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Support victims of the war

One Family Together is an Israeli organization providing assistance to victims of terror attacks, with financial and legal assistance, mental health services, support groups, and healing camps for the young.

Magen David Adom, Israel’s version of the Red Cross, is peopled by 26,000 volunteers and provides much of the country’s national emergency medical services.

World Food Program USA is collecting donations to get much-needed food aid into Gaza and the West Bank.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is donating medical supplies to Gaza and is working with authorities to help identify the missing. They are also partnered with Magen David Adom and the Palestine Red Crescent Society to help the wounded and sick.

Doctors Without Borders provides medical care in crises, disasters, and warzones. They are working in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan among other places right now.

Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF) has been working since 1991 to provide medical care to Palestinian children. Their urgent immediate needs are medicines and medical supplies, shelters, nutritional items, water, hygiene items, and other humanitarian essentials.

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One of the founding tenets of The Philadelphia Citizen is to get people the resources they need to become better, more engaged citizens of their city.

We hope to do that in our Good Citizenship Toolkit, which includes a host of ways to get involved in Philadelphia — whether you want to contact your City Councilmember about the challenges facing your community, get those experiencing homelessness the goods they need, or simply go out to dinner somewhere where you know your money is going toward a greater good.

Find an issue that’s important to you in the list below, and get started on your journey of A-plus citizenship.

Vote and strengthen democracy

Stand up for marginalized communities

Create a cleaner, greener Philadelphia

Help our local youth and schools succeed

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Commemorating October 7 in Philadelphia

Join Philly organizations using prayer, art and light to memorialize the lives lost, harmed and disappeared on the first anniversary of an infamous day in Israel

Commemorating October 7 in Philadelphia

Join Philly organizations using prayer, art and light to memorialize the lives lost, harmed and disappeared on the first anniversary of an infamous day in Israel

BY Lauren McCutcheon

Oct. 04, 2024

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October 7, 2023 was the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. October 6 and October 7, 2024, are days for Philadelphians to honor those who died, those taken hostage, and those who began a journey of suffering one year ago. May their memories be a blessing. May the world one day achieve peace.

Here, some ways to honor the day:

ATTEND A MEMORIAL AND VIGIL. On October 6 at 5pm, 365 Days of Hope pays spiritual homage to the more than 1,100 human lives lost on October 7, 2023. The gathering includes speech-making, a joint clergy memorial service, a shofar blast, calls to action, homemade lanterns and the reading of the victims’ and hostages’ names while the Jewish chorale of Greater Philadelphia Nashirah performs a world premiere of the song “October Rain.” Guests are asked to wear yellow, the color of remembrance. Location revealed upon reservation.

Screen shot from the film War Diary

BEAR WITNESS TO HISTORY, THROUGH PHOTOS AND SOUND. The Weitzman Museum opens its concourse on October 7 from 10am to 5pm for A Visual and Sound Journey from ANU Museum, an exhibition of journalists’ photographs documenting the events of one year ago and their aftermath, set to The Pain Front, a healing soundtrack created by Israeli musicians. 101 S. Independence Mall East

HONOR BOTH JEWISH AND MUSLIM LIVES. Every Life, A Universe has planned a tashlich, a Jewish ritual that symbolizes the casting off of sins from the previous year, on October 7 from 6 to 8pm. The ceremony will honor the memories of the people who died in Israel on October 7 and the thousands more who’ve died in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon in the ensuing violence, while calling for a peaceful end to the suffering. 640 Waterworks Drive

rows of small lit candles burn in the dark
Photo by Thomas Bormans on Unsplash

TAKE PART IN A VIRTUAL PRAYER VIGIL. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and Board of Rabbis invite everyone to Zoom in for an at-home service of “prayer, mourning and messages of hope” on October 7 at 7pm. Online

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE. The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia has planned a day of remembrance to coincide with Israel’s official such day, at Har Zion Temple on the Main Line on October 27 from 1:30 to 3pm. Register to attend by October 21. 1500 Hagys Ford Road, Penn Valley

REFLECTIONS OF A YEAR AT WAR

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