The congregant, who serves on the Hertfordshire County Council, needed to gather some personal supplies for the growing number of refugees from Afghanistan who were arriving in the region, resettled by a coalition of social service agencies. The congregant asked the rabbi to take up a collection for such items as warm clothing, toiletries, toys and basic school supplies.
Rabbi Feldman, a native of New York City who five years ago became spiritual leader of the Bushey United Synagogue, immediately agreed. On Thursday night, Aug. 19, he posted a notice on a private Facebook page, asking for the supplies; he figured that a few hundred people, at most, would respond to his humanitarian, ecumenical appeal.
