The doorbell rings. “Another tzedakah collector,” Rivka thinks to herself. She dries her hands and slowly swings the door open, but she almost drops her wallet from shock. Tears threaten at the edge of her eyelids. She tries to hold them back.
He was so young. He was almost a boy. Why was he standing at her door?
When Chaim was a teenager, his parents had to take a hefty loan out of the bank to afford a specialist who taught his older brother with orthopedic issues how to walk again. A few years later, Chaim’s sister was diagnosed with Leukemia. Needless to say, the family’s finances became more strained than ever.
When he turned 23, Chaim’s family were overjoyed that they finally had a simcha to share: Chaim was a chosson. However, Chaim’s parents had no money to pay for the wedding or help him and his kallah establish a new life. Chaim and his kallah decided to move to Tverya because of its affordability compared to other cities.
“I had to take all my life’s savings and go through the shame of collecting door to door in order for me and my kallah to have basic things,” says Chaim, now in his mid-thirties.
Today, he and his wife are struggling like never before.
“I work over eleven hours a day but it’s still not enough. Keeping up with tuition, food, and rent are becoming close to impossible. We have tried everything we could. It’s come to the point that we might lose the home that we worked so hard to build. ”
The Vaad HaRabbanim has set up an emergency fund to help Chaim and his wife keep their children fed, clothed and sheltered. To donate for this cause, click here.
