More widows receive checks and assistance

By: Frimet Blum

It is Yom Tov night in Eretz Yisroel. The esrog and decorations stands have been dismantled, the store shutters are shut, the hustle and bustle of shoppers running to and fro is over. The streets at this hour are serene, and the sound of Kiddush rings out from sukkahs large and small, in the streets and on nearly every mirpeset above.

In many of those sukkahs, there is a palpable joy – for the children are anticipating a seudah the likes of which they enjoy just twice a year, on Pesach and on Sukkos. They are the children of Mesamche Lev.

Mesamche Lev has just concluded its bi-annual distribution, where meat, poultry and grocery coupons reached thousands of families, including over six hundred widows and close to four thousand orphans in Eretz Yisroel. The distribution was a half – year long in the making, with the organization sparing no effort or expense in making it come about. For, as Reb Zalman Ashkenazi, zatzal, the tzaddik who founded the organization said, “we must take care of the almonos and yesomim.” In addition to widows and orphans, thousands of poor families and bnei Torah received assistance that allowed them to prepare a plentiful yom tov.

This year’s Tishrei distribution was remarkable in scope. Mesamche Lev distributed generous boxes of meat and poultry to families that came from nearly every city in Eretz Yisroel. Many families also received hundreds of shekels in grocery coupons, redeemable at local stores. In addition to the meat and groceries, over six hundred widows in Eretz Yisroel received large checks which allowed them to buy clothing, shoes, and yom tov necessities for their families. As in recent years, Mesamche Lev’s distribution reached closer to home, with the organization mailing generous checks to over two hundred widows in the United States.

The number is considerably higher than last year. In 5778, Jewish communities in Eretz Yisroel and the US experienced a spate of tragic losses, with illness and accidents snatching young husbands and fathers in the prime of life. Mesamche Lev responded to the tragedies by issuing checks to fifty new widows in Israel and twenty in the US. The checks for all the widows went a long way towards helping families purchase much-needed clothing and other basics for Yom Tov.

The Tishrei distribution is Mesamche Lev’s second-largest annual project, with major assistance reaching the poor in just a few short days. This, at the same time that the organization put down a very large deposit on the 28,000 pairs of shoes to be distributed before Pesach. The rabbanim of Eretz Yisroel and the United States are effusive in their praise of Mesamche Lev.

“The almonos tell me how much they wait for Mesamche Lev’s envelope,” said one prominent rav in the US. “It gives them such joy to be able to buy clothing for their children; to make them feel that at least in this area, they are no different than their friends. It gives them chizuk.”

The Tishrei distribution is part of a major network of programs that includes a massive Pesach distribution, the famed annual shoe distribution, an orphan wedding fund, and much more.

Those who join Mesamche Lev merit the blessings of the many Gedolei Yisroel and rabbonim who know the organization’s work firsthand, and, most significantly, earn the fulfillment of the promise of the Almighty Avi Yesomim, who says, “Im ata mesameach es sheli, ani mesameach es shelcha.”