set of tablets with a lot of fanfare and those broke. He went back to heaven to bring a second set, which he brought in a more mundane way and those survived. You can say our second opening in Boro Park was much like the arrival of the second tablets.”

The first dinner at the new Boro Park location. Image by Courtesy of Masbia Soup Kitchen Network

Cash flow is still a major issue for Masbia, Rapaport said, and fundraising continues through Facebook and the Boro Park location’s website. “Boro Park is finally open but now Queens is operating out of a truck in front of the old storefront, waiting for the new site to be renovated.”

Masbia is a unique type of soup kitchen in that it serves hot kosher meals to the hungry (of any religion) in a restaurant-like setting designed expressly to preserve the dignity of its clients. (It also provides bags of groceries to take home.)

In 2016, Masbia has given out over 2 million meals, according to Rapaport.

Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at schoenfein@forward.com and on Twitter, @lifedeathdinner

Liza Schoenfein is a former food editor of the Forward and author of the blog Life, Death & Dinner. Follow her on Instagram @LifeDeathDinner.

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