New Fund Acts on Momentum

By COLlive reporter

On a roll since distributing $20,000 to Mikvahs, Taharas Hamishpacha International has announced on Thursday, Lag BaOmer that it is launching “The Mayim Chayim Mikvah Building Fund.”

The fund, which is looking for seed money, will be helping Chabad Shluchim and Shluchos with a financial boost to help complete Mikvahs for which plans have been drawn but are stalled due to lack of funds.

“There’s a long list of Chabad centers waiting for final funds to be able to open up new Mikvaos or begin needed renovations,” says the organization’s director, Mrs. Chaya Sarah Zarchi.

“On this auspicious day of Lag Baomer, a yom segulah for generations, we offer this tremendous investment opportunity,” she said. “It takes just one family or any individual/s that will step up to the plate and allow communities to have a Mikvah, the core of Jewish life and continuity.”

The idea originated from a recent phone call to Taharas Hamishpacha International, a division of Machne Israel which operates the website Mikvah.org. A donor wished to donate $10,000 in loving memory of her parents.

An email was sent out and an article on COLlive.com notified Chabad centers with a mikvah nearing completion of the one-time grant.

“The response was tremendous and overwhelming,” says the project manager Chassi Rivkin, who sifted through hundreds of emailed applications. “It was fabulous to see the astronomical amount of mikvaos in the making, yet painful to ‘hear’ the pleas of desperation for monies urgently needed to start, continue or complete the building phase.”

Following the announcement of the Mikvah chosen by the donor (in Gothenburg, Sweden which will open shortly), another woman contacted the organization and offered the same, noting that she was inspired by the article on COLlive.

The second offer was limited to Mikvah building projects in Israel. The new donor announced on Lag Baomer that the Mikvah in the village of Ma’aleh Ephraim, run by Rabbi and Mrs. Glitzenshtein, was her choice for her $10,000 donation.

“To be able to help each applicant, we need millions”, says Rivkin, “and I’m sure we can get it and give it away happily to any shliach who fits the criteria. Contributions of all denominations will be accepted.”

For information on acquiring the name of the fund, ie, The [your choice name here] Mayim Chayim Mikvah Building Fund or the name of the campaign, kindly email: shluchos@mikvah.org.