Masbia  Masbia (, lit., "satiate") is a network of kosher soup kitchens in New York City. Its three locations in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park and Midwood, as well as the Queens neighborhood of Rego Park, serve over 500 free, hot kosher meals nightly. Masbia is the only free soup kitchen serving kosher meals in New York City. The organization receives 10% of its budget from government aid, relying heavily on private donations of money and food to meet its $2 million annual operating budget. The Hebrew name "Masbia" comes from a verse in the Book of Psalms: ""Poteach es yadecha u'masbia l'chol chai ratzon" – You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing" (). Masbia is the brainchild of Mordechai Mandelbaum, a Hasidic Jewish resident of Brooklyn who donated the seed money for the first restaurant in Borough Park in 2005. He and co-founder Alexander Rapaport, another member of the Brooklyn Hasidic community, were aware of many families who had fallen on hard times and were struggling with the high costs of rent and tuition. Back in 2003, a report by the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty had shown that 30% of Brooklyn Jews were living at or below the poverty line. Mandelbaum proposed the idea of feeding Jewish families in a more "formal, systematic way" through a free kosher restaurant which would be supported by others in the community who were still well-off. Masbia was set up as a restaurant in order not to humiliate singles and families who were unused to eating in a soup kitchen. Many Masbia patrons are men from the Hasidic community, for whom poverty is a cultural sign of shame. The Borough Park restaurant opened in April 2005 in a converted railroad apartment. On opening night, the staff prepared 25 meals and only eight people showed up. Six months later, 120 patrons were frequenting the restaurant nightly. The restaurant's logo, a tent with openings on all four sides, recalls the tent of Abraham, the Jewish paragon of hospitality whose tent was open to all comers. Beginning in 2009, the worsening recession prompted the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty to ally with Masbia, resulting in the opening of additional free restaurants in Williamsburg (opened November 2009), Midwood (opened November 2009), and Rego Park, Queens (opened March 2010). The new locations increased Masbia's overall patronage by 300%. In fiscal year 2010–2011, Masbia served 82,292 meals, a 50% increase over the previous year.