Counting down our Community Hero nominees – Shmuel Kahan
The Jewish News , in partnership with Mitzvah Day, is proud to present the ten shortlisted nominees for the annual Community Hero Award!
Here on jewishnews.co.uk we’ll be counting down the ten nominees until November the 17th when the winner will be chosen at Mitzvah Day!
All have been nominated by readers for their acts of communal kindness towards others, in the Jewish community and beyond. Profiles by Caron Kemp.[divider]
With a policy of welcoming everyone, no questions asked, Shmuel Kahan has been running the Beit Hatabshil soup kitchen in Hendon for 10 years.
Having started life above the Shell garage in Golders Green, the facility moved to Brent Street three years ago and now feeds hundreds of Jewish people on the breadline each week.
Seen among many London Jews as both a father and a mother, providing more than simply two hot meals a day, Shmuel works tirelessly to ensure that those in greatest need are provided for without judgement.
Despite so many Jewish charities doing so much good for so many, Shmuel’s only kosher soup kitchen in the capital is reaching out to a largely unknown but desperate section of our society.
He has been nominated by former Hendon MP and London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden, Andrew Dismore.
“A random act of kindness for no reward at all. This is what Shmuel does every day through his soup kitchen,” he explains.
“Having walked down every street in Hendon so many times over the past fifteen years it is very easy to forget that whilst Hendon is seemingly a prosperous and wealthy suburb of London, it also is home to poverty.
“Shmuel’s dedication to fighting poverty in Hendon is one small part of the puzzle in bringing about a fairer society and tikkun olam.
“What he has done has once again reminded me of this fact and renewed my own determination to do what I can to fight inequality like this. I can think of no better person to nominate as a ‘Community Hero’ than Shmuel Kahan.”
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