What’s The Commotion About?

Holiday food staples are handed out before every Yom Tov by Devora Scheiner to needy Jewish families in Crown Heights.

To Donate Call 718.771.2418 or 917.648.7596

Mrs. Scheiner’s Yom Tov Fund
519 Montgomery St. Brooklyn, NY 11225
(Donations are tax deductible)

A letter to the Crown Heights community:

Dear all,

Hi, you don’t know me. If you saw me on the street I would blend in with the scenery. But let me tell you about myself. I am married for 15 years with 7 kids, ages 13 years down to 20 months. I grew up in a two story house with a large backyard. My father was in the naval reserves and the government. My mother is a social worker. I was following the American dream – I finished my honors classes and got accepted to a top notch university. But there the music stops. I was introduced to yiddishkeit, went to seminary, and got off the path to wealth and success. After meeting my husband who is a yeshiva graduate and has Rabbinical Ordination we decided to get married. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the same mazal with parnusah as we did with having children (BH for the kids, but you know what I mean.) In addition I developed some health complications that made things even more difficult.

You know the phrase “Ein Kemach ein Torah” ….well it’s pretty hard to explain to the schools that your kids are wearing broken, ill-fitting shoes because their parents are struggling even to pay tuition. Food stamps help but they don’t cover everything, especially the sky rocketing cost of Pesach or Tishrei. During the few times I managed to work I got to learn about the concept of a vacation. There is no vacation as a parent. You are at work 24/7- you are not allowed to have burn-out even if you are dealing with the same issues a mental health practitioner has to deal with. Low muscle tone, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities make it much harder to parent and you do get frustrated. When your husband does not have a 9-5 job and instead goes barking throughout the neighborhood looking for what scraps and bones of jobs people can throw him it does hurt. Also it means that whereas he may get paid for only 4 hours of his day- he may spend over 12 hours in doing so. That means the wife must fill in at home like a single mother for that time, without the security of a stable paycheck to make it seem worthwhile. Nowadays most shuirim have a hefty price tag that someone without Kemach cannot afford. How can you tell your kids (or yourself) that mommy needs some time for herself and needs to take some of the money that they need for school supplies.

I know that there are plenty of organizations to help the poor nowadays. The problem is that many are simply top- heavy. A lot of money that they are given needs to be used for the fancy Manhattan office, the prestigious management, the office supplies, lighting, secretaries, – the list goes on and on. I once saw on collive.com that someone had raised $50,000 for food for this community and instead of hungry bellies being filled he used the entire amount for his administrative costs!!!

Then you have Mrs. Scheiner. In politics people are constantly talking about streamlining their businesses. You can’t get more streamlined. Despite her own poor health she is on the phone until the wee hours of the morning negotiating for the best price with suppliers, getting people to allow their homes to be used for functions, personally picking up people who have no transportation and taking them to the grocery store so that their kids don’t go to bed hungry or get sent to the doctor with malnutrition because their available diet is too sparse. I have seen her erev yom tov when she had tons of her own things to do- motzi getting hip replacement surgery when the only place she belonged was in bed- I have seen her, with her crutches, stand at attention as a long long line of people got their cases chickens and their hefty 5 and 10 lb bags of chopmeat and their bags of fish. In total there were 100’s of cases of fish, meat, poulty, dairy coming out of the mammoth truck. These people would shock you. Many may have been very affluent before, but we never know when the wheels of fortune will turn. Like it did for me…. My parents are shocked at how I live….

You should see the classroom Rebbes (of course they would prefer you NOT see them) that she has jump to the front of the line so that they can get back to their precious students and yet not fail their families.

The hardest thing for her is when she has to turn someone away because there is no more. She raises as much money as she can; she negotiates for the most for the least price; and yet there is always people coming to her door when the truck is emptey and with a heavy heart she has to turn them away.

As for me- she helped me outfit each child with a new well -fitting pair of shoes from a quality store. These shoes shouldn’t break for a couple of months unlike the cheap version I had been using to just get by…. The kids could pick out which shoes they wanted instead of getting someone’s garbage. She helped me buy food so that I could celebrate shabbas and not dread it. I was on line and received the case of chickens, chop meat, fish, etc. That food made the difference between fearing yom tov and enjoying it. She even had a delicious breakfast there so that the parents who came should have koach to take care of their kids. (And she made sure it was eaten! – I will admit to skipping meals…) to top things off I have been to a few of her concerts. They are breath taking. She tries to save every penny that she can while making it a nice affair. She doesn’t just dump a few cakes on the table. She sets out sushi, fruit, sometimes salads, popcorn, chocolates….. Invited are not only the poor, but the elderly and people with special needs who often are overlooked when party invitations are sent out.

I’ll never forget seeing the look on a brain-damaged adult’s face as the singer sang with him. It was priceless. Since the day that his mother went to wake him and found out that he was irrevocably changed for the worse she probably hasn’t been so happy.

Mrs. Scheiner brings in top performers like Avraham Fried, Benny Friedman, Yumi Lowy, etc. etc. These: singers, comedians, musicians, and Rabbonim perform for peanuts, if they accept any remuneration at all, because they believe in her cause. She works with every ounce of strength she has just so that others should have it easier. There is no fancy desk or even computer for her. Just her phone, her faith, and her feet…. Every penny goes to help people whose pride might cause them to be overlooked by society or who society might overlook anyway.

People know that Mrs. Scheiner is a woman of integrity and that 100% of their money is going to help people. I don’t know anyone like her. People flock to give her their maaser money and more because they know she is the real deal. She is like a courtesan of old not a beggar of today. She isn’t looking for fame or fortune only that she sees a need in the community and wants to fill it. I could go on and on about everything else she does in addition: helps Kallahs in need, gets medical referrals, and the list goes on and on. Everyone knows the story about the woman who was ashamed to leave the house in her ratty shaitel, threadbare coat, and worn-out shoes. Mrs. Scheiner found out about it and took care of everything. Suddenly the woman felt that she could go to shul and was a much happier mother and wife.

I don’t know what I or quite a lot of people in this community would do without her. She is like a Malach in Himmel.

I just thought you might want to know….

Sincerely,
A Mother in Crown Heights