YES! THERE ARE
CHILDREN IN
YERUSHALAYIM
WHO ARE
HUNGRY TODAY.
It sounds strange to Americans. Families with no food? Children going hungry? In communities we visit in Eretz Yisroel? But the fact is that poor families in Eretz Yisroel really can’t afford the basics. Their fridges are empty. Not American-style empty, where “there’s nothing to eat” means “I’m not in the mood of milk, cheese, or leftovers.”
An empty fridge in many Yerushalmi homes is really empty. Bare! There are no eggs and yogurt. No apples and cucumbers. No mayonnaise and pickle jars. And there are no SNAP Benefits, WIC, and school lunches, either.
One small box of food doesn’t sound like much.
But to a poor family in Eretz Yisroel, it can
spell the difference between hunger and
normal living. Especially when it comes
every week. Particularly when it’s filled with
the basics families can’t live without.
Back in 5731 (1971), over fifty years ago, a retired businessman went from shul to shul collecting for the poor of Yerushalayim. He didn’t have an official organization; he never made parties or campaigns. He just followed his heart and raised funds each week to send to poor families in Yerushalayim. ”
His name was Reb Cheskel Gottehrer z”l. His route was the shuls in Baltimore, and when in his later years he moved to Boro Park, it was the shuls in Boro Park: Bobov, Satmar, Anshei Sfard- and many of the steiblech that dotted the streets. He let nothing stand in the way of his weekly collections. He raised funds with mesiras nefesh – because he had seen the poverty, and could never forget what hunger looks like.
Today, this noble endeavor is being continued by his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Chevra Mezonos Yerushalayim is fighting hunger in Yerushalayim, one food box at a time.
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