Most people dread fasting on Yom Kippur: The difficult feeling of being physically weak. The grueling hunger. The terrible pain of having to stand on one’s feet all day.

But for Penina Martzini, it’s an everyday reality.

Penina Martzini is 47 years old and she is the mother of four wonderful girls. But last year, her husband abandoned the five of them. 

Ever since, the family has been living in utter chaos and dysfunction. Penina’s husband left them with nothing, and their financial situation became desperate. With no work experience, no college degree, and very poor health, Penina had to resort herself to a humiliating yet seemingly only viable option left to prevent her beloved daughters from starving on the streets: Begging. 

“It is painful but I have had to beg for us to even live. I am very ill, too ill to work. Last week I was too ill to go out and beg and so we did not have money for food for the week. That is where we are holding.”

“I don’t know what will be tomorrow”, says Penina. “My whole body is in pain. I am sick, I don’t feel good…”

Penina’s daughters still hope that their father might return home one day. But Penina knows the terrible truth: That he isn’t coming back. With her health rapidly deteriorating and no man by her side, Penina has turned to the public to save her wonderful daughters from impending poverty and suffering. Funds are urgently being collected by the Vaad HaRabbanim here to help this sick woman and her helpless daughters ages 17, 18, 20 and 22 with the basic necessities so they can live. Because Penina doesn’t think that she can hold on much longer.